2 year law school

Opps, my mistake. I was referring to another university and not M Cooley. I misread your post. If the term I used offends you, that was not my intention, I'm not very P.C.

 

Thanks, that one just strikes a cord with me. Of course, I have had my share of non PC posts.

 

Cooley certainly looks like an interesting program. I especially like the scholarships they give folks who score high on the LSAT (25-100%, depending on how well you do). In addition, they seem to have multiple attendance options (though no DL) from a 2 year, full time intensive program, to a 4 year weekend only program. Very cool.

 

Cooley seems like a lot of the "easy" admissions ABA approved law schools: they put out lots of grad who become good lawyers and lots that become bad ones, or not at all. I know two Cooley grads, one is very competent, and the other is one of the least competent and least ethical attorneys I have ever seen. A local school to me, Widener, is another Cooley-type with lower admission standards. It produces a mixed-bag of attorneys as well. John Marshall is another such school that comes to mind.

When you consider these schools, you just have to be aware that they fail out a lot of their 1st yr. classes. Unlike many other schools that pretty much only take strong candidates they think will graduate, Cooley & its brethren operate more like law schools used to many years ago. "Look to your left, now look to your right. One of these three won't be here next year." If you're in the bottom 1/3 or whatever the cut is, they keep the money and you go find something else to do with your life. But for those who for some reason are good enough to do the work but lack the admissions numbers for other schools, they offer those people a chance to prove themselves.

 

Just a second thought and contribution about Law School or legal profession. A friend just graduated from Law School; he started with Syracuse Law School then transferred to George Washington University's School of Law. He graduate in the top class; however, he is unemployed. He attempted and applied for almost every single position that he found. Most of them require memium 4 years of experience. He is really frustrated, which he owes about over $300,000.00 student loan. His minimum payment for student loan is $1,800.00 per month. He said if he has a second choice he would not go to Law School.

 

Wow, on two counts: first, more than 300K?! If the standard 100K or so is insane, I don't quite have an adjective for triple that. And if he was top of the class @ GW (a very well-respected school) and he can't get a job offer (and there's nothing else that would cause concern- like showing up for interviews without pants or something) I give up and agree: skip law school. It's a tough business and not for everyone, and definitely not of they're overlooking tops of the pops at damn good schools.

 

Stay away from Cooley.

 

peacfulchaos2001

Hey whats your email? I have a few questions about your time at Cooley law..

 

PM me. Feel free to ask anything.

 

It surprised me...he had done internship for District of Columbia's General Attorney. He said that more than 75% of GWU Law School graduates either had no offer or unemployed when they graduated. Also most of the JD curriculum has nothing to do with real life or preparing for the bar exam. Therefore, they have to take bar exam prep courses after receiving JD. It is all about school profits...cash cow.

 

Students at every law school I am aware of take a bar exam prep course that costs upwards of $3000. All law schools only teach theory, it's not only GWU. Schools measure their employment rate by students hired within 90 days of graduation. My bet would be that number comes way down by then. I'm not saying it still won't be significant, but it will be much lower. With the information available out there today, anyone going to law school better make sure they are at a top-tier program and they better make sure they can graduate in the top 20% of their class or it's going to be a tough road to find a law job paying a livable wage.

 

Part of the problem with law school curriculum is that students don't want to take the boring meat & potatoes courses. They want sexy stuff like "law and economics," "law and gender preference," "law and this," "law and that." Those are fine for the Harvards and Yales where many of the students will move into policy-setting careers eventually, but 90% of the law schools should require their students to take the real world stuff.

The year I started the entire first two year curriculum was mandated and included everything that a new lawyer would need (short of practical experience), such as wills and estates, commercial law, corporations, etc., most of which is elective now. During my first year, the dean died and a new dean with a ton of new, young faculty arrived. The curriculum changed immediately to reflect the research interests of those faculty members. Except for a year of commercial law and a semester of professional responsibility, everything after the first year became elective. Lots of "law and X" type classes became available. It was possible to graduate without taking classes in half the subjects that would be on the bar exam or that were likely to walk into your office as a paying client some day.

It really should go back to something more like the old way. Two years of all required meat & potatoes classes, with a third year consisting of a couple electives and mandatory clinic and practice classes. And there should be lots more courses that require writing and drafting.

 

It really should go back to something more like the old way. Two years of all required meat & potatoes classes, with a third year consisting of a couple electives and mandatory clinic and practice classes. And there should be lots more courses that require writing and drafting.[/QUOTE]

Excellent post Hokiephile.

 

Excellent post Hokiephile.[/QUOTE]

That's basically how my school is. They mandate the first year schedule but have 63 required credits, so even though you choose after the first year you can only chose the "bread and potatoes" classes.

 

I made a mistake.

Every program at Empire College is on an accelerated format where their semesters are around 5-8 weeks. As it turns out, their four year law program follows under a traditional 16 week format that is more like traditional colleges on the west coast.

End result, their four year program will actually take four years being that hey operate 16 week semesters instead of 5-8 week semesters.

My mistake.

 

JD Degree Options in California:

ABA-approved law schools:
- Guaranteed degree acceptance nationally
- Usually 3-year, full-time.
- Sometimes 4-year, part-time. A few 2-year, full-time accelerated.
- No DL, B&M only
- Generally most expensive

CalBar-approved law schools:
- Guaranteed degree acceptance in Caifornia
- Usually 4-year, part-time.
- A few 3-year, full-time. No accelerated programs exist to my knowledge.
- No DL, B&M only
- Generally less expensive

Unaccredited (including DL):
- Conditional degree acceptance in California, must pass Baby Bar
- Must be 4-year, part-time.
- No full-time or accelerated programs exist to my knowledge (not allowed by CalBar rules).
- Can be B&M or DL
- Generally least expensive

"Unaccredited" means lacking approval from ABA or CalBar. Some "unaccredited" schools actually do have regional or DETC accreditation, but this is irrelevant for bar qualification purposes.