Legal Education

Legal education encompasses both academic and vocational studies. In order to obtain a law degree students are required to acquire an academic grounding in the legal system of their jusisdiction. In order to practice as lawyers they are usually also required to demonstrate that they have learnt professional skills, for example advocacy and analysis. In some countries the two elements are both included with the law degree programme, while in other the vocational element of legal education is separate from and undertaken after the acquisition of an academic degree. In addition to the qualifications required to became a practising lawyer, legal education also encompasses higher degrees such as doctorates, for more advanced academic study.

In most law is an undergraduate degree and graduates of such a program are eligible to become lawyers by passing the country's equivalent of a bar exam. In such countries, graduate programs in law enable students to embark on academic careers or become specialized in a particular area of law.

In the United States, law is a graduate degree, which students embark upon only after completing an undergraduate degree in some other field (usually a bachelor's degree), and is considered to be a graduate or professional school program. The undergraduate degree can be in any field, though most American lawyers hold bachelor's degrees in the humanities and social sciences. American law schools are usually an autonomous entity within a larger university.

Faculty of law is another name for a law school or school of law, the terms commonly used in the United States. This term is used in Canada, other Commonwealth countries and the rest of the world. It may be distinguishable from law school in the sense that a faculty is a subdivision of a university on the same rank with other faculties, i.e. faculty of medicine, faculty of graduate studies, whereas a law school or school of law may have a more autonomous status within a university, or may be totally independent of any other post-secondary educational institution.

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