Why Can't Law School Be Completed Over A Five Year Period? Forum

[Bryan]

.

[270910]

I'd like to see it chopped to two years, or even three semesters, and then require an on-the-job apprenticeship before you can sit for the bar. Something similar to a medical residency. Not only would new lawyers not be completely incompetent, employers would have something beyond grades by which to judge applicants--they could see actual work-product.

They have something like this up in Canada. After law school, you need to do a year as an "articling" student before you get called to the bar. I don't know too many details about Canada but the differences between the systems are sort of interesting. All law schools are public and so there apparently isn't the same fascination with rankings and tiers; basically, the government has decided on how many spaces there should be and each law school is more or less equal. There are only 6 in Ontario (population of almost 15 mil, i think), and the class sizes are mostly under 200. Tuition is also frozen and at the schools not in Toronto, it is usually 10 000 or less. In Toronto, I think tuition is closer to 20000.

On the other hand, you only make around 75 000 as an articling student and associates start off between 90 and 100k. This is on Bay Street, which is their equivalent to Wall Street. Also, allegedly, the firm life is slower paced and there are lower billable hours targets. So, maybe Canada is the answer to those who have that dream of doing 80% of the work for 60 or 70% of the pay.

Sounds like a fucking pinko communist scam to me.

[Bryan]

.

[270910]

Admissions are also way more compact. The best school in the country has medians of 3.85 and 167, but if you have lower than a 3.3 or lower than a 155, you probably can't get in to any law school. Also, many schools have weird rules for dropping a certain amount of years or credits from your cGPA so you aren't our of luck if you mess up your first year or two of college.

Sounds like a fucking pinko communist scam to me.

[Renzo]

Admissions are also way more compact. The best school in the country has medians of 3.85 and 167, but if you have lower than a 3.3 or lower than a 155, you probably can't get in to any law school. Also, many schools have weird rules for dropping a certain amount of years or credits from your cGPA so you aren't our of luck if you mess up your first year or two of college.

Sounds like a fucking pinko communist scam to me.

Seriously. They should take a lesson from our capitalist paradise of a legal job market