Law school

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A law school (or school of law) is an institution specializing in legal education.

[edit] Post-graduate law degrees

Law schools in Canada and the United States typically require three years of study after completing an undergraduate degree. Programs which offer part-time study or joint-degree programs may last four or more years. Upon graduation from law school, students are awarded a professional degree, the Juris Doctor (J.D.) in the U.S. or the Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) in Common law Canada and Bachelor of Civil Law (B.C.L) in Civil Law Canada (Quebec). While rarely pursued, the academic doctoral degree in law (equivalent to a Ph.D. in other fields) is the Doctor of Juridical Science (S.J.D.) in the U.S. or the Doctorate of Laws (LL.D.) in Canada. Some U.S. schools also offer a Master of Laws (LL.M.) program, often targeted at training foreign lawyers in U.S. law but occasionally an academic degree for post-J.D. study focusing on a specialized field (such as tax law).

In addition to attending law school, in most jurisdictions a graduate of a law school is required to pass the state or provincial bar examination in order to practice law. The Multistate Bar Examination is offered in some jurisdictions.

In the U.S., law school typically involves a full time course of study, though there are part time programs available. In Canada, part-time study is very rare.

[edit] Alternative legal education systems

While law schools such as those in the U.S. and Canada are typically post-graduate institutions with considerable autonomy, legal education in other countries is provided within the mainstream educational system from university level and/or in non-degree conferring vocational training institutions. In countries such as the United Kingdom and most of continental Europe, academic legal education is provided within the mainstream university system starting at the undergraduate level, and the legal departments of universities are simply departments like any other rather than separate "law schools". In these countries, the term "law school" may be used, but it does not have the same clear cut meaning as it does in North America. There are also sometimes legal colleges that provide vocational training as a post-academic stage of legal education. One example is the College of Law in the United Kingdom, which provides certain professional qualifications which British lawyers must obtain before they may practice as solicitors or barristers but does not confer degrees.