The Law Society of England and Wales recently submitted a Paper to the New York State Bar Association and to the Association of the Bar of the City of New York to comment on their rules with respect to how solicitors are treated for purposes of taking the New York State Bar exam. According to Ann Frazer, International Policy Executive with the Law Society of England & Wales, "Our aim is to get ALL solicitors recognized so they can automatically sit the Bar exam, whereby New York does not look behind the qualification."¹

Under the current regime, New York State’s rules require that all candidates complete the equivalent of a full time three-year degree in law; however, this rule does not capture the different routes of legal education and training in England and Wales. Unlike the United States, one can become a solicitor either by earning a law degree from an accredited UK University leading to an LL.B in Laws, or alternatively, one can convert a non-law degree in another subject by completing a full time one year conversion course known as the "Common Professional Examination." Either way, upon successful completion one completes the "academic stage" of legal earning.

Unlike the United States, however, merely completing the equivalent of what is regarded by many in the United Kingdom as equivalent to a JD degree, does not grant one the right to sit a bar examination in England or Wales. While newly minted JD graduates in the U.S. who quickly pass a given states bar, like New York’s, are unleashed upon the public without any practical experience, in England or Wales, one is required to pass either the Bar Vocational Course (Barristers) or the Legal Practice Course (Solicitors). Upon completing this legal training, the student is still required to complete a two-year internship or "apprenticeship" with a UK law firm prior to being called to the Bar Council or Law Society.

Yet despite the Law Society’s rigorous emphasis on legal learning and practical training, New York’s State’s bar admission rules discriminate between those UK solicitors who were admitted to the Law Society via the University law degree route and those who earned their legal education under the Common Professional Examination Route (CPE). In England or Wales, once you are certified as a qualified solicitor, that is the standard. How one gets there is not the issue.

Many of the solicitor's who are seeking permission to take the New York Bar examination are experienced attorneys with years of experience. New York’s Rules need to address this problem in light of the increased role New York is taking in international law. It appears that gross root support for the Law Society’s position is taking hold within the legal community in New York State. "We are very pleased with the support we have received from both the New York State Bar Association and the Association of the Bar of the City of New York. Their respective committees are reviewing our paper and are assisting us with this issue," states Frazer.

What makes New York’s bar admission rules seem confusing is the fact that several candidates are permitted to take the New York bar exam purely based on their internships with New York law firms after completing just one year of law school. Usually such individuals are law clerks or Paralegals determined to be lawyers but who cannot attend the traditional law school setting. Court of Appeals Judge Levine "called the clerkship rule "a little escape valve for somebody who desperately wants to go to law school and just can't do it."³

Lawyers on both sides of the Atlantic need to have access to each other’s bar.  While New York’s rules were once geared to protect the public from unethical and incompetent attorney’s, and while New York’s rules were designed to ensure a standard of legal education that is commensurate with these goals, the time has come to recognize that the English and Welsh solicitor has at the very least substantially equal legal education compared to a newly minted JD graduate form an ABA law school. The latter is the standard used by most US states for meeting the educational requirement to take their bar exams.  In their paper to the Court of Appeals, the Law Society also provided an Annex describing the substantive grounds to prove substantial equivalence between the various route of education and training with respect to New York and most US state bar admission rules.

In a world economy, where the demand for legal services extends beyond national borders, centers of commerce such as New York State and England should find ways to recognize each other’s legal process for certifying attorneys. Unlike New York, the Law Society of England and Wales is far more accessible to U.S. attorney’s from New York (and every other US state) compared to New York’s rules. For example, "...US lawyers are more liberally treated if they wish to requalify as solicitors in England and Wales than vice versa. Accordingly, a New York lawyer can gain admission as a solicitor of England and Wales by sitting and passing three papers (Property, Litigation, and Professional Conduct and Account.)"⁴

In the meantime, many eyes are watching as this important paper is reviewed by the various bar associations of New York.  Based on the response from the two New York bar associations, the Law Society may formally submit a paper to The Court of Appeals at a later date to consider changing their bar admission rules with respect to solicitor members of the Law Society.

The writer is the Editor of The Malet Street Gazette.

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Source Notes

¹Interview with The Malet Street Gazette, April 25, 2001.

² Solicitors Of England and Wales: Requalification As New York Attorneys, pg. 1 (February 2001). Paper submitted to Court of Appeals by the Law Society of England and Wales.

³ Gary Spencer, Courts Amend Rules Admitting Attorneys, The New York Law Journal, May 11, 1998.