Northwestern University Law School begins a two-year J.D. program in 2009

by Robert Gluck

Northwestern University Law School is the first top-tier school to offer the two-year J.D. program, but the work involved in polishing it was extensive.

“This enterprise started in 2006 and was the most systematic I’ve ever seen,” said Dean David Van Zandt. “No other law schools have done anything like it.”

But two law schools are doing it. They just aren’t gaining as much attention. Southwestern Law School was actually the first to develop an accelerated program, and the University of Dayton School of Law graduated their first six-semester students in May.

Dayton‘s program, Van Zandt said, is more similar in structure to Northwestern’s in terms of time. “Dayton showed us that it can be done,” he said. “Their students do as well, or in many cases better than the traditional three year students did.”

Northwestern’s accelerated program starts in 2009 and is part of a new plan to maximize its graduates’ success. The focus from the beginning was on basic foundational competencies, Van Zandt said. Research, formed commissions, empirical studies on graduates and focus groups were held in Chicago and in London. “We went to the marketplace to find out what we needed to do,” he said.

Seven competencies — communication, teamwork, strategic understanding, basic quantitative skills, cross-cultural work, project management and leadership — were established to complement the traditional law school focus on case law analysis.

Van Zandt said his school’s program will attract students who are motivated and understand opportunity cost.

“Whether you’re talking about comparing us to a top-tier school or other schools, we are the only school, and certainly the only top-tier school, that insists on large amounts of work experience,” he said. “This is market driven.”

Van Zandt’s team of researchers found that salaries are high and the time in which employers make judgments about new employees has shortened.

“When I went to law school you could work three years in a firm and they would give you signals about which way you were going,” he said. “Today they’ve got to make decisions sooner because they’re spending lots of money on you.”

Van Zandt feels that having people with substantial work experience and interpersonal skills equates to success.

“We interview for these two. We’re certainly the only top school that interviews in the admissions process. That is what marks us out, the work experience and the kind of person we’re looking for. We’re not for the kid who is super bright, who is right out of college and hasn’t seen much of the world,” he said.

“If I was another dean looking at this [program], I’d probably wait and see how it panned out,” Van Zandt said. “But I’d be preparing to at least match it.”

Students were surveyed about two-year programs. Researchers found that the programs helped them save money, avoid competition while searching for jobs and gave them the impression that employers would view an accelerated graduate as more competent.

Van Zandt agrees. “In our case the real savings is the opportunity cost, that extra year of employment, given the salaries people are getting,” he said. “Employers look at students as more competent, motivated and confident.”