IN RE: VICTOR YISA JIMMY CHARLES WEBB V. KENTUCKY BAR ASSOCIATION
Annotate this Case
Download PDF
TO BE PUBLISHED
,*UyrrMr (~Vurf of `gtrufur'k
2009-SC-000470-CF
IN RE : VICTOR YISA
IN SUPREME COURT
OPINION AND ORDER
DENYING RELIEF
Victor Yisa is an attorney licensed to practice law in the Federal Republic
of Nigeria. The Board of Bar Examiners of the Kentucky Office of Bar
Admissions (hereinafter "Board") denied Mr. Yisa's application to take the
Kentucky Bar Examination, on the grounds that his Nigerian legal education
was not the substantial equivalent of the education at a Kentucky law school .
Mr. Yisa now requests we review and overturn the Board's determination.
Having reviewed the Board's determination, we deny relief.
BACKGROUND
From 1984 to 1988, Mr. Yisa attended the University of Jos, where he
received a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B .) degree . The LL.B. degree is the most
commonly awarded law degree outside the United States . In many countries,
including Nigeria, the LL. B . is a bachelor's degree, awarded without prior
undergraduate education.
World Education Services (WES) evaluated Mr. Yisa's educational
credentials, and. Mr. Yisa included WES's educational summary and course-bycourse analysis with his bar application. Mr. Yisa's first year of LL.B .
education focused on introductory classes, while the remaining three years
were comprised entirely of law classes. Mr. Yisa's classes included, but were
not limited to, Law of Contract, Criminal Law, Constitutional Law, Nigerian
Land Law, Law of Torts, Criminal Civil Procedure, Equity, Trusts, Evidence,
Law of Agency, Administrative Law, Jurisprudence, Family Law, and Research
Methodology . WES's report stated that, while Mr. Yisa's education at the
University of Jos was an undergraduate degree, "[t]he last three years of the
program may also be regarded as three years of professional study in law ."
After graduating with an LL.B. degree, Mr. Yisa attended the Nigerian
Law School, a one-year program of professional legal study required for
admission to the practice of law in Nigeria. WES's report explained that "[t]he
program prepares candidates for the Nigerian bar examination and
complements the academic training offered in the bachelor's degree program."
Upon graduation from the Nigerian Law School, Mr . Yisa received a Certificate
of Call to the Bar.
Mr. Yisa then took the bar examination in Nigeria, was admitted to the
bar, and practiced law in Nigeria for approximately 15 years. During that time,
he served as counsel for corporations, and also worked in private practice. In
December 2006, Mr. Yisa and his family immigrated to the United States .
In August 2008, Mr. Yisa contacted the Board, seeking to take the
Kentucky Bar Examination.) He requested an evaluation of his academic
credentials to determine whether his Nigerian legal education was the
"substantial equivalent" of the legal education at a Kentucky law school, as
required by SCR 2.014(3) . To that end, the Board retained the services of W.
Jack Grosse, Dean Emeritus of Northern Kentucky University Chase College of
Law. Professor Grosse opined that Mr. Yisa did not meet the "substantial
equivalent" requirement. He based this opinion on the fact that (1) Mr. Yisa's
total earned credit hours were "far short of the equivalent" of the combined
requirements for an undergraduate and a law school education in Kentucky,
(2) Mr. Yisa's LL.B . was essentially an undergraduate degree, (3) Mr. Yisa had
not studied a "very large number of courses provided by Kentucky law schools,"
and (4) Mr. Yisa's case was distinguishable from that of a Nigerian lawyer
admitted in Massachusetts.2 Mr. Yisa had an opportunity to respond to
Professor Grosse's report, and did so.
In a letter dated May 13, 2009, the Board provided Mr. Yisa with an
"informal opinion" that he did not meet the necessary requirements :
The Bar Examiners have expressed the opinion that
your Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of
1
2
Mr. Yisa also took and received a passing score on the Multistate Professional
Responsibility Examination (MPRE).
Osakwe v. Board of Bar Examiners, 858 N.E .2d 1077 (Mass. 2006) . This case is
discussed below.
Jos and your one year of study at the Nigerian Law
School are not the substantial equivalent of the legal
education provided by ABA-approved law schools in
Kentucky . The deficiencies in your legal education
include, but are not limited to, the omission of courses
in Constitutional Law, Negotiable Instruments, Wills
and Estate Planning, ADR, Environmental Law and
Taxation .
Mr. Yisa subsequently formally applied to take the Kentucky Bar Examination,
and was rejected for the reasons stated in the May 13 letter . Mr. Yisa then
filed a Motion for Review of that decision with this Court.
