PARTING THOUGHTS Out of Retirement By Jim Hargreaves 62 OREGON STATE BAR BULLETIN • OCTOBER 2016 iStock I n April of this year, the University of Oregon School of Law announced a new program. In conjunction with the Clark Honors College, the program allows a student to complete three years of undergraduate work and then enter law school, with the first year of law school counting as completion of the student’s four-year undergraduate program. This is neither a new idea nor a new program. In fact, this is the resurrection of a very, very old program, just wrapped in upscale clothing. Let me digress. I entered the Oregon School of Law in 1965 without an undergraduate degree, under a program that had been in exis- tence for many, many decades. The only requirements at that time were three years as an undergraduate with some acceptable grades, three terms of accounting and a good showing on the LSAT test. Oh, and most importantly, then Law School Dean Orlando John Hollis — absolute and un- questioned master of the school — had to like you. That was it. Now, I have to admit that I fudged the system a bit when I was admitted. I actu- ally had four years as an undergraduate be- fore applying to law school, still without a degree. Truth is that I had so much fun in college rummaging through all of the mys- teries of the new-found academic world of the university that I completely failed to accumulate enough hours in any one field to qualify for a degree in anything. Law school was my escape from that dilemma. It has worked out pretty well. As my reward for participation in this program, at the end of my first year of law school I became the proud holder of abso- lutely the best undergraduate degree that any lawyer could ever achieve: a bachelor of science in law. Yes, a B.S. in law. How perfect! It turns out that I was also the last person to receive this exalted degree from the University of Oregon. For reasons un- known to me, the university discontinued I failed to accumulate enough hours in any one field to qualify for a degree in anything. Law school was my escape. the program immediately after I received my degree in 1966. And yes, I have always wondered… Under the current program, I would have never made it into law school. Now, a student must first be enrolled in the Clark Honors College to even qualify for the program. (As it turns out, I was so enrolled, so would have qualified.) Ad- ditionally, however, by the end of three years as an undergraduate, the student now must have both completed all of his or her departmental requirements for a degree in some field and also have com- pleted his or her honors college thesis. I would have failed on both of these counts. I didn’t even have a major — which was one of the reasons I decided to go to law school under the program in the first place — and I had absolutely no intention of writing a thesis to get out of undergradu- ate school. So, if we compare the current and prior programs, a stark contrast appears. The previous version of this program was very egalitarian. All one needed to do was to go to college for three years, have three terms of accounting and make a decent showing as to grades and the LSAT (and please Dean Hollis). The current version of the program is less egalitarian. To begin with, the student must be admitted to the Clark Honors College, a small program with high academic admissions standards, putting the whole program beyond the reach of many if not most students. Also, the honors college student must have completed all of his or her required course work in some major and have written his or her nonors college thesis, all within three years, as opposed to the normal four- year course of study. This would certainly be a daunting task for many. While the current program will un- doubtedly be advantageous to a few stu- dents (and should be applauded for that), the biggest shortcoming has yet to be mentioned. It would appear that after the participating student finishes his or her first year of law school, the degree that the student will receive is the one in the major field in which the student did his or her undergraduate work. This new program will not be awarding the much coveted and aptly styled degree, a B.S. in law. Looks like I will happily continue to have the last one of those! Jim Hargreaves was an Oregon trial judge for 20 years. Since leaving the bench in 1995, he has worked extensively with courts in the United States and in many developing countries.