My joke was that these are really just "quizzes" because in the real scheme of things, the only thing a law grad has to worry about is passing the licensing exam, otherwise known as the bar exam, in the jurisdiction that they want to live and practice. ; The exam varies somewhat.
I didn't realise that you are required to do double degrees also. But, we don't have a licensing exam here - you must to either the Graduate Diploma of Legal Practice which is a year long course or try and find a firm that will hire you and do all the required training - good luck! During this Dip you are required to show that you can do the work to the standard that is expected of a lawyer. After sucessully completing the Dip you can then get admitted to a Supreme Court. So we have 6.5 years of actual study that is based on continued assessment. Theres no cramming for a Bar exam - just all exams!
I know many people from Russia and Ukraine and it seems like it is pretty easy to become a lawyer there.
Yeah but try and get recognised outside Eurorope with one. In Australia their degrees are not recognised so they are required to do a law degree and get admitted over again. It's not just lawyers, Doctors who have trained outside a 'western' university also have a tough time of being recognised as a Dr and practising.
I think law schools should be more vocational in nature, but mine wasn't, and I think it would be good if some apprenticeship program was in place like in the old days to first become a lawyer.
The reason Australia went to a Grad Dip system of qualification was due to the competition for very few vacancies in law firms. The demand exceeded supply, as most law firms did not want to continue to invest money in junior lawyers only to see them leave to other firms. Thats progress. But the good thing is the Grad Dip is only a year whereas 'in house' legal training is in excess of 2 years, thats 2 years where you are the most junior and on the crappiest money - probably why all the old Partners are such miserable B's and make junior lawyers lives much harder than they should.
Best tip - apply for a Gov job - the work conditions, pay and career opportunites are better.