Can one become an attorney without a law degree?
<p>Can one become an attorney without a law degree in the United States, such as by passing the state bar exam? Which States in the U.S. allow this?</p>

<p>California, Virginia, Vermont, and Washington allow a person to substitute a pattern of study in a judges or lawyer's office. In California, this is per <a href="https://www.calbar.ca.gov/Portals/0/documents/rules/Rules_Title4_Div1-Adm-Prac-Law.pdf" rel="noreferrer">rule 4.29</a> of the California Bar, and <a href="http://www.courts.wa.gov/court_rules/?fa=court_rules.display&amp;group=ga&amp;set=APR&amp;ruleid=gaapr06" rel="noreferrer">rule 6</a> of the Washington Supreme Court. These states require the candidate to be supervised and tutored by a practicing attorney or judge, which makes it challenging to actually satisfy the requirement.
There are also provisions whereby one might substitute the fact of being a practicing lawyer in a common law jurisdiction (which opens the theoretical possibility that one might not have attended law school in that country).</p>

<p>New York allows a person to take the bar exam after &quot;study in a law office&quot; and not just after law school.</p>
<p>See Rule 520.4 (<a href="https://www.nycourts.gov/ctapps/520rules10.htm#2" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.nycourts.gov/ctapps/520rules10.htm#2</a>).</p>
<p>The current version of the rule (my recollection is that it didn't always require this) requires essentially that the 1L curriculum has been taken at a law school, successfully, followed by ~3 years of law office study.</p>

<p><strong>Can one become an attorney without a law degree?</strong></p>
<p><strong><a href="/questions/tagged/england-and-wales" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged &#39;england-and-wales&#39;" aria-label="show questions tagged &#39;england-and-wales&#39;" rel="tag" aria-labelledby="england-and-wales-container">england-and-wales</a></strong></p>
<p><strong>Yes</strong>, assuming &quot;attorney&quot; is synonymous with &quot;solicitor&quot; and not &quot;lawyer&quot; because...</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Unlike terms such as solicitor or barrister, lawyer has no defined meaning in UK law. Anyone can call themselves a lawyer, regardless of whether they have any professional legal qualifications or not.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.sra.org.uk/consumers/choosing/legal-jargon-explained/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Source: SRA</a></p>
</blockquote>
<p>But:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>It is a criminal offence for someone to call themselves a solicitor or act as a solicitor if they are not on the roll of solicitors.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.sra.org.uk/consumers/problems/fraud-dishonesty/bogus-fake-solicitors/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Source: SRA</a></p>
</blockquote>
<p>To qualify as a solicitor without a law degree, one needs to follow the <a href="https://www.sra.org.uk/become-solicitor/sqe/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE)</a> route, and must:</p>
<blockquote>
<ul>
<li><p>have a degree in any subject or equivalent level 6 qualification</p>
</li>
<li><p>pass both stages of the SQE assessment</p>
</li>
<li><p>[<em>have</em>] two years' full-time (or equivalent) qualifying work experience</p>
</li>
<li><p>pass <strike>our</strike> [<em>the SRA</em>] character and suitability requirements.</p>
</li>
</ul>
</blockquote>

united-states legal-education