A law school in the United States is an educational institution where students obtain a professional education in law after first obtaining an undergraduate degree .
116-657: The S.J. Quinney College of Law is a professional graduate law school under the University of Utah . Located in Salt Lake City, Utah , the school was established in 1913. It is a member of the Association of American Law Schools and is accredited by the American Bar Association . The school is named after S.J. "Joe" Quinney (1893 - 1983), a prominent Utah attorney who also helped develop
232-648: A " tecnólogo " degree and an additional year for a specialization) or as long as eight years (six years for professional degrees, plus two years for a master's "stricto-sensu" degree—typical in medicine or engineering). Education in Canada is governed independently by each province and territory; however, a common framework for degrees was agreed to by the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada, in 2007. This adopted descriptors for bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees that were deliberately similar to those defined by
348-606: A 450-person moot courtroom. According to the USNWR 2024 Law School Rankings, the S.J. Quinney College of Law was named a "Top Tier" Law School and is currently ranked #28 out of 196 law schools in the United States . Utah Law has the second lowest student to faculty ratio at 4.2:1, behind only the University of Arizona. Utah Law also has the third highest first-time in-state bar passage rate, and its environmental law program
464-516: A MS or a PhD that is recognised and equivalent to similar qualifications given in other countries. Students can also provide three to six (often four) years of education leading to a BS. Since the undergraduate education system in Jordan is modeled after its American counterpart, all the degrees are adapted from those of the United States excepting the release of the degree certificate. Once
580-401: A bachelor's degree takes from three years to six years to complete depending on the course load and the program. A bachelor's degree is the title sought by Brazilians in order to be a professional in a certain area of human knowledge. Master's and doctoral degrees are additional degrees for those seeking an academic career or a specific understanding of a field. Even without a formal adhesion to
696-508: A carefully structured three-year graduate program leading to a postbaccalaureate degree. It was also Harvard under Langdell which developed the modern concept of the American law professor, starting with the 1873 hiring of Ames: a career academic with limited practice experience "who was appointed for his scholarly and teaching potential". Before Ames, law school faculty members were either practicing lawyers who did some part-time teaching on
812-583: A college degree for admission, but they also exempted undergraduates enrolled at the same university from that requirement. The underlying obstacle was that at the turn of the 20th century, public education was still in its infancy in most of the United States—a defect which the country was belatedly struggling to correct in what is now known as the Progressive Era . In most areas, there were simply not enough high school or college graduates to fill
928-421: A curve . In most law schools, the first year curve (1L) is considerably lower than courses taken after the first year of law school. Many schools use a "median" grading system, that can range from "B-plus medians" to "C-minus medians". Some professors are obliged to determine which exam or paper was the exact median in terms of quality (e.g., the 26th best out of 51), give that paper the relevant grade depending on
1044-681: A degree certified by the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China . Most bachelor's degree in China needs four years to complete, with the exception that the Bachelor of Medicine degree requires five years. Although some colleges ( Chinese : 专科学校 ), vocational colleges ( Chinese : 职业学院 ) and colleges in some universities offer two or three year programs for students, they can not graduate with any degree, except for those who pass
1160-594: A few years following the American Revolution, some universities such as the College of William and Mary and the University of Pennsylvania established a "Chair in Law". Columbia College appointed its first Professor of Law, James Kent, in 1793. Those who held these positions were the sole purveyors of legal education (per se) for their institutions—though law was, of course, discussed in other academic areas as
1276-473: A final exam in essay form. Most schools impose a mandatory grade curve (see below). After the first year, law students are generally free to pursue different fields of legal study. All law schools offer (or try to offer) a broad array of upper-division courses in areas of substantive law like administrative law , corporate law , international law , admiralty law , intellectual property law , and tax law , and in areas of procedural law not normally covered in
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#17327909798371392-591: A first degree has been completed, although more commonly the successful completion of a bachelor's degree is a prerequisite for further courses such as a master's or a doctorate . In countries with qualifications frameworks, bachelor's degrees are normally one of the major levels in the framework (sometimes two levels where non-honours and honours bachelor's degrees are considered separately). However, some qualifications titled bachelor's degree may be at other levels (e.g., MBBS ) and some qualifications with non-bachelor's titles may be classified as bachelor's degrees (e.g.
