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Monday, October 11, 2004
Law - "Reading the law" still an option in California
"Apprentices Take Law Into Their Own Hands" was the headline to this story Sunday in the LA Times. Some quotes:
California is one of seven states that allow prospective attorneys to skip law school and earn the right to practice by serving apprenticeships. The UFW has made steady use of the program, turning out half a dozen attorneys in 30 years with the same training method used by Abraham Lincoln and Clarence Darrow. * * *Apprenticeship once was the primary means of legal education in the United States. That changed in the late 1800s with the rise of professional law schools, amid calls for quality control and the emergence of increasingly complex legal matters.
Most states, responding to pressure from the American Bar Assn., have eliminated apprenticeship programs. Those that remain get few takers. The bar association's Code of Recommended Standards states that "neither private study, correspondence study or law office training, nor age or experience should be substituted for law school education."
Since 1980, 436 people have registered for the apprentice program — known as law office study — with the State Bar of California and only 64 have passed the bar exam. Bar officials estimate that fewer than 30 people are pursuing the program at any given time.
It is a tough way to go. In the last seven years, about 20% of those who studied law as apprentices have passed the bar. That compares with slightly more than 50% of those who attended accredited law schools.
But bar officials say it's important to keep the avenue open, noting that law office study remains a valuable option for people who live in remote areas, are launching second careers or can't afford the tens of thousands of dollars it costs to attend law school.
Moreover, the unorthodox approach responds to larger issues of access and diversity, ensuring that the bar continues to attract people with different backgrounds, viewpoints and reasons for wanting to practice, they say.
"I think it's important that we provide as many avenues of access to the profession, so all of society can be represented," said Jerome Braun, the state bar's senior executive for admissions. "If one or two Abraham Lincolns end up going through the program, getting admitted and becoming successful, we are all better off for it."
Those states that permit law office study — California, Maine, New York, Vermont, Virginia, Washington and Wyoming — do so counter to a nationwide trend over the last century to standardize legal education and balance practical training with a strong theoretical base.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on October 11, 2004 03:37 PM
Posted to General Law Related