Not a real legal education?

After having discussed judicial cases for 8hours today I got home and found that the new edition of JUSEK (Newspaper that the union for legal professionals and legal students produce) has arrived. I feel mildly excited as the paper is mildy interesting. I feel less content when I start to read and realise that the education which I am currently attending get’s a trashing in it.

To clarify: Business law, (Affärsjuridik) which I study is not the same legal education that enables you to become a lawyer,(Jur.Kand.) in Sweden. The difference is mainly tradition (i.e my education don’t have it). We also read one year of mixed courses and project work (consisting mostly of jurdicial application and evaluation) and economics, which the traditional juridical educations do not. They read criminal law (murders, assaults that kind of thing) and processlaw (how to indite criminal law offences) instead. Also Business law has adopted to the bologna process and therefor has a undergrad-part and a masters part, whilst the traditional legal education do not.

The legal educations of Jönköping and Linköpings is currently ‘doing a lot of lobbying to convince private firms that graduates of their educations is not less valuable just because they have not read criminal law or proccess law. And the traditional law graduates don’t appreciate that. JUSEK of course, takes no stance, but today the traditional law students had littered the letters to the editor column with responses to a previous letters which stated that the business law education is more adapt to deal with business law.

The critisism seem to consist mainly of “why are you suprised you can not be a lawyer” and vague remarks of business law not being a real “legal education”.

In response to the “lawyer-argument” I want to say that I would be thouroghly suprised if anybody in these educations belived that the business law education would enable anyone to become a lawyer, it is quity openly discussed and definitely dissed. There is no one in these programs that belive that they will become lawyers. None. What they are discussing is why private legal bureaus do not wish to hire graduates from business law educations. (Note legal business, corporate businesses seem to actually prefer business law graduates.) My guess: These firms are so competitive , traditionalistic and title-blind that the ability to sometime in the future be able to call yourself lawyer is worth more then the competence of the title holder.

Regarding the other more hazy remark of business law not being a “real legal education” I can only discuss the facts: the traditional legal education is supposed to span a time of 4 and half years, whilst business law students should study for 5. Subtract the “complementation-term” and you get 4 respectively 4 and half year of studies. Take the half year of economics that business law students study out of the equation and the term that they study abroad and the time, actually studying law is 3 and half years. One term less then the tradition juridical education. To say that a education which studies the same laws, the same litterature, the same jurdicial supreme courts cases but a term less of it is not a “real legal education” because it’s not the traditional one is to grossly overvalue the title of jur.kand, and the courses of procces law and criminal law.

Mr Lionel, my favourite lawyer

(Picture stolen from this blog.)

Yes, it is possible that the focus of the courses becomes different between a education who educate mainly future lawyers and an education which educate future business proffesionals, CEO’s, employment managers etc. Not only possible but also likely, however – it is still a real legal education. Live with it.

Furthermore I’d just like to add that according to a resarch conducted by JUSEK the graduates of business law find their job to be qualified and their education highly relevant for their current employment. More so then the traditonal legal graduates. (As seen here in Swedish.) It also seems that business law graduates are more easily employed then their traditional legal colleagues, at least according to this study performed by the university of Linköping. Also in Swedish.

At the moment I’m thinking of trying to get employed by the European union. Being a lawyer wouldn’t help me much in that forum. The master in European law which I plan to take however…?

This is me

promised an introduction, did I not? Here it comes, enjoy.

My name is Pontus. I am 20 years old, and look a bit like this

Me

I study corporate law (or if it’s called business law, not sure of the difference, if there is one) at Jönköping international business school.

JIBS

Even though the school has “international” in the name it’s really national. All my courses are in Swedish (not strange since I’m studying law, and law is by it’s nature pretty national.) Sure there’s like a thousand international students, but they all study marketing and/or economics, hence I don’t see them unless I’m out drinkin’. Something I enjoy and do whenever I am given the opportunity.  

The reason for my excellent english skills is not the 8 years of english studies in elementary school, no , I didn’t pay much attention. The reason is rather spelled I-B, the place I fortunatly wound up at in high school together with weird swedes and weirder foreign people, most of wich had the same level of questionable English skills as me. 

I do  have a crazy girlfriend, and she happens to be a talented blogqueen, albeit in swedish. I really think you should check our her blog. If you don’t understand the language she has plenty of cool pictures to look at. She studies linguistics in london, and she looks kind of like this

Malin

(Picture taken in London somewhere.)

Other then I like the same things that everyone else within the blogcommunity seem to enjoy, money, attention, playing with my computer, traveling, ramblings and such.

Feel fre to click the “next blog”-button now.