1508-446: A forced grading distribution, where a predetermined percentage of students must receive certain grades. For instance, such a system could oblige professors to award a minimum and maximum number of "A's" and "F's" (e.g., 3.5%/7% A's and 4.5%/10% F's). Many professors chafe against the lack of discretion provided by such systems, especially the required failing of a certain number of students whose performance may have been sub-par but not, in
1624-568: A full year-long research thesis project. The map shows how long it takes for students in different countries to get a bachelor's degree. It generally takes between 3 and 6 years. In most African countries, the university systems follow the model of their former colonizing power. For example, the Nigerian university system is similar to the British system, while the Ivorian system is akin to
1740-498: A graduate might receive a diploma Artium Baccalaureatum rite or Artium Baccalaureatum summa cum laude in the regular course or Artium Baccalaureatum summa cum laude in cursu honorum in the honours course. If the student has completed the requirements for an honours degree only in a particular discipline (e.g., English language and literature), the degree is designated accordingly (e.g., "BA with Honours in English"). In this case,
1856-492: A higher academic standard than a pass degree, and in some systems an additional year of study beyond the non-honours bachelor's. Some countries, such as Australia , New Zealand, South Africa and Canada, have a postgraduate "bachelor with honours" degree. This may be taken as a consecutive academic degree, continuing on from the completion of a bachelor's degree program in the same field, or as part of an integrated honours program. Programs like these typically require completion of
1972-464: A law school entering class. In 1899, Cornell University forced its law school to require a high school diploma for admission, like the rest of the university, and the law school saw the size of its entering class crash from 125 to 62. In 1909, Minnesota started to require a single year of college-level work as a prerequisite for law school admission and saw its entering class drop from 203 to 69. Women were not allowed in most law schools during
2088-423: A manner similar to hornbooks ) to a problem-solving method tightly focused on the application of legal rules to specific hypothetical fact patterns (which eventually resulted in a common exam response format known as IRAC ). It is this choice of Langdell's which explains why American law took "the atomistic rather than the unitary approach that distinguishes it from other common-law systems today". The genius of
2204-641: A mastery of practice rather than knowledge; and professional programs, often (but not exclusively) graduate-entry, that prepare graduates to practice as professionals in a specific field. This last category includes graduate-entry degrees titled as if they were doctorates, such as MD, JD and DDS degrees—despite their names, these are considered bachelor's degrees. Bachelor's degrees may take either three or four years to complete and are awarded by colleges and universities. In many universities and colleges, bachelor's degrees are differentiated either as (ordinary) bachelor's or as honours bachelor's degrees. The term "honours"
2320-681: A matter of course—and gave lectures designed to supplement, rather than replace, an apprenticeship. The first institution established for the sole purpose of teaching law was the Litchfield Law School , set up by Judge Tapping Reeve in 1784 to organize the large number of would-be apprentices or lecture attendees that he attracted. Despite the success of that institution, and of similar programs set up thereafter at Harvard University (1817), Dickinson College (1834), Yale University (1843), Albany Law School (1851), and Columbia University (1858), law school attendance would remain
2436-631: A median LSAT score of 165 and median GPA of 3.87. The overall bar passage rate in 2009 was about 85.5%, with 75% passing in February and 90% passing in July. The total cost of attendance (indicating the cost of tuition, fees, and living expenses) at S.J. Quinney School of Law for the 2017–2018 academic year was $ 26,758 for residents and $ 50,816 for non-residents. Campus organizations in alphabetical order include: The S.J. Quinney College of Law currently publishes three legal journals: Law school in
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#17327909798372552-520: A minimum of two years of college before entering, for example, a three-year Bachelor of Science (BSc) or a four-year Bachelor of Engineering (BEng) program. As a consequence, there is no de jure "honours degree" (although some universities market some of their programs as being de facto honours degrees in their English-language materials) but there are some specializations called "concentrations" in French, which are mostly taken as optional courses. In
2668-408: A number of degrees named after specific subjects, such as Bachelor of Library and Information. In Kenya, university education is supported by the government. A bachelor's degree is awarded to students who successfully complete a three to seven-year course depending on the area of study. For most degree programs, a research project and an internship period after which a report is written by the student
2784-507: A rare exception in the profession. Apprenticeship would be the norm until the 1890s, when the American Bar Association (which had been formed in 1878) began pressing states to limit admission to the bar to those who had satisfactorily completed several years of post-graduate instruction. In 1906, the Association of American Law Schools adopted a requirement that law school consist of a three-year course of study. Another key evolution
2900-585: A research report. In Tunisia, a bachelor's degree is referred to as al-ʾijāzah in Arabic, or la license in French ; the degree takes three years to complete and is a part of the LMD ( license , master , doctorat ) reform, students can enroll in a bachelor's degree program in different fields of study after having obtained their baccalauréat (the national secondary education test). The degree
3016-538: A satisfactory score on the Law School Admission Test (LSAT) as prerequisites for admission. Some states that have non-ABA-approved schools or state-accredited schools have equivalency requirements that usually equal 90 credits toward a bachelor's degree. Globally, the requirement of a bachelor's degree is one of the most distinctive features of the American law school. Elsewhere, it is routine to award law degrees to undergraduates. In contrast,
3132-519: A school operated by the United States Army that conducts a post-J.D. program for military attorneys , is also ABA-accredited. Non-ABA approved law schools have much lower bar passage rates than ABA-approved law schools, and do not submit or disclose employment outcome data to the ABA. In addition, individual state legislatures or bar examiners may maintain a separate approval system, which
