The third year of law school. Some call it boring. Some call it pointless (pdf). Some say it should be abolished. Some say it should be reformed. Some want to make it the second to last year of law school.
The Avid Penguin says its just a scam to make money for law schools, and they are probably right.
No matter what their specific take on the situation, most people agree that law students are not getting much out of their 3L years. A few schools, like Dayton and Northwestern, have abolished the 3L year altogether.
I’ve written a couple of items here about various attempts to reform the 3L year.
I’m not a conspiracy theorist, but after reading the Avid Penguin item, and seeing the idea hinted at and mentioned, I am beginning to wonder if all of this discussion about reforming the 3L year is really just money-hungry law schools and academics trying to hide the ball.
The critics are right: the 3L year adds very little to our legal education. Students would rather not pay the $30,000 or more in tuition. Most employers already recognize that law school doesn’t prepare students very well for practice. Only law schools have any real interest in maintaining a three year legal education.
All of this theorizing leads me to one conclusion:
The debate on how the third year of law school should be organized and what should be taught is really a grand distraction. A diversion and a decoy, designed to hide from us the obvious fact that the third year of law school, no matter how well-conceived, is essentially a colossal windfall for law schools, and a waste of money for law students.
The real trick here is that, while two year programs sound like a solution, they aren’t actually any cheaper since these schools still “charge by the degree rather than the time served.” I guess no matter how you go about it the law schools are going to get theirs. At least in a two year program you can start paying off the massive debt you’ve incurred a year earlier...
Correct me if I am mistaken, but the bar and accreditation standards mandate how many hours of education students receive before they may receive a JD. So whether those hours are spread over three years or crammed into two, the JD is still earned for time served.
Posted by: Patrick | September 24, 2008 at 03:11 PM
You're not mistaken. That was the point of my final paragraph. Simply abolishing the third year doesn't really change anything except that it allows students to start earning real money a year earlier. That doesn't mean those extra hours of education that compose the 3L year, or are smashed into the two years of a two year program, aren't a waste and an excuse for schools to charge more money...
Posted by: Brian | September 24, 2008 at 04:32 PM
ZING!
Posted by: Jay | September 25, 2008 at 01:48 PM
The reason there is a three year of law school is for the school to make more money. That's a good enough reason.
That aside, it seems ABA standards are not rationally related to the purpose of education. Law Firms still require writing samples, there are people that graduate without the skills they need to pass the bar, and JD's are not viewed by employers as a valuable degree unless you have some other skill that is relevant.
Seriously, why three years of school? As noted above, most employers require a writing sample. That's pretty much admitting that you don't learn anything in three years of school. Additionally, if you look at the Federal hiring standards, they view a JD the same way as a two master's degree. Example, for a GS-9 position they value education as such "2 full academic years of progressively higher level graduate education or masters or equivalent graduate degree or LL.B. or J.D." So what does that say about a legal education? It connotes that three years of a legal education is merely equivalent to a two masters in any other field. Pretty telling.
Finally, despite all the talk about a JD being portable, the fact is it is not. Most employers require some type of relevant undergraduate degree, like accounting or finance. What does that mean? It means that a JD is able to tie his shoes, but without something else relevant, they are not intelligent enough to work in a job that a mere B.A. can do.
Get rid of the 90 semester hour requirement and get rid of the third year of law school. It's a sham to make more money off law students.
Posted by: Thomas B. | September 25, 2008 at 02:33 PM
The third year of law school isn't any different than the fourth year of undergrad: just another opportunity for elective classes, externships, clinics, and out-of-classroom experiences. Maybe 3L should be optional, but it shouldn't be put down in the same category as a fifth year in college.
I'm a 3L, and I really value the year because it allows me to take higher-level courses that I didn't take in 1L and 2L, to work a few different jobs, to do a clinic, and to bolster my experience for when I get out of school. Don't get me wrong - I'm really looking forward to graduation working full time - but 3L seems like a good way to squeeze in that last bit of "ooh I really want to take that class" before leaving academia presumably for good.
Posted by: nsk | September 25, 2008 at 03:00 PM
Are you kidding? This is a vacation. Yes, I'm paying for the vacation but if you're lucky enough to have a job lined up, enjoy these last few months of freedom before you have to REALLY work hard.
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