JWU partners with UMass to offer accelerated law degree

UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS at Johnson & Wales University, pictured, will have the option to finish their juris doctor degree a year early through a joint program with the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Law School. / PBN FILE PHOTO/JAMES BESSETTE
STUDENTS at Johnson & Wales University will have the option to obtain a law degree from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth School of Law in an accelerated program in which students can earn an undergraduate degree and law degree in six years. / PBN FILE PHOTO/JAMES BESSETTE

PROVIDENCE – Students at Johnson & Wales University will have the option of earning an undergraduate degree and a law degree in six years under a new agreement with the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth School of Law.

The  “3+3” style program allows JWU students to finish their undergraduate education in three years, rather than four, followed by the typical three years of graduate school needed for a juris doctor degree.

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The accelerated degree program allows students to apply credits earned in the first year of law school to the final year of undergraduate studies.

While UMass Law has a similar agreement with 13 institutions in Massachusetts, JWU is the first institution in Rhode Island, which has only one law school – Roger Williams University School of Law.

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In a statement, JWU College of Arts and Sciences Dean Michael Fein said that JWU and UMass “share a common commitment to broadening access and lowering barriers to higher education.”

The joint program will allow students “to reduce their tuition costs while accelerating their progress,” Fein added, “and we look forward to sending talented JWU students to UMass Law to jump-start their legal careers a year ahead of schedule.”

The 3+3 program is immediately available to students who can meet credit requirements, with incoming freshmen and rising sophomores likely eligible to participate at this time.

The program fits UMass Law’s “access to justice mission,” said Dean Eric Mitnick, which includes making legal education more affordable for students, and in turn, establishing a larger network of lawyers who have the means to represent underserved clients at reduced, “low bono” prices. 

“If we can, through a 3+3 program, eliminate an entire year’s worth of tuition and living expenses, that is going to result in more of our graduates being able to afford to represent people who otherwise would have had to enter a court with no lawyer,” Mitnick told PBN. 

While criminal court provides a state-appointed attorney for those who can’t afford a lawyer, those in the public sector, such as immigration and housing court, must pay for their own legal representation.

The new partnership was finalized as UMass Law experiences “growth that is going to allow the law school to have a broader influence in the region,” Mitnick said, “including in the Providence area.” 

The law school’s enrollment has nearly doubled since 2016, he noted, jumping from 186 that year to 365 students this past fall. 

Jacquelyn Voghel is a PBN staff writer. Contact her at Voghel@PBN.com.

 

 

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