After earning a J.D., law school graduates must take an examination administered by the state before he or she can practice law. Classes meet on average about 3 hours per week Courses are typically taught using a single textbook which includes appellate court decisions, relevant statutes and sometimes excerpts from other writings such as law review articles Students are usually evaluated on the basis of a written essay examination of approximately 3 hours. Seminars sometimes evaluate students on the basis of a research paper Principal Teaching Methodologies in the United States Socratic Dialogue Students are expected to be prepared to participate in the class discussion' during every class- Teacher randomly selects which students will be questioned about the assigned material. Problem method One trend in large class teaching involves the teacher asking the students to discuss specific legal problems. Sometimes the students are asked to be lawyers, sometimes clients, sometimes judges.
Simulations require everyone to take on a much more active role in classes.
Classes focused on the lawyering process or particular lawyering skills such as interviewing and counseling typically utilize simulations extensively. Simulations can be done in large or small classes. Clinical teaching New teaching methodology introduced in the first half of the 20th Century designed to bridge the gap between theory and practice. Based to some extent on the model of medical school where clinical teaching has long been standard. University training gains ground and apprenticeship system goes into decline.