I am posting this because it is tangentially connected with D/L. At least, I think it is. I went to a local party a few days ago where I met a delightful older couple from California. "Older" means "Older than I am" which means close to retirement. Now the woman is a lawyer, a member of the California bar working for a local governmental entity. We had our public sector careers in common and talked about the many advantages to offset the dismal pay. This is the sad part. She earned her J.D. evenings in a four year residental Calbar accredited program, passing the bar about ten years ago. She told me, and supported this with specific examples, that her employers and the local bar consistantly treated her as a second class lawyer because she did not obtain an ABA degree. Apparently, in California, they check these things. Now there is a definite pecking order in the Bar; no large civil firm would ever even consider me for example, but what bothered me was the attitude she described. I hope that those of us that earn non traditional degrees will not all suffer similar prejudice.
I'm sure that this bias probably goes on. However, this attitude is not at all just prevalent in the law community. There will always be a perceived pecking order in life, as most humans are social animals. There are even discussions here about which degree has the most "utility." Anyway, I've read (which means I haven't verified this figure 100%) that about 30% of all lawyers in California have a non-ABA degree. That's quite a bit of inferiority running around. I also believe that past presidents of the California Bar Association have been non-ABA attorneys. Which brings me to my point. Most handicaps can be overcome, to some degree, while some can't. In this case, even if someone 50 years old went to an Ivy League law school, they wouldn't be hired by a "top" law firm. Also, if someone believes that their pedigree is inferior to someone else's, then this will probably show through in their actions, further worsening the situation. What do you call an attorney who didn't go to an ABA school but still passed the bar? A lawyer.
Somewhat interestingly, while there is some of that where I live, there is also a local law school that pumps out many folks who go on to work for local law firms. Some have gone on to become judges. While it is accredited, it is not an ABA school nor do they appear interested in going in that direction. They are quite successful without it. 28% of local lawyers graduated from it. 88% of its graduates pass the bar. Hard to argue. Tom Nixon
So I suppose that the very reason California lawyers seem to be so aware of accreditation is that there are so many lawyers with non ABA JD degrees? Here in New Mexico, I doubt one in fifty even knows that non ABA JD programs exist!
I don't know of any large law firms that regularly hire graduates of non-ABA law schools. But Taft Uni;versity offers a Joint JD/MBA Program for its graduates who want to start their own practice or work for a small firm. The MBA emphasis is in Professional Practice Management. Seems to me that a small firm might be the best option to DL law grads. I would be interested in the comments of anyone who has completed this program or know of similar programs.
