Option 1
Coursework
The courses in your study plan, live, plus the certificate and the addendum to your evaluation when you finish.
Training
Live classes with lawyers and Foreign Legal Consultants, so you master U.S. law and its language. Classes are taught in Spanish, with the essential legal terminology in English. Start with one course or follow the full program.
Three ways to study with NAFA
Individual courses
One course at a time, live, over 12 weeks. To strengthen your U.S. law or your legal English without committing to a full program. Open to everyone, with a member price.
$700 per live course
Members: $595
See the coursesThe full program (homologación y reválida)
The complete plan: the courses your evaluation recommends, live, and, if you want it, support with your application for admission.
See the programWith Vocational Rehabilitation
If you are a client of a state VR program, your training may be covered. We bill your counselor directly.
How it works with VRThe full program (homologación y reválida)
The complete program to bring your legal training in line with the U.S. system. It starts with your credential evaluation, which tells you which courses you need, and continues with those courses, live, in small groups, with lawyers and Foreign Legal Consultants. The program is for NAFA members.
Our courses are optional, complementary training for foreign-trained lawyers who want to practice here: how the U.S. legal system works, the federal and state law of the areas most used in practice, and legal English. They give you more confidence if you decide to apply for an admission route, such as Foreign Legal Consultant certification or in-house counsel registration, but they are not a Foreign Legal Consultant course and do not replace any requirement of your state's bar or court. You can apply on your own; with NAFA, you don't do it alone.
Option 2
Coursework with support
Everything in Option 1, plus our support if you decide to apply for an admission route, such as Foreign Legal Consultant certification or the bar exam: guidance and advice from start to finish, professional preparation for your practice area, and UNPAM's credential evaluation work.
The fee depends on the courses your evaluation recommends. Write to us and we will send you your plan and its cost.
To enroll, you need your credential evaluation and NAFA membership.
UNPAM scholarships
UNPAM offers scholarships of $2,000 to $6,000 for the full program (homologación y reválida) to those who demonstrate financial need. A scholarship covers part of the cost of the program and does not have to be repaid.
- Be enrolled in the full program (homologación y reválida).
- Hold a university or professional degree earned outside the United States.
- Demonstrate financial need with UNPAM's scholarship application form.
- You do not need to be a U.S. citizen or resident, or to live here.
Ask us for the form, fill it out and send it to us with your enrollment, indicating the program. Request the form
NAFA's courses do not grant academic credit and do not replace the studies at an ABA-approved law school that some states require before you can sit for the bar exam. Your UNPAM evaluation, on the other hand, can help you with universities, employers and other institutions that accept private evaluations; since each one decides for itself and rules change, ask them first. The addendum records what you studied; it does not change the equivalency of your degree.
When you finish the program
Your training is documented, so you can show it.
Certificate of completion
A NAFA certificate that documents the program you completed.
Addendum to your evaluation
UNPAM adds the courses, hours and dates of your training to your credential evaluation. If you do not complete the program, the addendum lists the courses you did finish.
Letter of recommendation
A letter from the association to present to employers and institutions.
How we teach
Live, 12 weeks
Live classes in our virtual classroom, with time for your questions, and the course materials always at hand.
Spanish and English
Classes are taught in Spanish, so you understand each topic fully, and you learn to practice it in English, with the terminology used in the United States. Legal English (L101) is taught in both languages.
Small groups
Small groups, so your professor gets to know you and you can take part.
Professors who practice
Lawyers and Foreign Legal Consultants with experience in the United States and Latin America.
Is Spanish not your language? Apart from Legal English (L101), our courses are taught in Spanish for now. We want to offer classes in more languages. Let me know when there are classes in my language
In preparation
These programs are not open yet. If you are interested in one, let us know and we will write to you when enrollment opens.
First up
Legal English Program
L100, English for beginners (ESOL), and L102, business English and the topics of the UK legal English exams. They complete L101, Legal Terminology and Intensive English, the entry course, which is already open. Together they build the skills measured by the TOEFL and the IELTS and the terminology of the first law courses. Each course is taken separately.
It builds TOEFL and IELTS skills, but it does not replace those tests when a university requires them.
Let me know when it opensComing soon
Bar exam preparation
A review program for those who are going to sit for their state's bar exam.
Let me know when it opensComing soon
Program for paralegals
Courses for paralegals and legal assistants who work, or want to work, in the United States. Meanwhile, what the job requires is covered in our Careers section, in Spanish: “Paralegal y asistente legal”.
Let me know when it opensStart with your evaluation
It tells you which courses you need and which route to follow, before you invest in them.