Reading law
Reading law was the method used in common law countries, particularly the United States, for people to prepare for and enter the legal profession before the advent of law schools. It consisted of an extended internship or apprenticeship under the tutelage or mentoring of an experienced lawyer. The practice largely died out in the early 20th century. A few U.S. states still permit people to become lawyers by reading law instead of attending law school, although the practice is rare.[1]
"Reading the law" redirects here. For reading of the law in Judaism, see Torah reading.In this sense, "reading law" specifically refers to a means of entering the profession, although in England it is still customary to say that a university undergraduate is "reading" a course, which may be law or any other.
History[edit]
United States[edit]
In colonial America, as in Britain in that day, law schools did not exist at all until Litchfield Law School was founded in 1773. Within a few years following the American Revolution, some universities such as the College of William and Mary and the University of Pennsylvania established a "Chair in Law".[2] However, the holder of this position would be the sole purveyor of legal education for the institution, and would give lectures designed to supplement, rather than replace, an apprenticeship.[3] Even as a handful of law schools were established, they remained uncommon in the United States until the late nineteenth century. Most people who entered the legal profession did so through an apprenticeship which incorporated a period of study under the supervision of an experienced attorney. This usually encompassed the reading of the works considered at the time to be the most authoritative on the law, such as Edward Coke's Institutes of the Lawes of England, William Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England, and similar texts.[4]
The scholastic independence of the law student is evident from the following advice of Abraham Lincoln to a young man in 1855:
Modern practice[edit]
A small number of jurisdictions still permit reading law as a means of legal education. In the states of California,[1] Vermont,[1] Virginia,[36] and Washington,[37] an applicant who has not attended law school may take the bar exam after reading law under a judge or practicing attorney for an extended period of time. The required time varies. Exact rules vary as well; for example, Virginia does not allow the reader to be gainfully employed by the tutoring lawyer, while Washington requires just that. The State of New York requires that applicants who are reading law must have at least one year of law school study[38] and Maine requires applicants to have completed at least two-thirds of a law degree.[39] Such persons are sometimes called country lawyers or county-seat lawyers. In 2013, 60 people qualified to sit for the bar exam this way as opposed to 83,926 via law schools, and of those 60, 17 passed on their first attempt.[1]