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Legal News

: Legal Blog Watch

Who Says You Need to Go to Law School to Be a Lawyer?

By Bruce Carton

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The idealawg blog had a post yesterday flagging an interesting article on people becoming lawyers in Washington state without ever going to law school. The Seattle Times reports that Washington allows candidates with a bachelor's degree and a full-time job to become lawyers by, essentially, working as an apprentice under a sponsoring attorney. The so-called "law clerk" program takes four years to complete. Further proving that I need to get out more, the article notes that Washington is one of 10(!) states that provide a route for students to become lawyers without going through law school. Who knew? Presently, about 45 people in Washington are engaged in the law clerk program, which is overseen by the Washington State Bar Association. The Seattle Times reports that about 230 people have graduated from the program since the 1930s, about 150 of them since 1984. There are some downsides, however. First, people becoming lawyers through the program may have more limited career options because most states require practicing lawyers to have attended an accredited law school. Second, although a Washington prosecutor quoted in the article said that attorneys probably "wouldn't know whether their colleague in the courtroom attended law school or took another...

Full post as published by Legal Blog Watch on April 07, 2010 (boomark / email).