Lawyer Monthly Magazine - April 2019 Edition

APR 2019 18 My Legal Life www. lawyer-monthly .com Victoria Cromwell Should You Become a Dual Qualified Lawyer to Advance Your Career? With an interconnected globe, the corporate sphere has rapidly progressed into a realm no one quite predicted, and obviously, the lawyers which assist corporate entities, need to be on the ball now more than ever. In order to offer as much as you can to your eager clients, qualifying in another country to practice as a lawyer is a viable option that will help you stand out amongst others. With BARBRI International prepping lawyers to seek admission in other jurisdictions, we speak to Victoria Cromwell who shares how the qualification can pave a new path for those in the legal sphere. CONTACT Victoria Cromwell www.barbri-international.com | victoria.cromwell@barbri.com Why should lawyers consider dual- qualifying in another jurisdiction? In an increasingly challenging legal recruitment environment, being dual-qualified offers lawyers the opportunity to set themselves apart from the competition. As clientsbecomemore international, more cross-border transactions are being undertaken, and the need to have knowledge of more than one legal system, therefore, becomes even more important. BARBRI sees lawyers from all backgrounds come through its doors, all of whom having differing reasons for wishing to dual-qualify. The bulk of those are looking to enhance their legal careers, whether that be through international secondments within their firms or by applying for positions elsewhere, particularly US firms here in London. Firms value dual-qualification. And as mentioned, with transactions becoming increasingly cross- border, clients value the fact that their lawyer has knowledge and understanding of more than one legal system. What are the requirements for qualification into the US or UK? The US offers the opportunity to those who are fresh out of their law degrees here in the UK (or other common law countries) and to those from civil law jurisdictions who are already qualified, practising lawyers. It all depends on the state to which that person is applying. New York state permits those who hold a minimum of a three-year law degree from a common law jurisdiction to apply for eligibility, while the California bar requires any non-US educated applicant to be an admitted lawyer from any country in the world. BARBRI has prepared over 1.3 million students for the bar exams across all US states for the past 50 years and enrols around 40,000 students per year. We specialise and support non-US law graduates and lawyers in the process of qualifying and fully preparing them for the rigours of the bar examinations by focusing on the skills and techniques that they need to successfully pass. We do that through our class- leading technology, coupled