3248-1009: A senior thesis for degrees in the humanities or laboratory research for natural science (and sometimes social science ) degrees is also required. Five notable exceptions are Reed College , Massachusetts Institute of Technology , The Evergreen State College , Sarah Lawrence College , and Bennington College , which do not have deans' lists, Latin honours recognitions, or undergraduate honours programs or subjects. In Bangladesh, universities and colleges award three- and four-year degrees (three-year degrees courses are called pass courses and four-year degree courses are called honours courses ) in science and business BSc, BBS, BBA, four-year and three months , etc. and three- and four-year degrees in arts (BA, BSS, etc.). Engineering universities provide four-year degree programs for bachelor's degree courses of study (BSc in Eng and BSc). Medical colleges have five-year degree programmes (MBBS, BDS). In law education there
3364-646: A student has fulfilled their course requirements, a graduate certificate will be given. In order to get the degree in some majors of study, a student must finish and pass the dissertation stage; only then will they be awarded a degree credentialed by the Ministry of Higher Education of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. Four years of education is the standard length. Institutes of higher learning in Malaysia provide three or four years of education leading to
3480-427: A student is considered to have completed the basic secondary school while after completed the last two years (10th and 11th grades) is considered to have completed "bachillerato" or high school diploma. This degree can be either academic (the most common) or: After graduating from high-school, hopeful students must take a nationwide exam that determines their eligibility to apply for their desired program, depending on
3596-436: A typical American lawyer must first complete seven years of postsecondary education before they become eligible for a license to practice law. Another significant distinction is that, unlike many other countries where law professors usually hold doctorates, most American law professors have earned only the exact same J.D. degree which will be awarded to the students they are teaching. Though undergraduate GPA and LSAT score are
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3712-439: A written thesis in a particular field. Mexico's regulations established as an obligation in order to receive their license and title the fulfillment of a "social service" to the nation (usually for those who finished their studies in a public institution) as a remuneration to society in the form of social actions, the benefits, as students, were received during training. This requirement takes about six months to one year depending on
3828-651: Is a must before the student is allowed to graduate. In 2012, a number of select colleges were upgraded to university status in a bid to increase the intake of students into degree programs. In Morocco, a bachelor's degree is referred to as al-ʾijāzah (Arabic, French: licence ). The course of study takes three years, which are further divided into two cycles. The first cycle comprises the first, or propaedeutic, year. After successfully completing their first two years, students can pursue either theoretical specialization ( études fondamentales ) or professional specialization ( études professionnelles ). The second cycle
3944-876: Is a two-year LLB degree after completing three years in a BA program for a total of five years of study. There is also a four-year LLB honours degree. The Bachelor of Architecture (BArch) and Bachelor of Pharmacy (BPharm) are professional degrees awarded to students who complete a five-year course of study in the field at some universities. All of these programs begin after achieving the Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC – in total 12 years of school education). There are 13 kinds of statutory bachelor's degrees in China: Bachelor of Philosophy , Economics , Laws , Education , Arts , History, Science , Engineering , Agriculture , Medicine , Management , Military Science, and Fine Arts . Since
4060-496: Is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years (depending on institution and academic discipline ). The two most common bachelor's degrees are the Bachelor of Arts (BA) and the Bachelor of Science (BS or BSc). In some institutions and educational systems, certain bachelor's degrees can only be taken as graduate or postgraduate educations after
4176-453: Is an academic distinction, which indicates that students must achieve their bachelor's degree with a sufficiently high overall grade point average; in addition, some programs may require more education than non-honours programs. The honours degrees are sometimes designated with the abbreviation in brackets of "(Hon(s))". Going back in history, the Bachelor with Honours ( Latin baccalaureatus cum honore , French : baccalauréat spécialisé )
4292-516: Is an upper-level course; most students take it in the 2L year. This requirement was added after the Watergate scandal , which seriously damaged the public image of the profession because President Richard Nixon and most of his alleged co-conspirators were lawyers. The ABA desired to demonstrate that the legal profession could regulate itself , wished to reassert and maintain its position of leadership, and hoped to prevent direct federal regulation of
4408-477: Is double the standard amount of time. For example, one may not study for more than 10 years for a five-year course. Students are normally asked to leave if they must take longer. Nigerian universities offer BSc, BTech (usually from Universities of Technology), BArch (six years), and other specialized undergraduate degrees, such as BEng. Science undergraduate degrees may require six months or a semester dedicated to SIWES (Students Industrial Work Experience Scheme) but it
4524-484: Is in reference to laurels being awarded for academic success or honours. Under the British system , and those influenced by it, undergraduate academic degrees are differentiated between honours degrees (sometimes denoted by the addition of "(Hons)" after the degree abbreviation) and non-honours degrees (known variously as pass degrees , ordinary degrees or general degrees ). An honours degree generally requires
4640-541: Is intended to counter bias by the grader. Each semester students are assigned random numbers, usually by the Registrar's Office, which students must include on their exams. Professors then grade the exams on an anonymous basis, only discovering student names after grades have been submitted to the Registrar's Office. General adoption of blind grading followed admission of significant numbers of minority students to law schools. An Accelerated JD program may refer to one of
4756-474: Is not precluded during the project work, but the courses are fewer and are at an advanced level. Project work is orally defended before the faculty and before peers. In the sciences and engineering a demonstration of the project is usually required. The exceptions are theoretical work. In South Africa, an honours degree is an additional postgraduate qualification in the same area as the undergraduate major, and requires at least one further year of study as well as
