Sciences Po Law School

Sciences Po Law School (French: L'École de droit de Sciences Po) is a program inside Sciences Po in Paris, France.

Sciences Po Law School
"École de droit de Sciences Po"
Former names
École libre des sciences politiques
TypePublic Higher Education Research Institution
Established2009
Budget€192 million (total Sciences Po budget for 13,000 students)
DeanChristophe Jamin
Academic staff
20 Professors, 2 Associate Professors, 9 Affiliate Professors, numerous visiting lecturers
Students944
Location
Paris
,
France
CampusUrban
MascotThe lion and the fox
Websitewww.sciencespo.fr/ecole-de-droit/en.html

Created with the objective of offering an alternative to traditional legal education in universities,[1][2][3][4][5] it offers only master's degrees, clinical training and admits students without undergraduate legal education.[6][1]

The school has an international student population of 40%.[7]

History
See also: Sciences Po § Controversies#Access to the Bar since 2007 and creation of a "law school" in 2009

With the Bologna Process, the master's degree in law became assimilated to other "master's degrees" that could have had "law" as a specialty. Yet, originally, only the master's degree in law ("maîtrise en droit") was giving access to the legal profession. As soon as 2004, fearing for the access to the bar and legal professions to be open to institutions that are not law schools, 54 professors of law signed a long text in the 'Recueil Dalloz' (major French legal journal), called "The Fight for the Law". According to them, institutions like Sciences Po or business schools should stay complementary to a program in the universities and not replace them. They pointed out in particular the problem of the quality of the knowledge of legal professionals and of their deontology, should it be otherwise. They managed to have the education in law to have a special place in the French Code of Education. The move was co-led by Guillaume Drago, professor at University of Paris II Panthéon-Assas, and François Gaudu, professor at University of Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne.[8]

In 2007, however, a governmental decree authorized Sciences Po students to pass the Bar exam, providing they take a masters degree with the mention "law". Academics in law labelled such a move as a "coup" and created an online petition called "call against the questioning of the utility of legal studies in the education of lawyers" ("appel contre la remise en cause de l'utilité des études juridiques dans la formation des avocats"). 445 academics publicly signed the petition, which is 15% of all French academics in law. The unity of the French academic body was noted: left- and right-wing professors, professors from Paris and outside Paris, in public law or private law… were in favor of the move. Students’ unions supported it. The union of (French) law school’s deans "totally" associated itself to the move too. They called for candidates in the 2007 French presidential election to take a stance on this issue and they went to court to contest the legality of the decision. The governmental decree was not eventually cancelled, by the new government or by the Conseil d’État.[8]

These critics said that it would not be a problem if Sciences Po was offering 8 semesters of law, as required as a general rule, to access to the bar. However, Sciences Po would be offering only general courses in social sciences with only a "sprinkling of law" in the masters programs. That would not be enough to become a barrister ("avocat") and would put into question the utility of the law to become one. It would be creating barristers with a cheap education in law and would be detrimental, in particular, for the citizens who would take the services of barristers who did not have a proper education in law.[8]

To them, with this decree, the law was becoming a marketing product in a service of a school of political sciences that has many connections with politicians. They would have preferred Sciences Po to keep with political sciences.[9]

They also criticized the fact that the government is giving much more money per student to Sciences Po and this undue access to the bar with only light courses in law would create an unfair competition between French law schools and Sciences Po.[9]

Richard Descoings, president of Sciences Po, responded in the media saying that the students are doing "lots of law" during their whole education and that Sciences Po is not responsible for the lack of funding of universities. He also argued that before 1994, Sciences Po students already could become barristers.[10]

In 2009, Sciences Po created the "Sciences Po Law School", in a new meaning for France, since it is not a faculty of law (see the disambiguation page, third meaning).

In 2008, partly as an answer to the announcement of the creation of a "law school" in this new meaning in Sciences Po, University of Paris II Panthéon-Assas, created a "law college" (undergraduate level) and then a "law school" (graduate level) on top of its faculty of law to attract top students in France (see the disambiguation page, second meaning). It was widely reported in the media as the creation of a "way of excellence in law" for "brilliant students".[11][12][13] Several universities followed this model, and created these highly selective schools.[14]

Academics

Teaching

Sciences Po Law School offers a two-year Master in Economic Law, which can be followed in either French or English, a two-year Master in Legal and Judicial Career taught entirely in French, a three-year joint Master in Law and Finance (with Sciences Po's School of Management and Innovation) as well as a one-year LLM in Transnational Arbitration and Dispute Settlement. Sciences Po Law School also offers a PhD program.