ANALYSIS
SCR 2 .014(1) requires all applicants for admission to the Kentucky Bar
to have received a J .D. or equivalent degree from a law school approved by the
American Bar Association (ABA) or the Association of American Law Schools
(AALS) . SCR 2 .014 provides for two exceptions to this general rule: one for
applicants who graduated from a non-approved law school that meets certain
requirements, and one for foreign-educated lawyers.4 The latter of these, SCR
2 .014(3), provides as follows :
(3) An attorney who received a legal education in a
foreign country and is not eligible for admission by
virtue of not having attended a law school approved by
the American Bar Association or the Association of
American Law Schools may nevertheless be considered
for admission by examination provided the attorney
satisfies the following requirements:
(a) The foreign attorney's legal education is the
substantial equivalent of the legal education provided
by approved law schools located in Kentucky. The
3 SCR 2 .014(2) .
4 SCR 2. 01 4(3) .
applicant shall bear the cost of the evaluation of their
legal education, as determined by the Board, and the
application shall not be processed until the applicant's
legal education is approved by the Board of Bar
Examiners .
(b) In evaluating the education received the Board of
Bar Examiners shall consider, but not be limited to,
such factors as the admission of the applicant to the
bar of another state or the District of Columbia, the
similarity of the curriculum taken to that offered in
law schools approved by the American Bar Association
or by the Association of American Law Schools, that
the schools at which the applicant's legal education
was received has been examined and approved by
other state bar associations examining the legal
qualifications of foreign law school graduates, and the
applicant's proficiency in written and spoken English.
(c) The applicant shall, in order to qualify to sit for the
Bar examination, also submit a certified copy of the
record or license of the court or agency which admitted
the applicant to practice law in such country, and
satisfy the requirement that the applicant has been
actively and substantially engaged in the lawful
practice of law as his or her principal business or
occupation for at least three of the last five years
immediately preceding the filing of the application, in
addition to any other requirements authorized by
these rules.
With regard to Mr. Yisa, the sole issue is whether his Nigerian legal education
is the substantial equivalent of that provided by approved Kentucky law
schools . 5
In denying his bar application, both Professor Grosse and the Board
relied heavily on the fact that Mr. Yisa's LL.B . degree was a bachelor's degree .
5 As a preliminary matter, we take judicial notice of the fact that the Federal Republic
of Nigeria is an English-speaking nation, and that its jurisprudence, like that of
Kentucky, is based on the English common law.
In particular, Professor Grosse stated that approved law schools in Kentucky
require an undergraduate degree for admission, which usually consists of 120
credit hours. This, combined with the approximately 90 credit hours of law
school education, results in "approximately 210 hours of educational
instruction." By contrast, Mr. Yisa has earned a combined total of 159 credit
hours. 6 In short, Mr. Yisa has had five years of post-high school education, as
compared to the seven years of Kentucky law school graduates.
There is some merit to Mr. Yisa's contention that SCR 2.014(3) requires a
substantially equivalent education, and is not concerned with whether he
satisfies the admission requirements for Kentucky law schools . However, we
believe that the requirement of a bachelor's degree for admission to law school
is a substantive part of an attorney's legal education, and not merely a
technical admission requirement. Most law schools in the United Statesincluding Kentucky's three ABA-accredited law schools-have made the
determination that their students should obtain a bachelor's degree prior to
enrolling. Whether an applicant has obtained a bachelor's degree prior to law
school is a legitimate consideration in determining whether his or her
education is the substantial equivalent of that provided by a Kentucky law
school .
In support of his argument that his Nigerian legal education is
substantially equivalent to a Kentucky legal education, Mr. Yisa points to
6 The report referred to Mr. Yisa's "total of only 129 hours (U.S. equivalent) ." This fails
to take into account Mr. Yisa's 30 credit hours earned at the Nigerian Law School.
Osakwe v. Board of Bar Examiners, in which the Supreme Judicial Court of
Massachusetts held that a Nigerian attorney's education was equivalent to that
of an ABA-approved American law school .? In fact, Osakwe appears to be the
only published case . in the United States dealing with the admission of an
attorney educated in Nigeria.
Osakwe's legal education in Nigeria was similar, if not almost identical,
to Mr. Yisa's education. Osakwe graduated from the University of Nigeria with
an LL.B . degree .$ He then attended the Nigerian Law School., and passed the
Nigerian bar examination .9 Mr. Yisa relies on the Supreme Judicial Court's
statements that Osakwe's "initial common-law training was similar not just in
name, but also in substance, to that found in ABA-approved schools[,]" 1° and
that "[s]tudents earning the LL.B . degree may have undertaken the same
focused study in law as those earning the J .D. degree in the United States .
