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2-Year Law Degree Program

A law degree once seemed to promise a career with a near-guarantee of a good living. Those days, however, are gone.

Job prospects for law school graduates are discouraging, with only 57% of graduates working full-time in the profession as of February .

The statistics apparently are changing the minds of some potential law students. Applications to law schools are down, and fewer – and less qualified – students are taking the Law School Admission Test (LSAT), the exam that must be passed to gain admission to law school.

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Some observers propose a two-year course of study, in place of the traditional three years of law school, as a way to help reverse the downward trend.

Debate Rages Over Potential Change to Law School

Trimming a year off of the course is the subject of debate among legal scholars. Some like the idea while some prefer the status quo. Others propose a flexible set-up with a year of real-world experience, while others think three years isn’t enough.

While a two-year law school degree may never be offered, prospective law students do have the option of an accelerated course of study that allows them to earn their degree in two calendar years.

The accelerated program has the same credit hour requirements as a traditional three-year degree. At Northwestern University’s law school, for example, accelerated course students begin classes in May. They continue classes through the fall and spring semesters, and then work over the second summer. They return to school for fall and spring semesters and then graduate in May.

Benefits With a Two-Year Law Degree Program

There are financial benefits to such a program. One of the most obvious reasons is this program keeps the student out of the job market for one less year. That’s also one less year of taking out student loans to pay for living expenses.

Those considerations helped law student Sutton Smith choose the accelerated program at the University of Dayton School of Law.

Sutton, whose wife is pursuing a graduate degree while he’s pursuing his law degree, told U.S. News and World Report “that if we were going to unplug our income, if we could do that for two years as opposed to three, I'd get back in the job market sooner. I’d have to borrow less money for living expenses."

Another advantage, at least for the time being, is smaller class sizes during the first semester. At Pepperdine University School of Law, classes starting in May average 30 students as opposed to 100 or more for traditional school year classes.

In addition, students in the classes beginning in May tend to be older and to have more post-college work and life experience, with fewer students coming straight from their undergraduate studies.

Of course, these situations could change if the accelerated program gains popularity and beings to attract students who have just completed bachelor’s degree programs.

Students who are considering entering an accelerated program need to take its demands into consideration. Every semester of the program will include 15 to 18 credit hours.

Also, since summer internships and clerkships are so important to traditional law students, it is imperative that students ensure their accelerated program allows for at least some work experience outside the classroom.

In addition, it’s important to remember that accelerated courses are a relatively new development for law schools. It’s important to ask questions about the program’s graduation rate, job placement and bar passage.