KatSueKurry

I’m a qualified barrister in England currently working as a lecturer. My practice consists mainly of family work and I lecture in civil, family and advocacy.

I have a masters and several years PQE.

I’m looking at eventually moving to California but unsure on what I can do out there.

I understand that I can take the California bar exams but it’s unclear how easy it would be to secure employment thereafter.

After looking at lecturer posts, it seems that my qualifications may allow me to apply but, again, it’s not clear if my experience would be relevant.

I have experience teaching in secondary schools also, this might be an option?

Are any of these professions likely to be more open to a UK applicant than others?

Is there a shortage of jobs for any of these professions?

Any advice would be welcomed.

Thank you

scrubbedexpat099

Fight fires?

Clean up poop from the streets?

Back to being serious on what basis can you move, are you a US Citizen, are you married to one, jobs hardly matter if you have no basis to move.

KatSueKurry

Fire or poop - choices, choices

I would be hoping to get a temporary, and eventually permanent, work visa. I’m a UK citizen, no family in the US and no other basis to move there on.

RICH

Good talk.

Noorah101

You would have to find a US employer willing to pay thousands of dollars for your work visa, and with your skills and qualifications that seems unlikely to me.

Rene

Rete

Why not find a position with a UK subsidiary of a US parent law firm. From there you can see if you transfer to one of their US offices. I don't know if this will work for an attorney who works with family law but perhaps you can take some additional classes for corporation law.

Rete

My former law firm did sponsor H-1B work visas for attorneys but you are correct not for the type of law this poster specializes in.

KatSueKurry

Yes that’s the trouble I had when looking into joining a UK based US firm, I’m not in the right area of law.

This is what put me off the California bar route - why would a firm choose a UK applicant with visa costs ahead of a US citizen.

I was hoping there might be a need for teachers or lecturers maybe?

I’ve also looked into doing further education, eg a phd, to at least experience living there for a short time but it doesn’t appear as though legal studies attracts any funding.

steph0scope

You could apply for a student visa for your PhD. You will need to find everything yourself, unless you can get some kind of scholarship such as Fulbright.

Pulaski

Why would California need a lecturer in British family law?

Sorry, but you have paddle your career canoe up a creek that does not lead to employment opportunities in the US.

If you sincerely want to pursue your pipe dream, then you are going to need to take several steps backwards onto a different track.

If I might be so bold as to ask, why do you have the desire to relocate to a state that fairly large numbers of Americans are leaving, and which you couldn't pay me enough money to persuade me to move there?

retzie

If OP is genuinely interested in a PhD, this could be the most viable route. I imagine it will involve a big down-grade in lifestyle, though. US grad school can offer some really nice deals, funding-wise, but that is from the perspective of being a recent undergraduate. I don't know if a practicing barrister would find it comfortable, especially in the more desirable locations in California

Note: Fulbright funding usually involves you needing to leave the country afterwards, so watch out for that specifically. It is an outlier in that regard, though.

S Folinsky

I am retired but I sense possilities. But the adage about ways to skin a cat applies. I have experience with immigration of foreign lawyers, but no two cases have ever been the same.

Keherla Hodkinson is a California licensed immigration attorney practicing in London.

Bernard Wolfsdorf is another excellent attorney but in Santa Monica. (Bernie is an immigrant who has long accused me of “talking funny” but I digress).

You really want to consult with experienced immigration counsel.

tom169

scot47

California looks so nice in the movies. Is that why foreigners decide they want to move there ?

neill

Because it's in the movies. I suppose, the climate more than anything. Seriously, the innards (like closer to Vegas, tahoe innards) would actually appeal to me but the coastal area is really the only area with viable employment opportunities, and it's way overcrowded, overpriced, and overtaxed. And polluted. And woke places like SF are getting ridiculous.