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4872-837: Is often disorienting to first-year law students who are more accustomed to taking notes from professors' lectures . Most casebooks do not clearly outline the law; instead, they force the student to interpret the cases and derive the basic legal concepts from the cases themselves. As a result, many publishers market law school outlines that concisely summarize the basic concepts of each area of law, and good outlines are highly sought after by many students, although some professors discourage their use . Legal pedagogy has also been criticized by scholars like Alan Watson in his book, The Shame of Legal Education . Some law schools, such as Savannah Law School , have changed direction and created collaborative learning environments to allow students to work directly with each other and professors in order to model
4988-466: Is one year after whose completion students receive the licence d'études fondamentales or the l icence professionnelle . This academic degree system was introduced in September 2003. University admission is extremely competitive, with attendant advantages and disadvantages. Nonetheless, it takes four to five years to complete a bachelor's degree. In cases of poor performance, the time limit
5104-418: Is open to non-ABA accredited schools. If that is the case, graduates of these schools may generally sit for the bar exam only in the state in which their school is accredited. California is the most famous example of state-specific approval. The State Bar of California 's Committee of Bar Examiners approves many schools that may not qualify for or request ABA accreditation. Graduates of such schools can sit for
5220-464: Is ranked #7 nationally. Several University of Utah law students have been chosen for prestigious internships and clerkships, including four graduates who have served as clerks to Supreme Court Justices . Tyler R. Green, a 2005 graduate of the University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law clerked for Justice Clarence Thomas during the October 2009 term. The 2023 incoming class of 108 students had
5336-449: Is the assured outcome for the majority of students who pay their tuition on time, behave honorably and responsibly, maintain a minimum per-semester unit count and grade point average, take required upper-division courses, and successfully complete a certain number of units by the end of their sixth semester. The ABA also requires that all students at ABA-approved schools take an ethics course in professional responsibility . Typically, this
5452-722: Is typically identical to the program of France's universities, as specified in the LMD reform. Bachelor's degree programs cover most of the fields in Algerian universities, except some fields, such as Medicine and Pharmaceutical Science. Bachelor's degrees at the University of Botswana normally take four years. The system draws on both British and American models. Degrees are classified as First Class, Second Class Division One (2:1), Second Class Division Two (2:2) and Third as in English degrees, but without being described as honours. The main degrees are named by British tradition (Arts, Science, Law, etc.); in recent years, however, there have been
5568-618: Is typically identical to the program of France's universities, as specified in the LMD reform. Most universities in Tunisia offer the 3-year bachelor's degree, except some fields, which are Medicine, Pharmacy, Engineering, Architecture and Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, solely offered by Tunis Business School and lasts 4 years. The region typically confers associates, bachelor's, master's, doctoral, and postdoctoral degrees to graduating students. In Brazil,
5684-587: Is usually mandatory for all engineering degrees. A semester for project work/thesis is required, not excluding course work, during the bachelor thesis in the final year. The classifications of degrees: first-class, second-class (upper and lower), third-class (with honours; i.e., BSc (Hons)) and a pass (no honours). First- and second-class graduates are immediately eligible for advanced postgraduate degrees (i.e., MSc and PhD), but other classes may be required for an additional postgraduate diploma before such eligibility. Furthermore, all graduating students are obliged to do
5800-518: The Alta Ski Area . In 2019 Elizabeth Kronk Warner became the 12th Dean of the S.J. Quinney College of Law, succeeding Robert Adler who had been in place since 2014. She is the first woman and Native American named to deanship in the school's 106-year history. The law school building is located in the south-west corner of campus directly north of the stadium light rail station and Rice–Eccles Stadium . The James E. Faust Law Library (formerly
5916-448: The American Bar Association (ABA) at that time included one of five generic identifiers: "school of law" (118), "college of law" (38), "law school" (28), "law center" (7), and "faculty of law" (1). However, in ordinary speech, "law school" is universally preferred for its "brevity and clarity". In the United States, law schools require a bachelor's degree in any discipline, a satisfactory undergraduate grade point average (GPA), and
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#17327909798376032-469: The Bologna Process . Under the framework, four general forms of bachelor's degree are defined: general programs that provide a broad education and prepare graduates for graduate-entry professional programs or employment generally; in-depth academic programs in a specific subject that prepare graduates for postgraduate study in the field or employment generally; applied programs that concentrate on
6148-478: The Bologna system , a Brazilian "bachelor's" would correspond to a European "first cycle". A Brazilian "bachelor's" takes three to six years for completion, as well as usually a written monograph or concluding project, in the same way that a European bachelor's can be finished in three to four years, after which time Europeans may embark on a one- to two-year 2nd cycle program usually called a "master's", according to
6264-489: The Ford Foundation began disbursing $ 12 million to persuade law schools to make "law school clinics" part of their curriculum. Clinics were intended to give practical experience in law practice while providing pro bono representation to the poor. However, conservative critics charge that the clinics have been used instead as an avenue for the professors to engage in left-wing political activism. Critics cite
6380-533: The Master of Laws (LL.M.) and the Doctor of Juridical Science (J.S.D. or S.J.D.) degrees, which can be more international in scope. Most law schools are colleges , schools or other units within a larger post-secondary institution, such as a university . Legal education is very different in the United States than in many other parts of the world. A 2006 study found that the names of the 192 law schools approved by
6496-588: The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) requirement, which usually takes one year, after which they are eligible to pursue higher degrees. The NYSC is a paramilitary service that involves students' being posted to different parts of the country to serve in various capacities. Principal objectives of the NYSC are to forge national cohesion, encourage students to apply their obtained knowledge to solving problems of rural Nigeria, and others. The NYSC
