Laying down the law school

Washington Monthly, Dec, 2005 by Charles Peters

Rebecca Carroll of the Associated Press recently came up with an interesting story about lawyers who haven't gone to law school. Four states allow would-be lawyers to take the bar examination and become licensed by going through an apprenticeship with practicing attorneys. I approve. After all, that's just what Abe Lincoln did.

Law schools have always seemed like a racket to me. Their real purpose is to provide nice jobs for the faculty and provide three years during which the law student, who often goes to law school to mark time while he decides what he really wants to do, to make up his mind, or at least pacify his parents who want him to appear to be doing something.

Maybe one year could be useful. The Socratic method used by the best law professors does teach students how to think--which, lamentably, a standard liberal arts education too often fails to do. And one year is all you need to find out whether you really like the law. If you are bored by the basics of the profession, you're not going to enjoy practicing it.