Legal education
Legal education is the education of individuals in the principles, practices, and theory of law. It may be undertaken for several reasons, including to provide the knowledge and skills necessary for admission to legal practice in a particular jurisdiction, to provide a greater breadth of knowledge to those working in other professions such as politics or business, to provide current lawyers with advanced training or greater specialisation, or to update lawyers on recent developments in the law.
Legal education can take the form of a variety of programs, including:
- Primary degrees in law, which may be studied at either undergraduate or graduate level depending on the country.
- Advanced academic degrees in law, such as masters and doctoral degrees.
- Practice or training courses, which prospective lawyers are required to pass in some countries before they may enter practice.
- Applied or specialised law accreditation, which are less formal than degree programs but which provide specialised certification in particular areas.
- Continuing legal education, which do not lead to a qualification but provide practicing lawyers with updates on recent legal developments.
History
Canon and ecclesiastical law were studied in universities in medieval Europe. However, institutions providing education in the domestic law of each country emerged later in the eighteenth century.
In England, legal education emerged in the late thirteenth century through apprenticeships. The Inns of Court controlled admission to practice and also provided some legal training. English universities had taught Roman and canon law for some time, but formal degrees focused on the native common law did not emerge until the 1800s.
William Blackstone was in favor of a general academic foundation prior to the study of common law:
For sciences are of a sociable disposition, and flourish best in the neighbourhood of each other: nor is there any branch of learning but may be helped and improved by assistances drawn from other arts.
Students of common law would, according to Blackstone, benefit from the study of classical writers, logc, mathematics, philosophical ideas of art and nature, so that "if he has impressed on his mind the sound maxims of the law of nature, the best and most authentic foundation of human laws" and the reduction of such maxims to "a practical system in the laws of imperial Rome", then the student would enter the study if law "with incredible advantage and reputation". Blackstone also recommends that students take "a year or two's farther leisure" at the conclusion of their formal legal study to establish a "solid scientifical method" as the foundation of his future practice, so that he would afterwards "proceed with the greatest ease, and will unfold the most intricate points with an intuitive rapidity and clearness".
Forms
Primary degrees in law
In many countries, including most of those in the Commonwealth of Nations, the principal law degree is an undergraduate degree, usually known as a Bachelor of Laws. Graduates of such a program are eligible to become lawyers by passing the country's equivalent of a bar exam. In these countries, graduate law programs are advanced degrees which allow for more in-depth study or specialisation.In the United States and Canada, the primary law degree is a graduate degree known as the Juris Doctor. Students may pursue such a degree only after completing an undergraduate degree, usually a bachelor's degree. The undergraduate degree can be in any field, though most American lawyers hold bachelor's degrees in the humanities and social sciences. American law schools are usually an autonomous entity within a larger university.
Primary degrees in law are offered by law schools, known in some countries as faculties of law. Law schools may have varying degrees of autonomy within a particular university or, in some countries, can be entirely independent of any other post-secondary educational institution.
Advanced degrees in law
Higher degrees allow for more advanced academic study. These include the Masters of Law by coursework or research, and doctoral degrees such as the PhD or SJD.Practitioners may undertake a Masters of Law by coursework to obtain greater specialisation in an area in which they practice. In many common law countries, a higher degree in law is common and expected for legal academics. In addition, incorporating practical skills is beneficial for practitioners seeking higher degrees to better prepare them in their respective legal area of practice.
In contrast, higher degrees in law are uncommon in the United States, even within the academy.
Practice or training courses
In some countries, including the United Kingdom, Italy, Germany, Canada and all Australian jurisdictions, 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.Applied law programs or specialist accreditation
Legal education providers in some countries offer courses which lead to a certificate or accreditation in applied legal practice or a particular specialisation.Continuing legal education
programs are informal seminars or short courses which provide legal practitioners with an opportunity to update their knowledge and skills throughout their legal career. In some jurisdictions, it is mandatory to undertake a certain amount of continuing legal education each year.By country
Australia
In Australia most universities offer law as an undergraduate-entry course, or combined degree course. Some of these also offer a three-year postgraduate Juris Doctor 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 semesters, but only 2 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 before being eligible. Students in combined degree programs would spend the first 3 years completing their first bachelor's 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's degree, and providing their academic results are high, apply for graduate-entry into a 3-year LLB program. Australian Law Schools include those at the University of New England, Australian Catholic University, Australian National University, La Trobe University, Flinders University, Bond University, Macquarie, Monash, Deakin, UNSW, University of Tasmania, Adelaide, Victoria University, Sydney, Melbourne, RMIT University Law School, Queensland University of Technology, the University of Queensland, the University of Western Australia and the University of Canberra.
Canada
The professional law degree in Canada is the Bachelor of Laws / Juris Doctor for common law jurisdictions, and the Bachelor of Laws, Licentiate of Law or Bachelor of Civil Law for Quebec, a civil law jurisdiction. Quebec civil law degrees are undergraduate-entry—students can be admitted directly after Quebec's pre-university college program.Admittance to an LL.B. program in common law requires at least two years of undergraduate education, although a completed undergraduate degree is usually required. In practice, the vast majority of those who are admitted have already earned at least an undergraduate degree. The change in academic nomenclature re-designating the common law degree as a J.D. rather than an LL.B., currently completed or under consideration at a number of Canadian schools, has not affected the level of instruction—it is the same degree.
China
Germany
In Germany, law degrees historically did not exist and were unnecessary for legal practice. Now, those who wish to enter the legal profession must study in universities, for which the standard curriculum length is 4 and 1/2 years. Some law schools have also begun to award the Diplom-Jurist degree. German students enter into law school after high school graduation.After their studies, candidates complete the First State Examination. In the First State Exam, 30% of the exam is on a specialized area of law, chosen by the examinee, which is organized and carried out by the university. In practice, the more important part is the 70% of obligatory areas of law examined by the Justizprüfungsamt, a body of the state administration of justice. Failure rates of the 1st State Examination can be up to 30%. The written part concerns the analysis of legal issues.
After passing the 1st State Examination, candidates undertake a two-year legal traineeship, organized by the Federal States. After the legal traineeship, candidates must take the 2nd State Examination, with failure rates far lower than in the 1st State Examination. The written exam consists of drafting judgments, contract and other legal documents; there is also an oral exam. After passing the 2nd State Exam, the trainee may become a lawyer.