preview

Education And Requirements Of Criminal Defense Essay

Good Essays

Occupation Description Education and Requirements Criminal defense attorneys must hold a bachelor’s degree, a juris doctor degree, and pass the bar exam. A criminal defense attorney can hold a bachelor’s degree in area of study from an accredited four-year college. There is not a specific major required in order to get into law school (Harr; Jackson 2016). In addition to a bachelor’s degree they must also hold a juris doctor degree, in order to obtain this degree one must successfully graduate from law school. However, before attending law school the potential criminal defense attorney must take the LSAT (Law School Admission Test). This exam is designed to determine the test taker’s skill level in logical reasoning, analytical reasoning, and reading comprehension. The LSAT is not a technical requirement to gain admission to law school, but most law school admission boards use the results of the LSAT to determine if they will accept an applicant into the school’s law program and view the exam as a necessity for every applicant (Harr; Jackson 2016). In the application process applicants are also evaluated on their undergraduate GPA, but this is not nearly as big of a factor as is the score on the LSAT (Craven, 2015; Jones 2014). According to research conducted by LAWSCHOOLi, the median GPA for law schools ranking in the top 100 in the nation range from a 3.90 to a 3.39. They also go on to say that does not mean an applicant will not be accepted if they are not in this

Get Access