ABA Journal - Law News Now

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1. Posted by Reader 1221 - 3 months, 2 weeks, 1 day, 22 hours, 29 minutes ago

   I thought there was a trend towards law schools admitting students who garnered a year or more of professional experience after college. For example, news reports have stated that Northwestern University Law School is aiming for 100% of its incoming students to have at least a year of professional experience.

   If this is true, wouldn’t the new program at Bradley University (which apparently helps college grads go straight into law school) be going against the trend of what law schools are looking for these days?

2. Posted by Barbara Y. Settle - 3 months, 2 weeks, 1 day, 22 hours, 25 minutes ago

   The school term was 1964-1965 when I entered Bates College of Law at the University of Houston on a pre-law program.  I had completed 90 semester hours for a BA degree and been guided to law or engineering by psychological career tests.  The 90 haours had to be substantive courses under the program and when my 60 hours from Newcomb College of Tulane University and 30 hours at U of H ( 10 years later)  fit, I took the LSAT Given the high cost of education today, I suggest this format for pre-law programs.  I was divorced with five monor children in the process of changing career of motherhood to one I had never thught I would need.

3. Posted by D.R. Gruber - 3 months, 2 weeks, 16 hours, 17 minutes ago

   Although I have seen comments similar to the one Reader 1221 mentions, the only studies I have seen that show a difference between students w/ experience and students who come straight from college have compared MBA students.  I know at least one law school that has parroted this credential but the reasoning is flawed.  Having done both the JD and the MBA (and not a joint degree which many blend approaches), there are palpable differences between how the info is conveyed and how one would (in a perfect world) prep for it. 

   MBA programs have been moving toward a more experienced student body for years as, “professional experience” in almost any business (or NFP) will include information that can be applied in business school.  In any organization (somewhat paradoxically including law firms) there will be universal concepts the prospective student will be exposed to universal concepts: good/bad managers; customer service; profit/loss; chain of command; selling; etc.  The prospective student is part of what he or she will be studying.  Despite the fact that I was the only lawyer in a program dominated by engineers and computer guys, this experience gave us common experiences that, although not exactly the same, allowed us to be able to “translate” the information from other students (who are a far greater source of information in business school than law school in my experience).

   But what will the “professional experience” in pursuit of a legal career be?  Working at a firm?  Unless you’ve got secretarial skills, you’ll be a “runner”, which at some firms is great experience while at others it is a complete waste.  I suppose my point is that unless you’ve worked as a paralegal there is no professional experience that will universally be of any value.  Sure there are some go matches.  If you are going to practice tax, go work at a public house as an accountant.  However, while I can’t think of a job that isn’t touched by the law, the forms are discreet and do not provide a common base as in business school.

   I worked for several years in the Resort industry before law school.  In my experience, my undergraduate education was far more helpful in preparing me for lawschool (despite the fact that it was in Marketing) and providing me with a familiarity with the attendant concepts.

4. Posted by Bob Bradley - 3 months, 1 week, 4 days, 12 hours, 23 minutes ago

   Just for the record the Prelaw Advisement Center at Illinois State University was officially opened in October 2003. The Center was created to be a ‘one stop shop’ for any university student or alum interested in going to law school. The Center has a Director and several student volunteer staffers. Interestingly, students from Bradley University over the past several years have become familiar with the Center because they have taken an LSAT Prep Course that is administered through the Center. A;sp, while Northwestern has indeed stressed real world work experience among its applicants there are other law schools in Illinois that strongly prefer their applicants to come to law school right after obtaining a B.A. or B.S. degree.