Legal News

A viable alternative to temping for deferred associates

By Richard Binder

A new LL.M program at the University of California at Los Angeles School of Law is said to be designed specifically with deferred associates in mind.  According to Dean Michael Schill, the curriculum develops real-world legal skills such as drafting and depositions, and includes instruction in matters such as how to bring in clients and how to start a practice. Enrolled students will be required to spend at least one semester either in part-time externship in the legal department of a Los Angeles-area corporation, or in a transactional or litigation clinic.

The deadline for the school's existing L.L.M program has already passed, so the school is reopening the deadline for students interested in the transition to practice program. Those who have already applied to the existing LL.M. program also will have the option of participating in the new program.

"We saw all the deferrals, and we started thinking about what we could do," says Schill. "We thought about what we to could do to give these students the skills they would develop had they gone to law firms."

Full story at NLJ.com.

Full post as published by Legal Pad | LA on April 17, 2009 (boomark / email).