Educational Requirements for Bar Admission

How long should you have to go to school to become a lawyer?

In most states, the current model of admission to practice law requires that a person have J.D.  Before a person can get a J.D., the person must have received a Bachelor's degree of some kind.  For most persons, that means seven years of full-time study: four years, of college and then three years of law school. Some universities and law schools offer so-called 3/3 programs, in which a person is admitted to law school after only three years of college, then takes the usual three years of law school, and gets both a Bachelor's degree and the JD.  So seven, occasionally six, years of post-high-school formal studies to become a lawyer in the U.S.

In most other countries, the law degree is the first college-level degree--an LL.B..  But persons with foreign LL.B.'s generally cannot sit for one of the U.S. Bar exams. In some states, a U.S. LL.M suffices, but often such persons must also get a J.D.

California only requires two years of college or its equivalent.  Cal. Business & Professions Code § 6060(c).  The ABA permits no such nonsense for schools that it accredits.  Standard 502(a).  Enter the California-accredited law schools, which may admit students with either

• a Bachelor's degrees;
• two years of college, or
• the equivalent of two years of college, as evidenced by a score of 50 or higher (out of 20 to 80) on designated course exams of the College Level Examination Program.
  

Guidelines for Accredited Law School Rules, Rule 5.1.  That takes it down to six years.

A couple of other things that I noticed.  Section 6060(e)(2) of the California Business & Professions Code allows persons to read the law.  Perhaps more interesting is that Section 6060(e)(1) allows applicants to have either

a juris doctor (J.D.) degree or a bachelor of laws (LL.B.) degree by a law school accredited by the examining committee or approved by the American Bar Association.  (emphasis added)

Until recently, the rules for admission to theCalifornia  Bar required applicants to have a J.D. (see Admissions Requirements).  Rule 4.26 was amended, effective as of  July 22, 2011. to allow applicants to have an LL.B from an accredited school:

Rule 4.26 Legal Education

General applicants for the California Bar Examination must

(A) [deleted text begins]be graduates of [deleted text ends][inserted text begins] have received a juris doctor (J.D.) or bachelor of laws (LL.B) degree from a [inserted text ends]  law school[deleted text begins]s[deleted text ends] approved by the American Bar Association or accredited by the Committee;

Rules of the State Bar of California, Admission to Practice Law, Rule 4.26, as amended (emphasis added).

It will be interesting to see what the California Bar has in mind.

Update No. 1  As I noted in the comments, the Bar was making extensive changes to its rules.  The LL.B change may only have been to make the rules conform to the statute.  Yes,  the JD is a "recent" development. When I went to law school I got a JD, but, at the time I was born,even ABA-accredited law schools issued LL.B degrees.

Update No. 2.  As a commenter pointed out, Cooley Law School does not require students to have a Bachelor's degree.  Standard 502(a) does allow ABA-accredited schools to admit students with at at least 3/4 of the college credit required for that degree.  According to Cooley's website, Cooley admits both

• 3/4 students, with no reference to any formal 3/3 program, and
• 2/4 students with at least 60 semester-hours (90 quarter-hours).

Apparently the Michigan Bar allows two-year students with a JD to take the Michigan Bar.  ABA Standard 502(b)  does allow ABA-accredited law schools to admit students who do not have a Bachelor's degree, or have done 3/4 of the work for one:

In an extraordinary case, a law school may admit to its J.D. degree program an applicant who does not possess the educational requirements of subsection (a) if the applicant’s experience, ability, and other characteristics clearly show an aptitude for the study of law. The admitting officer shall sign and place in the admittee’s file a statement of the considerations that led to the decision to admit the applicant.

Standard 502(b) (emphasis added).  Cooley's approach to two-year applicants:

If you are applying to Cooley Law School under the two-year rule and you meet the index requirement for Regular Admission, your file will be reviewed by the Faculty Admissions Committee. The Committee will determine whether you have the maturity level sufficient for the study of law and for beginning law practice. You will be required to write a statement (1) explaining why you want to start law school without a bachelor’s degree and (2) convincing the Committee to accept your application.

Comments

[TJ]

I don't know what they have in mind, but it would be strange to allow only a JD to be admitted, when some older folks still have the LLB from the era when that was the norm. Justices Scalia and Breyer, for example, both have LLBs from Harvard, and it would be weird to deny them the ability to sit for the California bar should either have desired to do so.

[Gary Rosin]

Perhaps that's it. My sources say it was mostly a matter of aligning the rules with the statute.

[Cole B.]

The ABA accredits at least one school that does not require a bachelors degree. http://www.cooley.edu/prospective/bachelors.html

[CSH]

New York State (Rule 520.6) allows graduates of certain foreign law schools to take the bar exam without a JD or LLM. Graduates need to have their credentials approved by the State before they apply to sit for the exam.