Legal education is the education of individuals who intend to become legal professionals or those who simply intend to use their law degree to some end, either related to law (such as politics or academic) or business. It includes:
- First degrees in law, which may be studied at either undergraduate or graduate level depending on the country.
- Vocational courses which prospective lawyers are required to pass in some countries before they may enter practice.
- Higher academic degrees.
Legal education (general)
In addition to the qualifications required to become a practicing lawyer, legal education also encompasses higher degrees such as doctorates, for more advanced academic study.
In many countries other than the United States, law is an undergraduate degree. Graduates of such a program are eligible to become lawyers by passing the country's equivalent of a bar exam. In such countries, graduate programs in law enable students to embark on academic careers or become specialized in a particular area of law.
In the United States, law is a professional doctorate degree known as a Juris Doctor. Students embark upon only after completing an undergraduate degree in some other field (usually a bachelor's degree), and is considered to be a first professional degree program. The undergraduate degree can be in any field, though most American lawyers hold bachelor's degrees in the humanities and social sciences; legal studies as an undergraduate study is available at a few institutions. American law schools are usually an autonomous entity within a larger university.
Faculty of law is another name for a law school or school of law, the terms commonly used in the United States. This term is used in Canada, other Commonwealth countries and the rest of the world. It may be distinguishable from law school in the sense that a faculty is a subdivision of a university on the same rank with other faculties, i.e. faculty of medicine, faculty of graduate studies, whereas a law school or school of law may have a more autonomous status within a university, or may be totally independent of any other post-secondary educational institution.
In addition in some countries, including the United Kingdom, Canada and some states of Australia, the final stages of vocational legal education required to qualify to practice law are carried out outside the university system. The requirements for qualification as a barrister or as a solicitor are covered in those articles. See advocate for details of the requirements for qualification as an advocate in Scotland.
Australia
Main article: List of law schools in AustraliaIn Australia most reputable universities offer law as a (high school) graduate-entry course (LLB, 4 years), or combined degree course (e.g., BSc/LLB, BCom/LLB, BA/LLB, BE/LLB, 5–6 years). Some of these also offer a three-year postgraduate Juris Doctor(JD) program. Bond University in Queensland runs three full semesters each year, teaching from mid-January to late December. This enables the Bond University Law Faculty to offer the LLB in the usual 8 semsters, but only 2 2/3 years. They also offer a JD in two years. The University of Technology, Sydney will from 2010 offer a 2 year accelerated JD program
In 2008 the University of Melbourne introduced the Melbourne Model, whereby Law is only available as a graduate degree, with students having to have completed a three-year bachelor's degree (usually an Arts degree) before being eligible. Students in combined degree programs would spend the first 3 years completing their first bachelor degree together with some preliminary law subjects, and then spend the last 2-3 years completing the law degree. Alternatively, one can finish any bachelor degree, and providing their academic results are high, apply for graduate-entry into a 3-year LLB program. Some law schools are located at The Australian National University (ANU), Flinders University, Bond University, Macquarie, Monash, Deakin, UNSW, Adelaide, Sydney, Melbourne, Queensland University of Technology, and the University of Queensland.
Canada
Main article: List of law schools in CanadaIn Canada, the situation is somewhere between that of the U.S. and the majority of the rest of the world. The first-professional degree in law is the Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) or the Juris Doctor (J.D.) for common law jurisdictions and the Bachelor of Laws, Licenciate of Law or Bachelor of Civil Law for Quebec, a civil law jurisdiction. While technically most of Canada's common-law law schools will allow people to apply to study law after only two or three years of study in an undergraduate programme in another field, the vast majority of those who are admitted have already earned at least an undergraduate (bachelor's) degree. In the case of Quebec civil law degrees, students can be admitted after CEGEP. Some Canadian schools are considering transitioning from the LL.B. to J.D.
Generally, entry into common-law LL.B. programs in Canada is based almost exclusively on a combination of the student's grades as well as their score on the Law School Admission Test (LSAT). This is, at the time of writing, different from Medical School admission, where factors such as community involvement, personal character, extracurricular activities and references are taken into account, with the admission test (MCAT) having only a small influence on the admission decision. However, Osgoode Hall Law School, McGill University, University of Calgary and the University of Windsor law schools takes into account those personal factors. Quebec civil-law law schools do not require the LSAT, nor does Université de Moncton law school which offers the common-law LL.B. program in French only. In the case of the University of Ottawa's common-law law school, the LSAT is required for the program given in English but not for the program given in French. The requirement for the LSAT is likely because it is generally believed that a student who performs well on the LSAT will generally perform well both at law school as well as a legal practitioner. Most law schools receive far more applicants than they can accommodate; the examination offers admissions officers a simple and generally effective way to eliminate a large number of applicants from the pool.
Unlike the United States, all of Canada's law schools are affiliated with public universities, and are thus public institutions. There are no vast disparities in the quality of students (top students tend to stay within their respective regions for reasons of cost, with some schools having slightly stronger pull than others) and teaching at these institutions (as there are between tier 1 and tier 4 institutions in the US). Further, owing to strict limits place by provincial law societies on the number and quality of law graduates, entry to all Canadian law schools is intensely competitive. Many schools focus on their respective regions, as many graduates remain in the region in which the school is located. By virtue of the number of schools, Canadian law schools have stronger connections to their respective regions and provincial law societies than US schools. It is not unusual in some provinces for the majority of members of the Barreau (law society) to come from one or two schools in the area.
After completing the Juris Doctor, LL.B. or equivalent, students must article for one year. (In Quebec, " stage " is the equivalent to "articling".) This can be a challenge for those with lower grades, as there are often a shortage of articling positions and completion of articles is required to be able to practise law in Canada. Articling involves on the job training, for low pay, working under the supervision of a lawyer licensed by the Provincial Bar (e.g., the Law Society of British Columbia) who has been practising for a minimum of 5 years. After a year of articling and call to the bar, many students are hired by the same lawyer or firm for which they articled, some start their own independent practices while others choose to work for a different firm. Others may leave the private practice of law to work in government or industry as a lawyer or in a law-related position.
In Canada, the vast majority of lawyers do not seek an academic degree in law, such as a Master of Laws, unless they intend to become a professor at a law school or they are practising lawyers taking an LL.M. program geared to practising lawyers to gain or expand knowledge in a specialized area of law.
China, People's Republic of
Main article: Law_of_the_People's_Republic_of_China#Legal_educationFrance
Law in France is studied in a law school which is an entity within a larger university.
Legal education starts immediately after high school (there are no French Grandes écoles in law).
Unlike the United States, French law schools are affiliated with public universities, and are thus public institutions.
As a consequence, law schools are required to admit anyone holding the baccalauréat however the failure rate is extremely high (up to 70%) during the first two years of the "licence de droit".
There are no vast disparities in the quality of French law schools. Many schools focus on their respective city and region.
Law school
The law school program is divided following the European standards for university studies (Bologna process) :
- first a license program : three-year period
- Then a Master of
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