This difference is mainly reflected in the different legal systems, laws and regulations, and the different procedures of the trial system.
Legal education in the United States aims at training professional lawyers, which belongs to a kind of professional education after undergraduate basic education, also called professional education. There is no law major in undergraduate study in American universities, so only those with bachelor's degrees or above are eligible to enter law school. There are three levels of legal education in the United States (namely, three degrees): J.D., LL. Doctor of medicine and doctor of law
Usually, if an American student wants to be a lawyer or engage in judicial work in the future, then a doctorate in law is enough to meet their requirements; If students are interested in legal academic research, they will choose to pursue a doctorate in law.
LL。 M usually grants a master's degree in American law to students, scholars or lawyers who have obtained a bachelor's degree in law in other countries outside the United States.
J.D.' s study time is three years. In the first year of law school, students mainly study the basic knowledge of American law, such as constitution, criminal law, contract law, tort law and so on. In the second and third years, students can choose interested courses according to their hobbies and future career direction, such as intellectual property law, sports law, environmental protection law, international trade law, arbitration and so on.
Because S.J.D is a research degree, it usually takes three to five years to complete. One of the conditions for obtaining a degree is to write an influential research paper in the legal academic circles. Considering the cost of study time, tuition and living expenses, and the pressure of study difficulty, most domestic applicants choose to apply for LL. I am their major.
It usually takes only nine months to complete LL. M, from the end of August to the end of the course in May the following year. Students usually need to complete 24 credits in one year. In addition to studying the courses tailored by law school for foreign students and scholars familiar with the American legal system, LL. M students can choose J.D. courses from 1 to 3 years at will.
Case teaching is the main teaching method in American law schools.
Unlike China, what laws does the United States adopt? Case law? That is, any case to be tried must be based on the case previously decided, which leads to the case teaching in American law schools.
In class, students will learn classic cases from dozens or even one or two hundred years ago. Is it widely adopted by American law schools? Socrates teaching method. In a class of dozens or even hundreds of students, the law professor will randomly call a student to answer questions. First of all, the professor will ask students to retell the cause, process, result and the focus of the dispute, so as to ensure that students can preview and basically understand the case.
Next, the professor will ask the students whether they agree with the court's decision and explain the reasons in detail. Then, the law professor will assume some new disputes and questions according to the students' answers, so as to test students' understanding of legal rules and judgment of new situations. Law school professors never talk about how a legal problem is stipulated and how the judgment is correct, but always urge and inspire students to find reasonable answers and explanations themselves, with the aim of training law school students' ability to think independently, analyze and solve problems from different angles.
It should be said that the study of American law school is the most important of all majors. Students can only sleep for two or three hours every day in order to complete the tasks and homework assigned by the professor. Law students joked that they were living a life of hell. Of course, once you graduate from the top law school, your income will be very considerable. It is worth mentioning that some states in the United States (including new york and California). ) LLM students are allowed to take the bar exam in this state after graduation. After passing the exam, he became a lawyer in this state and obtained the qualification of practicing in this state. Obtaining a lawyer's qualification in the United States is of great help to job hunting and employment.
Due to the impact of the global financial crisis, the business of law firms has been severely impacted and they have laid off employees. It is increasingly difficult for law school graduates to obtain high-paying employment opportunities. Because of language, culture, identity and other reasons, the employment situation of foreign graduates studying law in the United States is even less optimistic, and most of them will choose to return to work. The study and life experience in the United States, the country with the most perfect legal system in the world, is undoubtedly a valuable asset in the life of every applicant who has great ideals in law and is determined to devote himself to legal affairs.