Apprenticeship Issue
The American legal system is unusual in that, with few exceptions, it has no formal apprenticeship or clinical training requirements between the period of academic legal training and the bar exam, or even after the bar exam. Two exceptions are Delaware and Vermont, which require that candidates for admission serve a full-time clerkship of at least five months (Delaware) or three months (Vermont) in the office of a lawyer previously admitted in that state before being eligible to take the oath of admission. New Jersey has a similar requirement, with the addition of training and instruction.
On October 12, 2005, the Washington State Supreme Court adopted amendments to Admission to Practice Rule 5 and 18, mandating that, prior to admission, Bar applicants must complete a minimum of four hours of approved pre-admission education.
Some law schools have tried to rectify this lack of experience by requiring supervised "Public Service Requirements" of all graduates. States that encourage law students to undergo clinical training or perform public service in the form of pro bono representation may allow students to appear and practice in limited court settings under the supervision of an admitted attorney. For example, in New York's Third Appellate Department, "Any officer or agency of the state ... or any legal aid organization ... may make application to the presiding justice of this court for an order authorizing the employment or utilization of law students who have completed at least two semesters of law school and eligible law school graduates as law interns to render and perform legal services ... which the officer, agency or organization making the application is authorized to perform." Similarly, New York's state Department of Labor allows law students to practice in unemployment benefits hearings before the agency.
As a result, in most jurisdictions anyone with a J.D. (or equivalent experience in the states that allow it) may take the bar exam and be admitted to the bar, and then may immediately seek out clients and start filing papers with a court. The current system has been criticized on the grounds that clients often end up subsidizing the apprenticeship of young lawyers.
Read more about this topic: Admission To The Bar In The United States
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