Law in the news; Training lawyers around the world

The national educational radio network presents a law in the news with Professor Joseph R. Jule an associate dean of the University of Michigan Law School. One of my colleagues Roy a proper professor of law an associate dean has recently returned from a six month around the world tour. His mission to survey the training of lawyers under various legal systems many of which are quite different from our own. I've asked Dean prophet to give us a report on his general impressions. Well there are lots of differences of course. One of the important differences is that in most of the foreign countries that I've visited that law training is considered as an undergraduate program as far as the formal training in the universities is concerned. As a consequence of this many many more students study the law in their law schools than is true here where they're really aiming for a profession. For example

in the University of Paris alone there are more than 34000 students enrolled in the law school. And in Rome there is something in excess of ten thousand in Japan. One little country more than 17000 law students will sit for the national bar examination this year with an expectation that something near 500 will pass. One other difference is that much of the training in many of the foreign countries is accomplished outside of the law school either through some reasonably well organized process such as the referenda are system in Germany or through the Institute of training and research in Japan or in merely practicing in some practicing lawyers office. Here of

course we think of the law school as the center of the training program. One other general observation there are more varieties of lawyers in these other countries than here. We tend to have no special days and everyone who is a lawyer is at least theoretically thought capable of doing all kinds of legal practice. However in many of these other countries there may be at least two classes of technical lawyers and then they will have notary publics in addition. One common problem with the United States however is that everywhere I went I observed efforts being made to resolve this same question with which the American universities are wrestling and that is what is the proper role of the student in decision making. In some of the European countries they have for a number of years gone much

farther in giving the students an opportunity to take part. I expect the most sophisticated systems in this regard are in the Scandinavian countries and particularly Norway and Sweden. In 1956 these two countries started to permit their students to pay as much play a much more active role in the process. For example attending faculty meetings etc.. This is now settled and has been for a number of years by statute there. The students seem to like it. The professors seem to like it. But one important fact is that in their approval is that the students have not sought to abuse their power by making it merely a political rostrum. They do this in their debating societies and that sort of thing. In Germany this is coming but it's so new that they haven't the

experience to do it. This is one then that I think can be related to our problems here. That was Dean Roy of prophet who was recently returned from a round the world tour of lost schools. His purpose to determine whether there were things within the foreign system which might assist us in our own law training. PROFESSOR JOSEPH R. Julan associate dean of the University of Michigan Law School has presented law in the new recorded by the University of Michigan Broadcasting Service. This is the national educational radio network.