Monday. Dec. 14, 1964
University Daily Kansan
Page 3
Washburn Degree Change Stirs KU Talk
By Suzy Tichacek
With the recent decision of the Washburn Law School to grant the Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree instead of the Bachelor of Laws (LLB.) discussion has been repened at the KU Law School concerning a possible similar change.
Last Thursday the Washburn University Board of Regents authorized the Washburn Law School to grant the J.D. degree beginning with the June commencement.
According to Harold Sponberg, president of the university, "the move is in line with thinking on the part of similar institutions."
ALTHOUGH THE LAW School has been discussing the possibilities of changing the law degree for some time, no formal measures have been taken in this direction James Logan, dean of the Law School, said.
The change in degrees has been discussed on a nation-wide scale by representatives of law schools and members of the American Bar Association ever since the 19th century. In an article by Professor Crabb of the University of North Dakota he said, "At the end of three years, the law student is conventionally awarded the LLB., another 'bachelor' degree."
"The same proposal that was adopted by Washburn is now under study by the University of Missouri at Kansas City," Dean Logan said. "We are also going to study the proposal."
"THIS IS presumably a lower designation than ever 'master,'" he said, "despite the fact that the law student's time and effort at university studies will have been a year or two more than for the usual M.A. degree, and will more nearly have approximated that of a Ph.D."
In a seminar paper by Marcus Schoenfeld, presented to the New York University School of Law, a history of the controversy was presented.
Although most law schools confer the LLB. degree, about 15 or 20 law schools now give the J.D.
THE LLB. BECAME established in the 19th century, when no law school required a bachelor's degree as a prerequisite to law study. Later when Harvard and Chicago introduced a four-year college requirement, the faculties of both institutions favored the adoption of the J.D. degree. At Chicago the proposal was adopted, but the corporation at
Christmas is the world outdoors, and...
Harvard turned it down. According to the report, it has been successfully adopted at Stanford and several Midwestern universities.
The American Bar Association Committee on Legal Education debated the topic annually from 1905 in 1909.
According to an article in the Association of American Law Schools annual report, non-lawyers are frequently confused by the fact that about 20 midwestern law schools award the J.D. as the first degree, while others award only the LL.B. as the first degree. A doctor's degree (the U.S.D. or S.J.D.) is given only as a research degree.
STILL OTHER SCHOOLS award the J.D. degree as an honors degree for achieving high grades or for doing research assignments. Some schools have recently abandoned the J.D. degree, while others have adopted it.
"Uniformity in the meaning of degrees so far as these can be stated in objective terms, is obviously advantageous," the report continued.
821 Mass. VI 3-1951
In the report the J.D. degree was defined. "The degree of Doctor Juris signifies the completion of a program of prolonged academic training for a profession, above and beyond previous general education in the humanities and sciences culminating in the award of a bachelor's degree. The J.D. degree indicates academic endeavor generally comparable with
that leading to the degrees of M.D. (Doctor of Medicine) or D.D.S. (Doctor of Dental Science)."
THE ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN Law Schools recommends that the J.D. degree be granted only to a student who has completed a program of professional training occupying at least six semesters of full-time study or its equivalent after he receives his baccalaureate degree.
"It should not be conferred for combined programs," the Association said, "in which any part of the professional training was carried on as part of the baccalaureate program; the L.L.B. is the only appropriate degree for such programs."
In a recent letter to Dean Logan from John G. Hervey, Dean of the Oklahoma City Law School, five law schools were listed which had recently changed to the J.D. degree. Hervey stated that in a previous meeting it was observed that the J.D. is viewed as a higher degree than the LLB. by certain governmental agencies.
"THE RECIPIENT of the LLB. degree," Hervey said in an earlier letter, "who entered law school with a prior B.A. or B.S. degree, is now penalized if he is in government service which has established a point system for advancement or
"It (an Air Force Manual) equates the Bachelor of Law with a Master's degree," he said, "while the J.D. is equated with the Ph.D. degree."
salary increases. Some government agencies have established such a system and the J.D. degree carries a larger number of points than the LLB. degree.
"Thus two law schools may require a degree for admission." Hervey said, "but the graduate of one which awards the J.D. receives a higher rating, for advancement or salary increase, than the graduate of the school which conferred the LLB. This hardly seems fair to the graduates of the two schools."
IN AN ARTICLE entitled "Time for a Change" by Hervey, he set forth the arguments against the J.D. degree:
- The law degree should not be called a "doctorate" because there is no specific research requirement.
- Hervey said this argument shows a lack of understanding between the "professional" and the "research" doctorates. He adds that there is no research requirement for the M.D. or D.D.S.
- Awarding the J.D. will discourage research degrees in law.
- Hervery refutes this point by saying there has been no proof in the past that this is true. "The conferral of the M.D. in medicine or the D.D.S. in dentistry has not downgraded the research in those fields," he wrote.
- The traditional degree is the LLB. degree.
Referring back to history, Hervey shows that it is not tradition that is against the J.D. degree. "The so-called tradition of the LLB.degree developed at the time when law study moved from the law offices to the law schools," Hervey wrote. "At that time, there was no requirement of prior college work for admission to the law schools and, in many schools, the program of law study covered only two years."
- The J.D. degree is not now awarded by the Ivy League schools in the East.
Hervey criticized this argument by saying the Ivy League schools have been unwilling in the past to blaze new trails. Schools, equally respectable such as Chicago and Northwestern have conferred the J.D. degree for many years.
DailijHansan
115 First HMI
University of Kansas student newspaper
University of Kansas student newspaper
UNiversity 4-3846, newsroom
UNiversity 4-3198, business office
Founded 1889, became biweekly 1904
triweekly 1908, daily Jan. 16, 1912.
Member of the Association Collegiate Press. Represented by National Advertising Service. 18 East St. New York 22, N.Y.
News service: United Press Internationale Press. Published in semester or $5 a year. Published in Lawrence, Kan., every afternoon during the University year except Saturdays and Sundays. and examination periods. Second class postage paid at Lawrence. Kansas.
Perfumes, After Shave Items, Tobacco make the nicest Christmas surprises.
For the widest selection of the finest gifts, shop
The Round Corner Drug Store
801 Mass.
open evenings-free delivery till 9:30 p.m.