In addition to offering programs taught entirely in English, Sciences Po Law School's student body is 40% international.[7]

Student body

In 2017/2018, among these 944 students, 42 were enrolled in the PhD program, 84 in the Legal and Judiciary Careers course, 342 in the Master in Economic Law and 340 studied in one of Sciences Po Law School's preparatory class for competitive legal examinations. 123 students were doing a gap year and 13 were enrolled in the LLM in Transnational Arbitration and Dispute Settlement.[15]

Sciences Po Law School's acceptance rate is between 10 and 15%.[16]

Partnerships

Sciences Po Law School offers joint degrees with Columbia Law School,[17] the University of Virginia School of Law,[18] Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law[19] and Duke University School of Law.[20]

Students of the Master in Economic Law can take a gap year between the two years of the program. Partner institutions include Harvard Law School, Stanford Law School, Columbia Law School, New York University School of Law, McGill University Faculty of Law, Peking University Law School, National University of Singapore Faculty of Law, National Law School of India University.

Sciences Po Law School developed partnerships with several law firms, including Bredin Prat, Clifford Chance, Gide Loyrette Nouel, Dechert LLP and Hogan Lovells. Every year, Sciences Po Law School organizes a job fair open to students and graduates. 40 law firms participated in the 2018 edition.

Rankings and performance

Rankings

Among international english-speaking rankings, Sciences Po Law School is ranked:

In the French national Eduniversal ranking, rankings are in France:

  • Economic Law: 4th of France[22]
  • European and International Business Law: 8th of France[22]
  • Undergraduate program: not ranked among the top 10[23]

It was not ranked among the top 10 or 15 in France in Business Law, Business Law and Management, Tax law and Social Law.[22]

Performance

Sciences Po Law School graduates report a 67% success in the Bar Exam in 2017[24] (the national average was around 27% the same year[25]).

In 2018, the success rate for the school’s preparatory school (available for students from other universities) at the French National School for the Judiciary entrance exam was 45% (79 out of 180), with 8 students in the top 10 and 20 in the top 30.[26]

In 2018, 70% of the students of the Master in Economic law (the top Sciences Po Law program) have found a job six months after they graduated.[27]

Notable faculty

References
  1. "La formation contemporaine des avocats : aiguillon d'une recomposition de l'enseignement du droit en France ?".
  2. Alemanno, Alberto; Khadar, Lamin (24 May 2018). Reinventing Legal Education: How Clinical Education Is Reforming the Teaching and Practice of Law in Europe. ISBN 9781316732069.
  3. "Sénat: Rapport d'information sur l'évolution des métiers de la justice" (PDF).
  4. "76 recommandations pour l'enseignement du droit" (PDF).
  5. "Rapport sur les professions du droit" (PDF).
  6. "L'école de droit".
  7. "Présentation de l'école de droit".
  9. "L'Université défend son monopole dans la formation des futurs avocats". April 21, 2007 – via Le Monde.
  10. PECH, MARIE-ESTELLE (April 27, 2007). "Querelle entre les facs de droit et Sciences Po". Le Figaro.fr.
  11. "Filières d'excellence à la fac". Franceinfo. February 13, 2013.
  12. Polony, Natacha (September 29, 2010). "Universités : les cursus pour étudiants brillants". Le Figaro.fr.
  13. "Les charmes cachés de l'université". L'Obs.
  14. "Polémique sur les " parcours d'excellence " en droit". June 24, 2015 – via Le Monde.
  15. "RECRUTER À SCIENCES PO STAGE . APPRENTISSAGE . 1ER EMPLOI".
  16. "Sciences Po: École de droit".
  17. "Sciences Po (Dual Degree)".
  18. "J.D.-Master's in Economic Law at Sciences Po (Paris)".
  19. "International Joint Degree Options".
  20. "2JD/Master in Global Business Law Degree Requirements".
  21. "Law". Top Universities. February 15, 2019.
  22. "Meilleurs Masters". www.meilleurs-masters.com.
  23. "Classement Licence Droit, top 10 2019-2020 licence Droit". www.meilleures-licences.com.
  24. "Concours juridiques: un palmarès brillant".
  25. "Résultats définitifs #CRFPA2017 et comparaison résultats 2016".
  26. "Concours juridiques: un palmarès 2018 brillant".
  27. "Sciences Po Alumni". sciencespo-alumni.fr.

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