That nutso column in (& bizarro subsequent defense by) @WSJopinion sparked my curiosity about the 20th century transition in American legal education from the Harvard LLB degree (first awarded in 1820) to the Chicago JD (first awarded in 1903). A few notes on what I learned..: /1

The transition was fairly slow and halting. For example, there was fairly strong interest amongst @Harvard_Law students as early as 1904 for the switch, but it's not until 1969 when the Harvard Corporation votes to award JDs henceforth (and retroactively upon application). /2

During this extended transitional phase, there was a period of time where had a ton of variety amongst US law schools, not only in terms of having some that awarded LLBs and some that awarded JDs, but also some (e.g. @UMichLaw) which awarded JDs only to their best LLB grads. /3

One of the drivers of the change, especially during the transitional period, was that certain companies (like GM) & government agencies would reward JD holders with higher salaries and rank than LLB holders--even though, of course, all would have received the same education. /4

But most of all, the argument made for the JD (e.g. advanced by key figure John Hervey, Dean of Oklahoma City Law School and @pennlaw grad) was that it would enhance the stature of law grads generally--"we're like MDs now!"--and of law schools within the University ecosystem. /5

Did it work? Well, no one calls me "Dr." that's for sure. But I've never known a world in which law schools weren't treated/viewed similarly to med schools within universities [I *think* that's right?]. And society at large seems to be fairly clear that a JD is a grad degree. /6

If all this seems fairly straightforward now, though, it might be worth thinking more sometime about why the change took so many years, & why it was so controversial for such a long time. (And it *was* controversial!) And from that there might be some deeper lessons to draw... /7

...and not just for the American legal profession, but also for the legal profession in other countries--like China, where certain law schools have experimented with introducing an "American style JD" into their degree offerings. But, for now, it's late and that's all I got. /END