To be a lawyer in the US, you only have to pass the bar exam, presumably in the state where you are located. Many state bars have reciprocity agreements with o

To be a lawyer in the US, you only have to pass the bar exam, presumably in the state where you are located. Many state bars have reciprocity agreements with other states, so that you can be admitted to the bar in a state you have recently moved to, by applying to the state bar association and providing your credentials with the other state bar association. Oh, and the fee, of course. Some state bar exams are much tougher than others, and they don’t have a reciprocity agreement. New York is one such well known example. The reciprocity situation gets more weird when you talk about moving from one country to another. And the UK situation is also weird, with regards to Solicitors versus Barristers — one type practices law inside the courtroom, while the other type practices law outside the courtroom — and I can never keep straight which is which. Having a JD doesn’t really have any bearing on whether you can pass the bar exams. Source: my wife is a lawyer, she has a JD from Georgetown Law, she is a member of the DC, NY, and TX bar associations, and when we moved to Texas from Belgium in 2006 we had to go through some real wacky stuff with regards to reciprocity.