6612-464: The Scottish MA and Canadian MD ). The term bachelor in the 12th century referred to a knight bachelor , who was too young or poor to gather vassals under his own banner . By the end of the 13th century , it was also used by junior members of guilds or universities. By folk etymology or wordplay, the word baccalaureus came to be associated with bacca lauri ("laurel berry"); this
6728-466: The undergraduate education system in China is modeled after its American counterpart, all of the degrees are adapted from those of the United States except for the issuing of the degree certificate. Once a student has fulfilled their course requirements, a "graduate certificate" will be given. In order to get the degree, a student must finish and pass the dissertation stage; only then will they be awarded
6844-519: The 1870s. Professors lead in-class debates over the issues in selected court cases, compiled into " casebooks " for each course. Under the Harvard approach, law professors do not deliver lengthy lectures and instead use the Socratic method to force students to teach one another, based on their individual understanding of legal theory and the facts of the case at hand. Many law schools continue to use
6960-442: The 204 approved ABA law schools. A decade later, in 2023, J.D. programs enrolled 116,897 students at the 196 institutions then approved by the ABA. As of 2016 , women enrolled in American law schools have outnumbered men. In 2023, over 50 percent of JD students enrolled at ABA -accredited schools were women. To sit for the bar exam , the vast majority of state bar associations require accreditation of an applicant's law school by
7076-476: The 92 American law schools then in existence were already using the Harvard approach, and by 1907, that number was over 30. Langdell's vision that law programs ought to be offered only at the graduate level and result in a postbaccalaureate degree took much longer to spread to all other American law schools. As of 1914, only Harvard and Penn were adhering to that principle. By 1921, the law schools at Stanford, Columbia, Western Reserve , and Yale were requiring
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#17327909798377192-610: The ABA or approved by state bar examiners, and the eligibility of their graduates to sit for the bar exam may vary from state to state. Even in California, for instance, the State Bar deems certain online schools as "registered", meaning their graduates may take the bar exam, but also specifically says the "Committee of Bar Examiners does not approve nor accredit correspondence schools." Kentucky goes further by specifically disqualifying correspondence school graduates from admission to
7308-633: The American Bar Association. The ABA has promulgated detailed requirements covering every aspect of a law school, down to the precise contents of the law library and the minimum number of minutes of instruction required to receive a law degree. As of 2020 , there are 203 ABA-accredited law schools that award the J.D., divided between 202 with full accreditation and one with provisional accreditation. The Judge Advocate General's Legal Center and School in Charlottesville, Virginia ,
7424-522: The Bologna Process. Depending on programs and personal choices, Europeans can achieve a master's degree in as little as four years (a three-year bachelor's and a one-year master's) and as long as six years (a four-year bachelor's, a two-year master's) of higher education. In Brazil it would be possible to have a specialization "lato-sensu" degree—which differs from a Brazilian "stricto-sensu" master's degree—in as little as three years (two years for
7540-423: The French. Bachelor's degrees in Algerian universities are called " الليسانس " in Arabic or la licence in French ; the degree normally takes three years to complete and is a part of the LMD ("licence", "master", "doctorat") reform, students can enroll in a bachelor's degree program in different fields of study after having obtained their baccalauréat (the national secondary education test). The degree
7656-461: The Harvard approach to teaching law was its financial cost-effectiveness: it was "both cheaper and more exciting for both teacher and student". Law schools could get away with a much higher ratio of students to professors than under the old system, where the professor would first deliver a lecture dryly summarizing a legal topic, and then try to verify whether students had actually absorbed any information through quizzes and recitations. By 1902, 12 of
7772-445: The S.J. Quinney Law Library) is integrated into the law school building. The first, parts of the second, and the sixth floors of the building are open to the public; materials located on upper floors can be retrieved for public patrons. A new $ 62.5 million law building was opened on September 1, 2015, which is LEED Platinum certified and includes a café, secured-access student study areas, a furnished and landscaped roof-top terrace, and
7888-1288: The Science, Commerce, and Arts degrees are honours degrees with electives chosen by the student. With the implementation of National Education Policy 2020 , undergraduate degree programs will take 4 years with an option to leave the program in 3 years. Students usually start their bachelor's after completing their Class XII from either a National or State Board. In Indonesia, most of the current bachelor's degrees are domain-specific degrees. Therefore, there are more than 20 bachelor's degrees. For instance, S.Psi. for Sarjana Psikologi (literally translated as "Bachelor of Psychology/BPsy, BA"), S.T. for Sarjana Teknik (literally translated as "Bachelor of Engineering"), S.Si. for Sarjana Sains (literally translated as "Bachelor of Science"), S.Farm. for Sarjana Farmasi (literally translated as "Bachelor of Pharmacy"), S.E. for Sarjana Ekonomi (literally translated as "Bachelor of Economy"), S.Kom. for Sarjana Ilmu Komputer (literally translated as "Bachelor of Computer Science"), S.S. for Sarjana Sastra (literally translated as "Bachelor of Literature") or S.Sos. for Sarjana Ilmu Sosial (literally translated as "Bachelor of Social Sciences"). In
8004-459: The Socratic method—consisting of calling on a student at random, asking about an argument made in an assigned case, asking the student whether they agree with the argument, and then using a series of questions to carefully expose logical flaws in the student's analysis of the argument. Examinations usually entail interpreting the facts of a hypothetical case, determining how legal theories apply to
8120-574: The United States Law schools in the U.S. confer the degree of Juris Doctor (J.D.), which is a professional doctorate . It is the degree usually required to practice law in the United States, and the final degree obtained by most practitioners in the field. Juris Doctor programs at law schools are usually three-year programs if done full-time, or four-year programs if done via evening classes. Some U.S. law schools include an Accelerated JD program . Other degrees that are awarded include
