Samuel Huryn Back in 2013, President Barack Obama, a Harvard Law School graduate, urged law schools to decrease their curriculum from three years to two years, stating that “I believe that law schools would probably be wise to think about being two years instead of three years”. Obama proposed this to combat a number of problems that have plagued law school recently. The New York Times states that these include “an increasing number of graduates struggling with soaring tuition costs, heavy student debt and a difficult job market”. In addition to Obama, his plan was supported by some current and previous law school professors.
However, this two-year law school program has, by and large, failed to succeed since Obama’s pronouncement. According to a separate article in the New York Times, “the two-year law degree has foundered so far. The only elite school to adopt it, the Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law, this fall ended its accelerated two-year juris doctor program after it failed to attract enough applicants.” The article proposed a number of explanations for this failure. First, because of accreditation requirements, some two year law schools require the same number of course hours to graduate, which simply squeeze the number of classes into a short time span, and do not decrease the cost. Additionally, some law programs are unwilling to experiment with a new formula and jeopardize the success of a proven program. That being said, for prospective students who believe that a two-year program fits their educational plan better than a traditional program, some law schools still offer a two year program. Like any prospective law student, those interested in a two-year program should weigh the pros and cons of the individual schools and their programs before deciding. Works Cited http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/08/23/obama-says-law-school-should-be-two-years-not-three/ http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/26/business/dealbook/the-2-year-law-education-fails-to-take-off.html?_r=0
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