Pursuing J.D undergraduate law degree at US.?

Question

Is it practical and worthy of aspiring to pursue J.D an undergraduate law degree frm US.

After completion of full undergraduate law degree frm India.

Answer 1

While a JD (or LLB) in many countries is an undergraduate degree, in the US, it's a graduate degree, and you can only do it after completing a bachelors degree.

If you want to be a lawyer in the US, having a US JD will greatly ease that process. But know that it will be very, very difficult to find employment in law when you graduate. And having a US JD won't do you any good in India. So to me, it makes little sense for you to do your JD in the US, after already having your LLB from India. Instead, perhaps consider doing an LLM, but again, there is no guarantee that you'd find a job in the US after you graduated. So study something that could be of use to you at home.

You may also want to research what your employment options might be if you did your LLM in Canada or the UK. It's easier for someone with an advanced degree, taken in one of those countries, to apply and stay there after they graduate and work, than it is to do the same in the US, if you're not studying a very highly demanded field. And in fact, if you do your LLM in Scotland, you can stay and work for a full two years after graduation, without needing a work visa to do so.

Answer 2

A J.D. is, by definition, a doctorial degree--which is postgraduate.   And, to practice law, you have to pass the state bar exam--which tests one's ability to apply various state & federal laws.   I rather doubt if your law courses in India taught you the finer points of law in, say, Tennessee.

Answer 3

I believe that we have no undergraduate law degree in America.

The rules to being lawyer varies from state to state. You have to call the Department of Education of the state where you want to be a lawyer and inquire.

The educational prerequisites to becoming a lawyer vary from country to country. In some countries, law is taught by a faculty of law, which is a department of a university's general undergraduate college. Law students in those countries pursue a Master or Bachelor of Laws degree. In some countries it is common or even required for students to earn another bachelor's degree at the same time. It is often followed by a series of advanced examinations, apprenticeships, and additional coursework at special government institutes.

Law schools in Canada, Australia, and the United States typically require three years of study after completing an undergraduate degree.

In other countries, particularly the United States, law is primarily taught at law schools. In the United States and countries following the American model, (such as Canada with the exception of the province of Quebec) law schools are graduate/professional schools where a bachelor's degree is a prerequisite for admission. Most law schools are part of universities but a few are independent institutions. Law schools in the United States (and some in Canada and elsewhere) award graduating students a J.D. (Juris Doctor/Doctor of Jurisprudence) (as opposed to the Bachelor of Laws) as the practitioner's law degree. However, like other professional doctorates (including the M.D.), the J.D. is not the exact equivalent of the Ph.D., since it does not require the submission of a full dissertation based on original research. Many schools also offer post-doctoral law degrees such as the LL.M (Legum Magister/Master of Laws), or the S.J.D. (Scientiae Juridicae Doctor/Doctor of the Science of Law) for students interested in advancing their knowledge and credentials in a specific area of law.

Answer 4

A J.D. in the United States is an graduate degree, meaning that you must hold a Bachalors Degree are higher to even be considered for admission.

If you do not wish to pursure an undergraduate degree in the United States then I suggest that you complete you both your LL.B. and LL.M. in your home country and then transfer to a law school in the United States.

No an LL.M. holder may not practice law in any of the States in the U.S. Most States will require a J.D. for admission to the Bar, the only exception to this rule is NYC, which allows LL.M. to sit the bar exam. Only once you have passed the bar, are you legally allowed to practice law and even then, you are only allowed to practice in the state which you passed the bar. Furthermore, you would need an company to sponsr you for an H1B visa before you can legally work in the U.S. once you have passed the bar - if you do not have the correct visa, you cannot work.

Finally, most states will require that you graduate from an accredited U.S. law school with a J.D. in order to sit the bar and if you have an LL.M. this will require approximately 12-18 months of further education in a U.S. law school.

Edit:

You appear to missing the point. If you hold an LL.B. from India then you are eligble to study for a J.D. in the United States, although you will need to have your Bachelor's of Law degree translated to it's U.S. equivilent because you may find that the education system in India is behind that of the U.S. and you may have to complete a couple of semesters in the U.S. to gain a U.S. Bachelor's degree before you can study in a law school in the United States.

A J.D. in the United States will probably not be valid in India, but this is something that you must research yourself because I am not knowledgeble on the requirements to practice law in India.

If you decide to practice law in the U.S. and have gradated with a J.D. and passed the bar exam then you can look for work, but an employer must sponsor you for the visa.

To work you will require an H1B visa

To study you require an F1 visa.