Do you have to practice Law in the State you Study in Forum

[Miami781]

Do you have to practice law and take the BAR in the state you studied in?
I currently go to college in Massachusetts as a rising junior undergrad however I want to go to Law School somewhere down south such as UNC, UMiami, ect.

However I want to practice Law post graduation back in New England, is this possible? Will it be hard to find a job up north if I go to law school down south.

[eandy]

You can take the bar anywhere you want.

However, yes, it will be very difficult to find a job in New England if you go to schools like Miami, UNC, etc.

Edit: To be clear, if you go to a school like UGA, UNC, Emory, etc. it isn't that they won't hire you as much as career services can't/won't help you.

[bhan87]

Possible? Yes, but it gets more and more difficult to do so as you exit the T14 (and even at the lower levels of the T14, the national reach becomes murky). Beyond the "national" schools, law schools become highly regional because most of the employment connections each school makes is in the area of the school. This means that there's no rule that prohibits a UMiami grad from practicing in say... Massachusetts, but the likelihood a UMiami grad will find a job there is pretty small.

[Miami781]

thank you for the response, good to know, I am also planning on applying to B.C. Law, however I cant seem to find any other top law schools I want to go to in the new england area, maybe Northeastern?

[ran12]

Northeastern is a bad option. Costs way too much and gives way too little. Seems like you're trying to go to a big sports school which would be a horrible way to pick your law school if that is indeed what you're doing. BU and UConn are good options for New England.

[boilerplated]

The farther you stray the harder it will be, but if you really want to go south and can't pull an elite school (i.e., Duke, UVA), you should at least look for a private school with some national name recognition. WashU, Emory and maybe Wake Forest come to mind.

[WSJ_Law]

subtle anti-W&L trolling

[CanadianWolf]

If the law school attended is an accredited ABA law school, then, after graduation, you can take the bar in any US state, possession or territory & Washington D.C.

If, however, the law school is only accredited by a state--such as California--then graduates are only eligible to sit for a few state bars.