Free Career and Job Search Advice

callandor · Newbie Joined: 15 Mar 2008 Posts: 2 Career Advice: +0/-0

Hi, I have a bachelor's degree in law from the Philippines. We use the same case method and socratic method in law school as is used here in the US. The problem is that my law school, as most in the Philippines, awards and LL.B. and not a J.D. like here in the States. My research, however, tells me that they are equivalent. In fact, The US also used LL.B. prior to J.D. and some schools here still use LL.B.. My question is: Can I put in my resume that I have a J.D.? Also, some recruiting sites have drop-down boxes for choosing your educational attainment with the option of choosing J.D.; Should I choose that instead of Bachelor's degree? Thanks in advance.

Pauloz · Posted: Sat Mar 15, 2008 11:11 pm Post subject:

callandor

This could be a particularly aggravating problem. Educational assessments and equivalents are picky, sometimes misleading, and even the assessments are open to debate.

Because you're in law, you need some sort of portable official accreditation that can't be denied. It'd be a maddening process having to do a special assessment per job application, or having to convince an employer of your credentials on a regular basis. The last thing an employer wants in a job application is any doubt about the basics.

This is the American Bar Association website. I suggest you check it out, it's useful information anyway. There are a lot of useful resources, too.

http://www.abanet.org/

Meanwhile, I think you should approach your local bar association directly, explain the problem. The US has lawyers from all over the world, and your case should be pretty easy to solve.

Also useful are the colleges. They do get a lot of foreign students, and they have to know how to assess existing qualifications.

The rule here is "Don't guess".

callandor · Newbie Joined: 15 Mar 2008 Posts: 2 Career Advice: +0/-0

Thanks a lot, Paul. I regularly visit the ABA website and will check their resources. I heard that World Education Services and Josef Silny (both have online presence) do provide foreign education equivalency services. However, I'm not familiar with them. Perhaps some forum members have some experience with them.

Pauloz · Posted: Wed Apr 02, 2008 1:18 am Post subject:

callandor

Sorry for delay in getting back to you. Email notifications not very reliable, apparently.

World Education Services http://www.wes.org/

This costs money, and I'd suggest you do some independent assessment of how useful it is.

The Credential Evaluation link, on the right of the page, raises a few doubts.

The other problem is that this isn't an official accreditation. WES may be a good thing, but there's no legal obligation for acceptance of its findings. It may be a useful indicator of equivalents, but not definitive, and employers don't have to accept it.

Particularly in law, that matters. You're in a highly competitive field, and anything can and will be held against you.

Frankly, I'd get on the bus and go for documented proof of an educational equivalent from a government source or approved legal authority.

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