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In a nutshell, I'm an American who is currently a 2L student at Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto, Canada. I went through the OCI process here and landed a 2L summer job at a large Bay St. firm in Toronto.

I eventually want to move back to the states (Southern California) and was wondering if anyone could advise me on how to go about this? My understanding is that for foreign degrees the California bar requires me to pass the bar elsewhere before I can take the bar (unless I take some classes) in which then I imagine I have two options: 1) Take the NY bar after I graduate, then take the California bar or 2) take the Ontario bar and complete my 1 year of articling, then take the California bar. Could anyone confirm this? Also, how would/should I go about planning my move back to California? How and when do I apply to these firms (I'm talking mainly about the big corporate law firms)? What are my realistic chances competing against the American schools and would it be an advantage to apply after articling since I'll have 1 year of experience?

Any advice/guidance would be appreciated!

Other than the weather, why would you want to come to California? The market is shit shit shit there. The risk/reward is not great, especially if you already have a Bay St. position.

Thanks for the reply!

Yea, see I have no clue regarding the market, which firms are even good, what my chances are...etc etc.

The reason why I'm scoping out California is because that's my home. I was born and raised there but moved out here about 4 years ago after I got married to my wife who is Canadian. We (I especially haha) want to move back eventually so I thought I would start researching how I would go about doing that.

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I think you would have a hard time competing against American applicants for any job that wouldn't be a big step backwards from your Bay St. gig. Why did you go for a Canadian degree if you wanted to move back to CA???

Thanks for the reply seatown. I imagine I would be at a disadvantage coming in but I also think taking a step backwards early in my career would be better in the long run as opposed to trying to make the move later on- it may just not be worth it.

As for why I ended up at a Canadian law school if I wanted to move back, like I mentioned in an earlier post, I met my wife who is Canadian and moved out here a few years ago. I didn't know I would be going to law school at the time nor did I know we would seriously consider moving back to California. So fast forward a few years, I'm in law school and now that we're seriously considering moving back, I'm trying to figure out when and how would be best!

Thanks again