How to Become an Attorney in NY, USA

How to Become an Attorney in NY, USA

 BY VITALI KREMEZ

 September 24, 2012

 "Lawyers Are": One who defends you at the risk of your pocketbook, reputation and life.

                                                                                                                                   -- Eugene E. Brussell

   Law school is a professional school, which, as well as a medical school, requires a completed undergraduate degree. The purpose of law school is to provide Juris Doctor (J.D.), or a Doctor of Laws degree. After the completion of a law school, you have to pass a state bar exam. In New York State, it includes of 3 (!) days of super-intensive writing and multiple choices sections. Once you passed a state bar exam, you become a member of an American Bar association (ABA), which means you can practice law now in your respective state =) 

My main incentives to become a lawyer are:

- An opportunity to make a change in our community by recognizing difficulties and injustices our post-soviet Immigrant faces on a daily basis

- An intellectually challenging profession

- An average salary of a corporate lawyer of top-20 school is $160,000 per year.


 In order to matriculate into law school you need to possess several minimal characteristics:

- Completed Undergraduate Degree, i.e. Bachelor of Arts or Science

- Your undergrad transcripts with all institutions you have taken undergraduate classes in. The purpose of it is to establish your cumulative GPA (Grade Point Average)

 - Passed Law School Assessment Test (LSAT), which includes 3 Main sections: Reading Comprehension, Logical Arguments, and Logic Games.

 - Minimum 2 Recommendation letters from your faculty, as well as, your employers.

- Your Personal Statement, which encapsulates such topics as why you want to attend law school, how your unique experience can make a valuable asset for law school classroom, how you can overcome adversity (struggle and triumph) and so on.

- Complete each individual law school applications.

If you graduated from any university in Russia, Belarus, or other post-soviet country, you should request your official transcript from your institution and submit (sealed, translated, and stamped) to law school admission council to the following address:

 Law School Admission Council 

662 Penn Street 

Newtown PA 18940 

USA 

215.968.1001 

Next time, I will discuss how to enter Harvard Law School or any Ivey League School =)

f you have any questions, please write in your comments below.