Foreign Educated New York Attorney Denied Admission Without Examination In West Virginia

The West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals has issued a memorandum decision concluding that a graduate of Bishnu Ram Medhi Government Law College in Guwahati, India is not eligible for admission without examination.

The applicant is admitted in New York and had sought admission in West Virginia on what is “commonly referred to as reciprocity, based on her license to practice in New York.”

The applicant was admitted in New York after obtained a Masters of Law and LLM from Fordham.

The Board of Law Examiners concluded that the applicant failed to satify the educational requirements for admission without examination.

The court agreed, finding that the common law education in India and 24 credit hours at Fordham did not meet the 30 credit requirement for admission based on her graduate work.