Richardson Law School Bound - August 05 - Excerpt

Value Of Third Year Law Questioned - Protect Yourself With A Joint Degree!

A law degree in Canada or the U.S. typically takes three years to
complete. Joint law degree (with some other kind of degree)
programs allow students to earn two degrees instead of one (often
in the same three year period). I have always argued that joint
programs allow students to get maximum benefits out of the three
years of law school. Students often ask: why should I do this?
Doesn't law school take three years? In many cases the answer is
no. The basic skill taught in law school (research and legal
reasoning) generally does not take three years to master. For
many students the skill has been mastered after two years -
making the third year largely redundant.

Justin Pope, AP Education writer in his article: "Some Question
Third Year Of Law School" comments that:

"David Wilkins, a Harvard Law professor, recalls struggling to
conduct a survey of third-year law students because so few showed
up to class. In a paper about the third year titled "The Happy
Charade," three scholars, including prominent UCLA professor
Richard Sander, estimated that the 1,100 third-years he surveyed
attended no more than 60 percent of their large classes.

About two in five agreed with the statement "the third year of
law school is largely superfluous.""

I encourage you to read the complete article which may be found
here:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050809/ap_on_re_us/law_school_third_year