Editor’s note: This commentary is by Marc Mihaly, who is the president and dean of Vermont Law School.
In late August, President Obama called on law schools to reform by considering adoption of a curriculum that would train lawyers in two years instead of the traditional three years.
At Vermont Law School, we’re already doing it.
A few months ago in May, Vermont Law School started its first class of students in a two-year, accelerated juris doctor (JD) program. Twelve highly motivated students joined us in reforming both the time and cost involved in acquiring a legal education. In addition to graduating in just two years with a JD degree, these students will do so with an incredible cost advantage.
Of the more than 200 accredited law schools nationwide, there are only a handful of schools in addition to Vermont Law School with programs that allow students to complete their degree in less than three years. Our difference?
Vermont Law School is the only school in the nation to offer a two-year degree at two-thirds the cost of a traditional three-year degree.
We are not only reducing the overall cost of tuition, but also reducing the time it takes to earn the degree. Students don’t have to spend a third year with living expenses (which average $20,000 to $30,000 per year). More importantly, they re-enter the workforce sooner, reducing the earnings lost while in law school.
These students in the accelerated JD also receive a robust educational experience. They can specialize in Environmental Law, or design their own concentration in Energy Law, Dispute Resolution, or International Law. They can also choose to spend a summer semester as a student-attorney in our clinical programs.
So, why did Vermont Law School, the nation’s top-ranked leader in environmental law for the last 16 of 23 years, make this change long before the call to action from President Obama?
Ultimately, we believe that law students today want the three O’s: options, opportunity and outcomes. The accelerated JD degree meets this test in several ways.
First, we already had a strong summer program in which faculty from across the nation and world come to VLS to teach highly specialized courses in our top-ranked environmental law program. In addition, our experiential and clinical programs, which give students real-world experiences, also operate year-round. The needs of our clients don’t take a summer break, so we built our clinical programs to operate with students year-round.
Most importantly, our faculty understands that change, not tradition, is the future of legal education. More than two years ago, Vermont Law School began a distance-learning program for our master’s and LLM programs. We just graduated our first cohort of these students, and anticipate the largest fall semester class since the program began. The program launched with courses developed almost exclusively by our traditional, residential faculty.
Ultimately, we believe that law students today want the three O’s: options, opportunity and outcomes. The accelerated JD degree meets this test in several ways.
Giving students an option to start when they want and complete their degree in two years is one way to help them meet their own personal goals. It also matches the reality of student’s lives today. Why should anyone who wants to enter law have to wait until late summer of any given year to do so? Both the timing and duration of law school is an artifact of the 20th century, and has to change. In the coming year, we hope to allow two-year JD students to start in either the summer or the fall, making our program the most flexible in the nation.
We’re also confident that this first class will find plenty of opportunities for meaningful careers. Anyone who can fit three years of law school into two years is highly motivated, and it is our expectation that employers will want to hire them.
Finally, these students will be able to seek careers outside of big law, and in the areas of public interest, government, or general practice because they won’t have the debt that otherwise would limit their career choices. We are committed to deliver a professional degree that makes these choices possible.
A two-year law degree isn’t for everyone, but we agree with President Obama that it makes an important step in making a legal education more affordable and accessible. At Vermont Law School, we are committed to developing a generation of leaders who use the power of law to make a difference in their communities and the world, and we think a two-year JD degree is just one way to achieve that goal.