Law Degree Juris

The present US system on higher education is unique in the sense that while you may be working for your baccalaureate degree in laws, what you will be conferred upon graduation is a law degree juris. You may initially get confused with the concept, but basically, the reason for this is to distinguish a US-based law degree juris from similar degrees being offered in other countries and to emphasize the fact that holders of a law degree juris usually have baccalaureate degrees in another totally different field (1).

In any case, a law degree juris is called the Juris Doctorate degree in most American universities. It is the first of many professional degrees conferred to law graduates. (2)

The typical law degree juris will usually involve a program that should last for three years if you plan to pursue the title full-time. Some schools do not allow interested law students to earn the degree part-time. That is why during your first few years, you may have to temporarily stop engaging in a job that will interrupt with your classes. This is quite understandable since studying law is both a time-consuming and a challenging task. (3)

To be conferred a law degree juris, you need to complete at least 88 credits of law subjects. On your initial year, the semester will require you to take up around 16 credits which you can reduce to 12 credits in the following semesters. (4) During this time, you should expect to study the different legal theories along with an appreciation of the many dimensions of the court, including its social, political, and commercial aspects.

Prior to all of these, you need to pass the Law School Admission Test or LSAT that US law schools administer to those wanting to gain admission. The LSAT is actually one of two important admission requirements that you have to meet if you intend to pursue a law degree juris. (5) The other one is the average rate that you obtained when you finished your undergraduate course.

Literary Citations & Article References:

(1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juris_Doctor

(2) http://law.slu.edu/healthlaw/academics/juris_doctor/index.html

(3) http://www.law.uga.edu/academics/degree/index.html

(4) http://www.law.miami.edu/admissions/jd/

(5) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juris_Doctor#The_J.D._in_the_United_States