2005 Newspaper Article
The Australian - July 01, 2005Americans see Aussies as top value
Michael Cameron in New York
A NEW course for Australian-trained lawyers wanting to work in the US has achieved a remarkable success rate in its first year of operation, with 90 per cent of its candidates passing the notorious New York and Californian bar exams.The New York Bar Review Quality Program, founded by Australian lawyer Beatrice O'Brien, has helped more than 200 candidates get through the gruelling process. The results of the program, tailored to meet the demands of foreign-trained lawyers with no exposure to American law, compare to a statewide passing rate of just 47 per cent.As with US local law students, foreign-trained lawyers must sit a standardised law exam (in either February or July each year) to qualify for practice in most states of the US.Australians with an Australian law degree have the advantage of a common law background and are therefore able to bypass the extra education demanded of those from civil law countries such as Germany and France before sitting the exam.However, most still undertake a bar review course (either in Australia or the US) to achieve a minimum level of competency in the 25 examinable subjects.
