J.D. and LL.B. as the Basic Law Degree

Legal education in the United States is still evolving. In the past few decades the law schools have all but eliminated other means than law school study as preparation for the practice of law. The question of whether the first degree in law should be called an "LL.B." or a "J.D." is being considered by the Special Committee on Graduate Study of the Association of American Law Schools. Although this paper will endeavor to show that the J.D. should replace the LL.B. as the initial law degree, more basically it is an attempt to delineate the method by which such choice should be made.