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Legal Education and Bar Admission

Resource Guide

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Alicia Davis

Gregory Hurley

Legal education is a process central to the practice of law and extends far beyond law school. Legal education and bar admission include aptitude tests, the law-school-admissions process, the bar-exam and bar-admissions process, and continuing-legal-education requirements and programs. They affect not only prospective and current law students, but also licensed attorneys inside and outside the United States seeking admission to practice in another jurisdiction. This module answers frequently asked questions about bar admission, law schools, and continuing legal education. There is also a resource guide that offers numerous sources of information about these topics, as well as links to other pertinent subject areas.

Links to related online resources are listed below. Non-digitized publications may be borrowed from the NCSC Library; call numbers are provided.

Online Publications and Resources

American Association of Law Schools (AALS). The Association's Web site contains outlines from past conferences and workshops, a directory of law schools around the world, and reports on subjects such as bar review courses and the tenure gap affecting minority law professors.  
American Bar Association Center for Continuing Legal Education. To date, 40 states require mandatory continuing legal education classes; the Center provides links to more information, including a map of the states with their MCLE requirements, a state-by-state summary of MCLE state requirements, and state regulatory entities.  Also included on the Web site are a calendar of upcoming ABA seminars and a set of free online seminars.
American Bar Association Center for Professional Responsibility. This site features a wealth of information on legal professionalism and ethics, including links to rules and standards, and access to information on judicial conduct and client protection.  The Center also features a separate page describing the impact of the General Agreement on Trade in Services on the provision of legal services in the U.S.
American Bar Association Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar. The Legal Education Section's Web site features several informative pages of interest to law students and lawyers alike.
Cornell University Law School`s Legal Information Institute. In addition to the Introduction to Basic Legal Citation, the LII provides free access to federal rules and statutes, information about uniform laws, and links to state and international law resources.
Introduction to Basic Legal Citation. Cornell University Law School's Legal Information Institute (LII) maintains this online resource.  Designed to be used alongside The Bluebook or the ALWD, the Introduction provides reference tables linking its quick-reference citation pages to the corresponding sections in each citation manual, along with pages and pages of easy-to-use citation formats.
Law School Admissions Council (LSAC). In addition to the link for the Official Guide to ABA-Approved Law Schools, the LSAC Web site offers prospective law students information on many aspects of the application and admissions process.  From a demonstration of the Law School Data Assembly Service, to information and perspectives for minority applicants, the LSAC site is a valuable resource for anyone applying or considering application to law school.  The large number of downloadable forms and the Official Guide to Canadian Law Schools are especially noteworthy.
Law School Connect. Law School Connect provides a free service that allows judges to interview candidates for judicial clerkships via video conferencing.  There are currently more than 50 law schools participating in the program.  The program includes technical support and it advertises that its use should help broaden the diversity of law clerks.
LL.M. Guide. Includes a directory of LL.M. programs worldwide, international program rankings, and a discussion board for candidates and prospective applicants.
National Conference of Bar Examiners.
The National Law Journal CLE Directory.  This directory of CLE programs offered across the country is arranged by subject matter and the date of the seminar.  There is also a link to the Law.com CLE Center, where online seminars are available for purchase. 
United States Government Printing Office Style Manual. (2000).  The GPO manual sets forth the form and style to be used in printing projects by the federal government.

 
U.S. News & World Reports Law School Rankings. Without a subscription to the service, this online version of the report contains little more than the rankings themselves, linked to some information about each school.  The LSAC warns applicants to use caution when using numerical rankings.   Also of interest is The Rankings Game , a Web site maintained by the Indiana University School of Law and Professor Jeffrey Stake.  The Rankings Game provides some analysis of the ranking process to help applicants and others understand the numerical rankings more completely.
Washburn University School of Law. Washburn University School of Law maintains this set of links and contact information for various law schools across the country and around the world.  Washburn also has a page for life after law school, which includes links to employment-related sites, bar exam preparation, graduate programs and CLE information.