Northwestern Abandons Two-Year JD Program

Northwestern Abandons Two-Year JD Program

      According to a posting on the Above the Law site (HERE IS A LINK TO THAT REPORT) Northwestern University Law has abandoned its two-year (as contrasted with the typical three-year) JD program.  A variety of reasons are bandied about ranging from internal issues within the law school, issues with respect to approval of the program by the American Bar Association and a perceived failure of the program to address the cost of law school; the two-year program cost just as much as the three-year program.

      For myself, I am somewhat glad the program has failed.  I have nothing against Northwestern; it is an outstanding institution.  However, I am against the notion that law school can be accelerated.  Simply put, it takes time for the rewiring that is the purpose and intent of a legal education to take root.  Shorting the program of legal education will become little more than cramming for the SAT; lots of data, very little information.  In addition, shortening the training program will only increase the perception that law is a commodity, the view upon which LegalZoom is based.

      Were I in charge (trust me, there are many law students that are glad I am not), law school would be made not shorter but longer.  Frankly, in an age in which fewer and fewer newly minted attorneys are able to join large firms where their training will be continued (indeed completed) in a structured format, an additional year of training focused upon practical issues in the legal practice would make those new attorneys more effective, less likely to commit malpractice and a greater value to their clients. A secondary effect of such a change would be a reduction in the total number of new attorneys, thereby reducing the commodity treatment of what should be a learned profession.

      But then, I’m not in charge.