8236-416: The United States award bachelor's degrees with Latin honours , usually (in ascending order) cum laude ("with honour/praise"), magna cum laude ("with great honour/praise"), summa cum laude ("with highest honour/praise"), and the occasionally seen maxima cum laude ("with maximal honour/praise"). Requirements for such notations of honours generally include minimum grade point averages (GPA), with
8352-466: The ancestor of its College of Arts and Sciences, but he got into its law school . Langdell's deanship from 1870 to 1895 transformed Harvard Law School into the "preeminent law school" in the United States, created the template for the modern American law school, and also established the modern expectation that "institutionalized legal training" was essential for "leaders of the profession". From 1870 to 1920, Harvard Law School proceeded "to overwhelm all
8468-414: The approach." Ames refined the approach further by contributing the ideas that casebooks should focus on cases selected for their "striking facts and vivid opinions", and group them together by subject. Langdell had simply printed cases chronologically. Finally, Langdell shifted law school examinations from the systematic exposition of rules (before him, students regurgitated legal rules in exam answers in
8584-470: The bar exam in California, and once they have passed that exam, a large number of states allow those students to sit for their bars (after practicing for a certain number of years in California). California is also the first state to allow graduates of distance legal education (online and correspondence) to take its bar exam. However, online and correspondence law schools are generally not accredited by
8700-413: The bar. This applies even if the graduate has gained admission in another jurisdiction. Law students are referred to as 1L s, 2L s, and 3L s based on their year of study . In the United States, the American Bar Association does not mandate a particular curriculum for 1L s. ABA Standard 302(a)(1) requires only the study of "substantive law" that will lead to "effective and responsible participation in
8816-436: The basis of performance. Honours degrees include the first-class degree, second-class degrees (upper and lower) and the third-class degree, but not the pass. All university students must do an independent research project which applies the knowledge obtained during the previous years of study. The project work must be submitted in the semester before graduation and usually takes a significant number of points. Further course work
8932-439: The case, and then writing an essay. This process is intended to train students in the reasoning methods necessary to interpret theories, statutes , and precedents correctly, and argue their validity, both orally and in writing. In contrast, most civil law countries base their legal education on professorial lectures and oral examinations, which are more suited for the mastery of complicated civil codes . This style of teaching
9048-409: The course load and the program and they are awarded by colleges and universities. Medicine is from 6 to 7 years. Each college has its own curriculum and requirements with an emphasis of their choice, governed independently by each state of the republic. After finishing all the subjects the student require a final work, which means the completion of particular honours seminars, research and development or
9164-409: The course to first-year students. Some schools combine legal research and legal writing into a single year-long "lawyering skills" course, which may also include a small oral argument component. Because the first year curriculum is always fixed, most schools do not allow 1L students to select their own course schedules, and instead hand them their schedules at new student orientation. At most schools,
9280-447: The degree candidate will complete the normal curriculum for all subjects except the selected discipline ("English", in the preceding example). The requirements in either case usually require completion of particular honours seminars, independent research at a level higher than usually required (often with greater personal supervision by faculty than usual), and a written honours thesis in the major subject. Many universities and colleges in
9396-885: The degree. A student who has obtained an undergraduate degree can opt to continue studying a career after completing their undergraduate degree by continuing onto master's and doctorate degrees. They can also choose to do a specialization in certain fields of study by doing an extra year. In these countries, there are two titles that should not be confused: In Guyana, the universities offer bachelor programs in different streams like Bachelor of Arts (BA), Bachelor of Science in nursing, design and arts, liberal arts, psychology, Doctor of Medicine (MD) and other health science programs. These programs are delivered by University of Guyana, Texila American University , Green Heart Medical University, Lesley university and many more offers these bachelor programs. Bachelor's degrees may take an average of five years (from four to five years) to complete depending on
9512-470: The financial involvement of the Ford Foundation as the turning point when such clinics began to change from giving practical experience to engaging in advocacy. Law schools that offer accelerated JD programs have unique curricula for such programs. Nonetheless, ABA-approved law schools with Accelerated JD programs must meet ABA rules. Finally, the emphasis in law schools is rarely on the law of
9628-686: The first class at Hastings Law School , one of whom was Clara S. Foltz . When the University of California established a second law program in 1894, this time on the Berkeley campus, it was open to women and men on an equal basis. Ellen Spencer Mussey and Emma Gillett founded the Washington Law School for women and men in 1898 (now known as, American University Washington College of Law ). Bachelor%27s degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin baccalaureus ) or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin baccalaureatus )
9744-478: The first year, like criminal procedure and remedies . Many law schools also offer upper-division practical training courses in client counseling, trial advocacy , appellate advocacy, and alternative dispute resolution . Depending upon the law school, practical training courses may involve fictional exercises in which students interact with each other or with volunteer actors playing clients, witnesses, and judges, or real-world cases at legal clinics . Graduation
9860-467: The following: As a result of student concerns about the time and cost (both in terms of tuition and the opportunity cost associated with foregoing a salary for three years) required to complete a law degree, there has been an emerging trend to develop accelerated JD programs. Most law school education in the United States is traditionally based on an approach developed by Christopher Columbus Langdell and James Barr Ames at Harvard Law School during
9976-537: The former are considered by law schools to be a more uniform standard than the latter for judging academic performance. Many law schools offer substantial scholarships and grants to many of their students, dramatically reducing the actual cost of attending law school compared to sticker tuition. Some law schools condition scholarships on maintaining a certain GPA. As of 2013 , there were 128,641 students enrolled in JD programs at
