Pennsylvania State University - Dickinson Law

Penn State University - Dickinson Law, located in Carlisle, PA is one of two independent and fully accredited law schools of Pennsylvania State University.

U.S. News & World Report, in its 2014 edition of America's Best Graduate Schools, ranked Penn State Dickinson (both campuses combined) 71st among the nation's top 218 law schools.

In the July 2013 Pennsylvania Bar Examination, 93.83% of first time test takers passed (both Penn State campuses combined); graduates of both campuses took the bar in 25 states and achieved an average first time pass rate of 91%; 16.67% of second time test takes passed and the overall passage rate for the school of law was 83.87%. According to Penn State's 2013 ABA-required disclosures, 44.5% of the (combined) Class of 2013 obtained full-time, long-term, JD-required employment nine months after graduation, excluding solo practitioners.

History

The Law School offers J.D. and LL.M. degrees in law and hosts visiting scholars. The law school was opened by Judge John Reed in 1834 as the law department of Dickinson College, named for Founding Father John Dickinson. It received an independent charter in 1890 and ended all affiliation with the college in 1917.

Law school

A law school (also known as a law centre or college of law) is an institution specializing in legal education, usually involved as part of a process for becoming a lawyer within a given jurisdiction.

Law degrees

Brazil

In Brazil, law is studied as an undergraduate program. Students who succesfully complete such programs are awarded a Bachelor of Law and are allowed to take the bar examination, which is held twice a year on a nation-wide basis. Candidates who pass the examination are then allowed to work as attorneys.

Canada

The oldest civil law faculty in Canada offering law degrees was established in 1848 at McGill University in Montreal, and the oldest common law faculty in Canada offering law degrees was established in 1883 at Dalhousie University in Halifax. The typical law degree required to practice law in Canada is now the Juris Doctor, which requires previous university coursework and is similar to the first law degree in the United States. There is some scholarly content in the coursework (such as an academic research paper required in most schools). The programs consist of three years, and have similar content in their mandatory first year courses. Beyond first year and the minimum requirements for graduation, course selection is elective with various concentrations such as business law, international law, natural resources law, criminal law, Aboriginal law, etc. Some schools, however, have not switched from LL.B. to the J.D. – one notable university that still awards the LL.B is McGill University.