Pepperdine Law among five "pioneers" featured by U.S. News & World Report

March 31, 2016 -- In an article from its Best Graduate Schools 2017 guidebook, the U.S. News & World Report calls Pepperdine Law and four other law schools "pioneers" for new programs developed to address recent changes in legal education. In "Law Schools Innovate With Hands-On Learning: These Five Pioneers Are Among the Law Schools Overhauling Programs to Build in Extensive Hands-On Practice," U.S. News focuses on Pepperdine's accelerated JD Program.

 

From "Law Schools Innovate With Hands-On Learning":

 

Pepperdine University School of Law

 

Students in Pepperdine Law School's accelerated JD program get their experiential learning at a somewhat reduced cost by packing three years of law school into two. But most students who choose accelerated programs like Pepperdine's have already been out in the professional world and are willing to double down to get back to it sooner.

 

Tuition typically runs the same as for the traditional track, but saving a year of living expenses and lost income is a big selling point. The streamlined approach has been lauded as a way to cut down on student debt by President Barack Obama.

 

The Malibu, California, school's accelerated students start with a 12-credit summer semester, then join traditional 1Ls in the fall and spring semesters. They get a good dose of experiential learning about dispute resolution, in particular, through simulations in courses on mediation and negotiation offered by the school's Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution (and, as a bonus, they graduate with a certificate in the field).

 

They also do an externship while taking six classroom credits the next summer, and then wrap up the program by taking the traditional 2L coursework.