PANGEA3 LLC

We are proud to announce that one of Pangea3’s attorneys, Naina Hegde, has passed the New York Bar. Naina is a member of an elite number of Indian attorneys from LPO providers who have passed a U.S. bar exam. We are proud of Naina’s accomplishments and wish her well on her career as a U.S. attorney.

Read Naina’s journey through her pursuit of an LL.M. degree to taking the NY Bar exam.

David Perla, Co-CEO

Passing the Bar Exam
Naina Hegde, Senior Contracts Manager

Once I moved to New Jersey, the fact that I am a lawyer in India meant almost nothing. If I wanted to continue practicing law, the only solution was to pass a U.S. Bar exam. Unlike California, the state of New York requires foreign attorneys to complete a prescribed course of study in an accredited law school to be eligible to take the state’s bar exam. So there I was in Cardozo Law School, pursuing an LL.M. degree.

LL.M. students at Cardozo were not separated from the J.D. students. We all took the same classes and exams. Most professors made it clear on the first day that class participation is required and no exceptions would be made. We were all like deer - either choose to get caught in the headlights or steer clear (by being prepared for every class, which meant reading hundreds of pages every week). The class atmosphere was always charged and thought-stimulating, with arguments (sometimes sensical, sometimes not) frequently flying back and forth. We all wanted to make the smartest comment, as some professors graded on participation. There was a lot to learn by being in a class comprised of foreign trained attorneys and future American attorneys. The differences in attitude, thinking and presentation were stark. What really struck me was the willingness of students to openly disagree and argue with the professor and the professor taking all of it surprisingly well.

My LL.M. studies were a cake walk compared to the pressure I felt during my bar exam preparation - 2 months of waking up early in the morning, sitting in front of a screen for four hours, listening to a professor’s monologue, then studying at least four additional hours at home. Bar/Bri, the bar review course, recommended nine hours of study every day, excluding class time. There were days when I wanted to quit, throw my books out the window, and then days when I was confident I was studying enough to pass. However, more agonizing than preparing for and taking the exam was waiting for the results. On the day results were announced, 11,176 applicants started logging into a website at 9am and the system crashed! My fate was published, only I couldn’t access it! It was only after hours of anxious attempts that I discovered I had passed. Phew! This was the most exhilarating and relieving moment. All the hard work paid off and, most importantly, I did not have to spend hours cramming again. Finally, I can say I am an attorney in New York.