Our analysis here focuses on the nature and quality of Osakwe's education, not
the formal title of his degrees." 11
In making its determination, the Osakwe court had access to course
descriptions from the two Nigerian schools . 12 Unfortunately, this Court has
7 858 N.E .2d 1077 (Mass. 2006) . Similar to Kentucky, Massachusetts requires that
applicants educated at foreign law schools have a "legal education equivalent, in the
Board's opinion, to that provided in law schools approved by the American Bar
Association ." Mass. S.J.C. Rule 3:01, § 3.4.
8 Osakwe, 858 N.E.2d at 1078 .
9 Id.
10 Id. at 1083.
1 1 Id. at 1078 n.1 .
12 Id . at 1083 .
not been provided with anything so detailed . But nevertheless, the analysis of
Osakwe's Nigerian education led the court to conclude only that Osakwe had
"sufficient general exposure to the common-law tradition." 13 The court went on
to analyze whether Osakwe. had "specific knowledge of American
law."14
It is
here that Mr. Yisa's education differs from that of Osakwe .
In addition to his Nigerian legal education, Osakwe had earned a master
of laws (LL.M.) degree from the University of Connecticut School of Law. 15 He
had been admitted to practice in New York, Connecticut, and the United States
District Court for the District of Connecticut, and had practiced immigration
law for several years. 16 In taking this into account, the Massachusetts
Supreme Judicial Court held that "[wahatever deficiencies there may have been
in Osakwe's exposure to American law in particular were, we think, cured by
his LL. M . program . . . ." 17 While the decision of another state regarding bar
admissions is certainly not binding on this Court, we find Osakwe instructive
and conclude that Osakwe's education was equivalent to an American legal
education in a way that Mr. Yisa's education was not. We also believe other
cases cited by Mr. Yisa are distinguishable . 18
Id . at 1084.
14 Osakwe, 858 N.E.2d at
1084 .
15 Id. at 1079.
16 Id. Osakwe
had also earned a legal certificate in Trinidad and Tobago and had been
admitted to practice in that country. Id.
17 Id. at 1083.
1$ See In re Schlittner, 704 P.2d 1343 (Ariz. 1985) (attorney with LL .B. from the
University of Wales admitted where LL.B. was a three-year degree following a
13
In addition, the record before us does not provide enough information
about Mr. Yisa's LL.B. courses to make an informed determination about the
quality and substance of his education . WES's course-by-course analysis
consists only of the names of each course, the U .S. equivalent credit- hours,
and the U.S. equivalent grade . Mr . Yisa argued that many of his alleged
coursework deficiencies did not in fact exist, because the subjects were
adequately covered in courses he did take. This may or may not be the case,
but the record before us simply does not provide enough information . 19
Finally, we feel it necessary to address portions of the Board's rationale
for concluding that Mr. Yisa's legal education did not meet the "substantial
equivalent" requirement. In its May 13 letter, the Board cited the fact that Mr.
Yisa had not taken courses in ADR (alternative dispute resolution) and
environmental law, among other courses, as reasons for denying his
application . Professor Grosse also cited Mr. Yisa's deficiency in these courses
in his report.
These courses, when offered at all, are electives at most law schools.
This strikes this Court as an overly strict application of the "substantial
equivalent" standard . Obviously, foreign applicants are not necessarily
required to obtain a J.D. , nor are they expected to have exactly the same legal
bachelor's degree, and court was satisfied that his legal education was equivalent to
that of an ABA-approved law school) .
19 We emphasize that Mr. Yisa is free to reapply to take the Bar Examination upon
obtaining further credentials. The Board makes the initial determination about
whether a foreign applicant meets the "substantial equivalent" standard. Therefore,
the Board can approve a course of study that would satisfy the requirements of SCR
2.014(3) .
education as they would have received at an American law school . If this were
the rule, it would render SCR 2.014(3) completely meaningless. Nevertheless,
in this case, we do not believe Mr. Yisa has satisfied the requirements of the
rule.
CONCLUSION
Based on the record before this Court, we cannot conclude that Mr.
Yisa's legal education is the substantial equivalent of that provided by
Kentucky's three ABA-approved law schools . Mr. Yisa's LL.B. degree, combined
with one year of professional study, cannot be said to be the substantial
equivalent of a bachelor's degree and three years of law school . In addition, the
record before us does not provide enough information about Mr. Yisa's LL. B.
courses to make an informed determination about the quality and substance of
his education.
ORDER
This matter is before the Court on motion of Victor Yisa to overturn the
Board of Bar Examiners' denial. of his application to take the Kentucky Bar
Examination. The Court having reviewed the record and being otherwise fully
and sufficiently advised;
The Court ORDERS that the motion is DENIED.
All sitting. All concur.
ENTERED: November 25, 2009 .
10
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
