Money Money Money [John]

This whole Law School thing is costing me an arm and a leg. From tuition costs to book costs, there hasnt been a day where in the last week that I haven't swiped my credit card for something law school related.

This reminded me about a teacher at AU that told us that he seriously believes that law school should only be one year maximum (i think he said 6 months exactly). He believed that everything you need to know about the law, you learn your first year. His caveat was that the next year or two should be used to develop your skills as an "apprentice" at law firms etc.

Many professors during law school have hinted towards the same thinking. They say that law firms constantly tell law schools that recent graduates are not ready for jobs at law firms. Yes, every law student can recite the rules and precedent in a specific section of the law; but their main complaint was law students were never taught every-day legal skills such as client relations, filing, legal writing, etc. Law schools in the past have lacked teaching these skills and only focused on "how to think like a lawyer." (The Socratic Method) As a result, law schools are now incorporating these skills into their classes; hence why I am taking a class called "Lawyering Skills."

However, after realizing how much money I am spending, the more appealing my AU professor's legal education method sounds appealing. Why not get the hands on skills at a law firm as a sort of "apprenticeship." It would save us a lot of money that we spend just to sit in class and saves law firms money because instead of hiring incompetent grads at a starting salary of 100,000, they could give us maybe half that for a year and teach us the "street smarts" of the legal profession.