The general questions about law schools include how long you have to study at a law school and what degrees law schools offer. Typically, you need to study three years to get a law degree. However, before you can enter a law school, you need to have a bachelor's degree, which typically takes another four years to complete. Law school graduates usually receive the degree of Juris Doctor, or J.D.
Another question that interests many people is how to choose a law school. To answer this question, you need to realistically assess your qualifications. Undoubtedly, if you feel that you can make a strong application, apply to well-known law schools at Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Georgetown and Berkeley universities. These are the best schools and their graduates typically spend little time finding employment. However, those institutions are extremely selective in whom they admit. If you don't have excellent grades or some outstanding extracurricular achievements, getting into those schools can be difficult. Michael Froomkin, distinguished professor of law at the University of Miami School of Law, recommends choosing law schools in the area where you plan to live after graduation, so you can establish contacts and can get part-time and summer jobs that may lead to permanent offers of employment.
Many questions about law schools are concerned with how a student can actually get into a law school--what degree he needs to have, what college courses are required and what tests or exams need to be taken.
To be admitted to a law school, you need to have a bachelor's degree. Although there are no written rules about what major you need to have, the major you choose in college should help you develop a proficiency in writing, speaking, reading, researching, analyzing and thinking logically. You may take courses in English, foreign languages, government, philosophy, public speaking, history, economics, mathematics and computer science. Another important admission criterion is the Law School Admission Test, or LSAT, a written examination administered by the Law School Admission Council. In addition to undergraduate grades, your LSAT score and the quality of your undergraduate school, your prior work experience and a personal interview may help the admissions office decide whether to accept your application or not.
In the digital age, many people are interested whether it is possible to get a law degree by studying on the Internet. Well, it probably is not, if you want your degree to be worth something. All respectable law schools in America are accredited by the American Bar Association (ABA). However, as of 2011, there were no nationally accredited law schools that offered a J.D. degree completely via distance education.
The question of what students study in law school intrigues many people. During the first year and a half of your studies, you will study such core courses as constitutional law, property law, contracts, torts, civil procedure and legal writing. Then you will need to socialize in areas such as tax, labor or corporate law. You will also be able to learn by participating in school-sponsored legal clinics and writing on legal issues for the school's law journals.