10092-476: The grade for an entire course depends upon the outcome of only one or two examinations, usually in essay form, which are administered via students' laptop computers in the classroom with the assistance of specialized software. Some professors may use multiple choice exams in part or in full if the course material is suitable for it (e.g., professional responsibility ). Legal research and writing courses tend to have several major projects (some graded, some not) and
10208-514: The help of summer school, who are taking many classes each semester or who have existing credit from high school Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate course exams, to complete them more rapidly. Some US colleges and universities have a separate academic track known as an "honours" or "scholars" program, generally offered to the top percentile of students, based on GPA , that offers more challenging courses or more individually directed seminars or research projects instead or in addition to
10324-498: The highest average required for the summa distinction (or maxima , when that distinction is present). In the case of some schools, such as Bates College , Carleton College , Colby College , Middlebury College , Guilford College , Franklin College Switzerland , and larger universities like the University of Virginia , Princeton University , North Carolina State University , University of Massachusetts Amherst ,
10440-1004: The late 1800s and the early 1900s. In 1869, two newly opened law schools permitted women to enroll: Washington University School of Law became the first chartered law school in America to admit women, and Howard University School of Law was founded with an open admissions policy accepting Black and White men and women to enroll. The "first woman on record to have received a law degree was Ada Kepley from Union College of Law in Illinois (Northwestern)" in 1870. Some law schools that allowed women before most others were Buffalo Law School which "begun in 1887 ... and open to women and immigrant groups"; University of Iowa College of Law which "admitted women as law students" since at least 1869; University of Michigan Law School ; and Boston University School of Law which started admitting women in 1872. In 1878, two women successfully sued to be admitted to
10556-507: The legal profession through reading law , a form of independent study or apprenticeship , often under the supervision of an experienced attorney. This practice usually consisted of reading classic legal texts, such as Edward Coke 's Institutes of the Lawes of England and William Blackstone 's Commentaries on the Laws of England . In colonial America law schools did not exist. Within
10672-449: The legal profession." However, most law schools have their own mandatory curriculum for 1L s, which typically includes: These basic courses are intended to provide an overview of the broad study of law. Not all ABA-approved law schools offer all of these courses in the 1L year; for example, many schools do not offer constitutional law and/or criminal law until the second and third years. Most schools also require Evidence but rarely offer
10788-473: The most important factors considered by law school admissions committees, individual factors are also somewhat important.personal factors are evaluated through essays, short-answer questions, letters of recommendation, and other application materials. The standards for grades and LSAT scores vary by school. Interviews—either in person or via video chat —may be optional, or invitational, application components. Many law schools actively seek applicants from outside
10904-525: The name and requires additional courses for certification as an Engineer. Bachelor's degrees in the United States are typically designed to be completed in four years of full-time study, which typically represents an average of 15 hours of weekly instruction per four-month semester, two semesters per year, for a total of eight semesters and 120 instructional credit hours, although some programs, such as engineering or architecture, may take five years, and some universities and colleges allow students, usually with
11020-432: The ones at Harvard and Yale, were in competition for those same undergraduates. Students at the time chose law school or college, but not both. Law schools were technical schools with "second-class status" which usually had lower admissions standards than the colleges they were competing against for undergraduates. For example, in 1904, Hugo Black was denied admission to the University of Alabama 's Academic Department,
11136-436: The others" in every way imaginable, to the point that one critic, Gleason Archer Sr. , wrote an entire self-published book harshly attacking Harvard as the "educational octopus" whose tentacles (i.e., Langdell's students) reached into every corner of the American legal community. Langdell turned the law program at Harvard from a disorganized two-year undergraduate program―which undergraduates could wander into at any point―into
11252-412: The particular state in which the law school sits, but on the law generally throughout the country. Although this makes studying for the bar exam more difficult since one must learn state-specific law, the emphasis on legal skills over legal knowledge can benefit law students not intending to practice in the same state they attend law school. Grades in law school are very competitive. Most schools grade on
11368-510: The past, the Indonesian academic system adopted the old European/western degrees, such as the Ir ( insinyur from Dutch ingenieur ) for an engineering degree and the common academic degree ( doktorandus from Dutch and ultimately Latin doctorandus ) for a degree in either social or natural sciences. In Iran, students can study different undergraduate or postgraduate courses leading to a BS,
11484-469: The profession. As of 2004, to ensure that students' research and writing skills do not deteriorate, the ABA has added an upper division writing requirement. Law students must take at least one course, or complete an independent study project, as a 2L or 3L that requires the writing of a paper for credit. Most law courses are less about doctrine and more about learning how to analyze legal problems, read cases, distill facts and apply law to facts. In 1968,
11600-486: The professor's estimation, worthy of a failing grade. The "median" system seeks to provide some parity among teachers' grading scales while giving the teacher discretion to award a grade below the median only when deserved. Fairness and equity are the primary reasons for required curves and required grade distributions. Some faculty tend to give higher grades and others lower grades, with a mandatory curve balancing both extremes. Also, at law schools with multiple sections of
11716-405: The province of Ontario, the most bachelor's degrees offered by Ontario universities are academic in nature. In contrast, Ontario legislation requires bachelor's degrees offered by Ontario colleges to be applied and vocationally focused. In Colombia, secondary school has two milestones, in 9th and 11th grades. After completing the first 4 years of secondary school (6th, 7th, 8th and 9th grades),
