r/LawSchool • u/GlowSinghyy • 6d ago
Feasibility of practicing in Texas after doing UK LLB + US LLM or JD
Hi everyone, I am a 17 year old in England planning to study law, and projected to be able to get into a top 5-10 uni for my LLB. I am considering my options and have seen that you can do the Texas bar with a UK LLB + US LLM and can then theoretically practice there (NY and CA I don’t think would be the right fits for me). It seems the path would be F1 visa to study LLM -> bar while on OTP -> H1-B visa -> eventual permanent residency. However, I’m seeing a lot of contradicting information online about this pathway ranging from it being almost straightforward to completely impossible. Also, most of the information is focused on NY and CA (which I would consider but it seems harder for a start). For more context I have dual citizenship with an EU nation + family in America though they don’t work in the legal field so I’m not sure how much this helps. I also have a relative who holds a very senior position in a UK law firm with US offices.
So my actual questions: Does anyone have any practical experience of following this pathway themselves or know anyone who’s done this pathway? Is it realistically possible or is it only possible in theory? Are there any statistics about the % of foreign LLM students who pass the Texas bar? Or about how many foreign lawyers successfully gain sponsored employment / H1B? Is a JD a feasible alternative? If so how do you pay? I have relatively wealthy parents but even then $250,000+ seems borderline impossible. Overall - is it genuinely feasible to become a practicing lawyer in Texas and living there on a long-term basis or not? Thanks for any help and sorry this post was so long.