III. Polylogue

1. Read the polylogue.

A group of American lawyers has come to our Academy. They have already had meetings with the Professors and teachers of law. Now they are at the Students’ Club.

Boris: Dear friends today we are hosting guests from the United States of America. They are lawyers, but they practice in different branches of law. Let me introduce our guests. Mr. Tom Miller, a member of the American Bar Association, Mr. Kay Davis, a member of the National Labour Relations Board and Mrs. Eliza Ford, a Court judge from Iowa.

Everybody: Hallo! Glad to meet you!

Guests: Glad to meet you too!

Mr.Miller: Dear friends, we have been staying in your beautiful city for several days. We like your city and your Academy. We were shown your classes, laboratories, reading halls. We got acquainted with the ways and methods of teaching law in your country.

Mr.Davis: We’ve got a lot of useful information but we would like to know more about you, about your future plans and preferences in your studies. And we are ready to answer your questions, if you have some.

Alex: Sure, we have. Mr. Miller, you are a lawyer and we are future lawyers. We will work in Russia and the preferences in our studies are the Russian law and the Russian legislation. Our graduates are not able to practice law in France, Canada or America. But the world is changing, and sooner or later some of us would like to get experience of working in another country. Is it possible for Russian graduates of law schools to practice law in your country?

Mr. Miller: If I got your question correctly you want to know how to become a lawyer in the USA?

Alex: Right.

Mr. Miller: To become a lawyer is not an easy thing. It will take you a long period of not less than seven years before you are allowed to take a test for getting a license to practice law.

Lena: Is the course of studies in law schools so long? We study law for five years.

Mr. Miller: Seven years, four years of college and three years of law school.

Mr. Davis: The process of becoming a lawyer includes several stages. First, one is to obtain Bachelor’s Degree.

Boris: Does the qualification I choose influence my future career of a lawyer?

Mr. Davis: No, your particular choice of qualification does not matter much, at least not for the purposes of getting into a law school.

Mr. Miller: It doesn’t matter what you major in; just choose a subject you prefer and study hard.

Mr. Davis: Then you take the Law School Administration Test, or LSAT which is also very important.

Alex: Well, if I have my college GPA¹ and LSAT² I may apply to a law school. Am I right?

Mr.Davis: The list of necessary requirements may be continued: college GPA, LSAT score, and college academic reputation, your extracurricular activities, recommendation letters, and your essay.

Mr. Miller: The next step is to get accepted to a law school. It will take you a minimum of three years to graduate from a full-time law school program.

Mrs. Ford: Forget any ideas you have of a social life or working your first year of law school. You must be expecting to spend much time working in libraries, reading cases, writing briefs, and researching case law.

Mr. Davis: Don’t forget of getting a position at a law firm as an assistant, for example, while you are a student.

Lena: Four steps are overcome. What’s the next?

Mr. Davis: The fifth and the sixth are studying for the bar exams and passing the bar exams for the state in which you want to practice law. The testing protocols and requirements vary from state to state but most states utilize exam materials provided by the National Council of Bar Examiners.

Victor: The last step is launching the career, isn’t it?

Mr. Davis: No, the last step is passing the Character and Fitness evaluation. In most states applicants to the Bar must submit to a Character and Fitness Investigation, usually conducted by the National Council of Bar Examiners.

Victor: It’s wise to admit to the privilege of practicing law only ideal lawyers.

Mrs. Ford: It’s difficult to reach perfection. But this investigation is extensive, delving not only into whether you have a criminal record, but also looking at traffic tickets, credit records and even medical records. In some states lawyers are required to pass written ethics examination.

Boris: Mr. Davis, is studying law by correspondence allowed?

Mr. Davis: Yes, a few states allow law schools to teach law through correspondence courses.

Boris: Thank you very much for the information. It is very important and useful to compare cross-cultural differences in education.

Notes^:

¹grade point average

²Law School Admission Test