11832-418: The same class, it minimizes the problem that one section will have an unfair advantage over another section when applying for Law Review or Moot Court. Even with curved grading, some law schools such as Syracuse University College of Law still have a policy of "Dismissal for Academic Deficiency", in which students failing to meet a minimum GPA are dismissed from the school. One school that has deviated from
11948-496: The score the student achieves on the exam. In Colombia, the system of academic degrees is similar to the US model. After completing their " bachillerato " (high school), students can take one of three options. The first one is called a "profesional" (professional career), which is similar to a bachelor's degree requiring from four to six years of study according to the chosen program. However, strictly-career-related subjects are taken from
12064-573: The side, or full-time teachers who had moved into academia only after extensive experience practicing law. Harvard's dominance was most rapidly established through the wild popularity of its teaching approach: the casebook method combined with the Socratic method. The transition from traditional lectures to the interactive examination of cases became "the law schools' apparent passport to academic respectability". Langdell actually did not invent that approach to teaching law, but it "became known as his by virtue of his determined and systematic application of
12180-430: The standard core curriculum . Those students are awarded the same bachelor's degree as students completing the standard curriculum but with the notation in cursu honorum on the transcript and the diploma . Usually, the above Latin honours are separate from the notation for this honours course, but a student in the honours course generally must maintain grades worthy of at least the cum laude notation anyway. Hence,
12296-595: The student, after a program of two years, an undergraduate degree in areas like software development, networks and IT, accountancy, nursing and other areas of health services, mechanics, electricity and technic-like areas. Universities offer graduate degrees in ICFES endorsed programs like medicine, engineering, laws, accountancy, business management and other professional areas. A typical undergraduate program usually takes 10 or 11 semesters and some (i.e. medicine) require an additional period of service or practice to apply for
12412-399: The system of competitive grading common to most American law schools is Northeastern University School of Law . Northeastern does not have any system of grade point averages or class rank , Instead, the school uses a system of narrative evaluations to measure student performance. A system of anonymous grading known as blind grading is used in many law schools in the United States. It
12528-430: The system used, and then grade the other exams based on how much better or worse they are than the median. A few schools, such as Yale Law School , Stanford Law School , Harvard Law School , University of California, Berkeley School of Law , and Northeastern University School of Law have alternate grading systems that put less emphasis (or no emphasis) on rank. Other schools, such as New York's Fordham Law School , use
12644-407: The teamwork of attorneys working on a case. For purposes of passing state bar examinations, some law school graduates find law school instruction inadequate , and resort to specialized bar review courses from private course providers. These bar reviews typically consist of lectures, often video recorded. Until the late 19th century, law schools were uncommon in the United States. Most people entered
12760-555: The traditional pool to boost racial, economic, and experiential diversity on campus. Most law schools now factor in extracurricular activities, work experience, and unique courses of study in their evaluation of applicants. A growing number of law school applicants have several years of work experience, and correspondingly fewer law students enter immediately after completing their undergraduate education. However, law schools generally only consider undergraduate and not post-collegiate transcripts when considering an applicant for admission;
12876-464: The type of degree. Bachelor's degree should not be falsely related with its Spanish cognate "bachiller", which designate a prerequisite for matriculate in a career or bachelor studies. The official name for a bachelor's degree in Mexico is "licenciado" and such studies are referred as "licenciatura". Bachelor's degrees should not be confused with Engineering Degrees , where an Ingeniería is prefixed to
12992-700: The upgrade exam during college and then study an extra two-year undergraduate course at another university and pass a dissertation. Any Chinese citizen can also get a bachelor's degree via the undergraduate majors of the Self-Taught Higher Education Examinations ( Chinese : 高等教育自学考试 ). Bachelor's degrees in India normally take three years of study to complete, although courses like BE / BTech , MBBS , BVSc or BArch take longer. A BE/BTech usually takes 4 years, while an MBBS or BArch usually takes 5 years to complete. Most of
13108-453: The very beginning unlike US where focused career-related subjects usually are part of the curriculum from the third year. The other option is called a " técnico " (technician); this degree consists of only two and a half years of study and prepares the student for technical or mechanical labors. Finally, the third option is called a " tecnólogo " (equivalent to an associate degree), and consist of 3 years of study. A technical school gives to
13224-745: Was established by law after the Nigerian Civil War. Polytechnical schools (polytechnics) in Nigeria are not considered universities. They are mandated to educate technicians of high calibre; they offer the OND (ordinary national diploma) and the HND (higher national diploma). The polytechnics focus very strongly on practical technical training. The BSc and HND are compared in engineering circles, but there are significant differences in training philosophies. Honours degrees in Nigeria are differentiated only on
13340-402: Was from law school as an alternative to undergraduate education to law school as a form of graduate professional education. Before 1870, there was nothing like a modern university in America, only a number of glorified liberal arts colleges which taught Greek, Latin, moral philosophy, and mathematics to undergraduates. The early law departments attached to these purported universities, such as
13456-467: Was traditionally taken as the highest undergraduate degree. The program requires at least 4 years of studies, with strong emphasis on the research-based Honours Seminar Thesis which is considered approximately equivalent to a formal master's thesis. Universities show the academic degree as well as the possible honours distinction ( Latin honours ) on the diploma (e.g., " BACCALAUREATUS ARTIUM CUM HONORE ... CUM LAUDE "). In Quebec, students have to take
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