Bar Eligibility

The rules for admission to the bar vary in every state. Completion of the LLM program does not guarantee that a foreign-trained lawyer may sit for the bar examination, though many of our LLM graduates sit for state bar exams.

Most of the Northwestern LLM graduates who take a bar exam do so in the state of New York. In order to qualify LLM students to sit for the exam in New York, the LLM program must follow certain curricular requirements such as completing a minimum number of Law School courses including several mandatory subjects. The Court of Appeals for the State of New York has reviewed the courses offered by Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law and pre-approved a list of courses as meeting these requirements. Please refer to the New York State Board of Law Examiner's website for more information on the New York requirements.

Other jurisdictions also allow LLM students to sit for the bar exam under certain conditions, including D.C. and California. In other states, the LLM degree is not sufficient to allow candidates to sit for the bar exam. Please refer to American Bar Association's Comprehensive Guide to Bar Admission Requirements for more information on the requirements in each state.