Legal News

Law Schools: What to Do About That Third Year??

By Brian Harris

By Jaime Bochet
Of the Legal Staff

In their most recent article, the Editorial Board of YL, the Legal?s special online section for young lawyers, addressed a topic that has a lot of people talking these days: law school reform.

Specifically, the editorial suggests that the law school experience needs to change, from one based on third-year students already having a job in place to one that uses the third year to better train fledgling attorneys for real work in this new uncertain age. (To read more of the Editorial Board's past articles, visit YoungLawyerOnline.com.)

According to the board?s article, ?Given the increased competition in the job market, there can be no question that experience and practical training speak louder than a respectable grade point average and a semester as an academic research assistant.?

The general consensus is that the education students gain from most law schools, while having a huge price tag, does not actually prepare students to make a living as attorneys. The Editorial Board?s take was to change the structure of law school, and make it more like a trade school where students learn the vital skills to practice law, as opposed to an intellectual training ground designed specifically to prepare students to take a test.

But what if we took it one step further? What if, like Roger Gordon ? the 43-year-old law student at Georgetown University Law Center who recently made national headlines ? you would rather take the bar exam after your second year and skip a third year altogether? Gordon is appealing his case to the U.S. Supreme Court, arguing that two years was enough to prepare him to sit for the exam, and he shouldn?t have to incur more debt by staying in school for another year if he can pass now.

Just try envisioning that for a minute: what if the third year was optional? I never went to law school, so personally, I can?t comment on whether that third year is really vital or not. But most of you, readers, did go. What do you think?

If you had been given the option to take the bar exam at the end of your second year, would you have taken advantage? Or would you prefer the YL Editorial Board?s suggestion to make the third year more practical? Comment below or send me an e-mail!

Full post as published by The Legal Intelligencer Blog on November 17, 2010 (boomark / email).