Arizona State apparently has a new idea to try to improve law school graduates’ chances of landing a job: Canada.
According to an article by Karen Sloan in the National Law Journal:
Will graduates holding both a U.S. and Canadian law license have a leg up in the legal job market? Administrators at the Arizona State University Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law think they will, and are introducing a curriculum intended to prepare students for admission in both countries within the traditional three-year J.D. timeframe.
The “North American Law Degree,” as the program is dubbed, will be the first of its kind when it debuts next fall, according to dean Douglas Sylvester. Several schools allow students to split time between a U.S. and a Canadian law school and obtain degrees from both. At ASU, students would remain at the Phoenix campus, spending two years studying U.S. law and their third preparing for the bar exam in one or more Canadian province. Graduates wouldn’t hold a Canadian degree, but could practice there.
While American law school graduates are now having a very hard time finding jobs, it doesn’t appear the Canada program at ASU is really designed for them.
According to the article, the school is anticipating mostly applicants from Canada, because the “admissions process is far more competitive in Canada.” While the school is more expensive than most Canadian law schools, it might still be attractive simply because it could be an easy path for Canadians to become lawyers.
Arizona State is almost 1400 miles from the Canadian border. What, the Mexico plan didn’t work out?
