The Order of the Coif is an honor society In the United States, an honor society is a rank organization, the induction into which recognizes excellence among one's peers. There are numerous societies recognizing various fields and circumstances; the Order of the Arrow, for example, is the national honor society of the Boy Scouts of America. Chiefly, the term refers to scholastic honor for United States ^ b. English is the de facto language of American government and the sole language spoken at home by 80% of Americans age five and older. Spanish is the second most commonly spoken language law school graduates. A student at an American law school In the United States, law school is a postgraduate program that typically lasts three years and earns the student a Juris Doctor degree. Some schools in Louisiana concurrently award a Graduate Diploma in Civil Law (D.C.L.). To gain admission to a United States American Bar Association (ABA) approved law program, a prospective student must take the who earns a Juris Doctor Juris Doctor is a professional doctorate and first professional degree in Law. The degree was first awarded by Harvard University in the United States in the late 19th century as a degree similar to the old European doctor of law degree (such as the Dottore in Giurisprudenza in Italy and the Juris Utriusque Doctor). Originating from the 19th degree and graduates in the top 10 percent of his or her class is eligible for membership if the student's law school has a chapter of the Order.
Contents |
Membership
According to the organization's constitution, "The purpose of The Order is to encourage excellence in legal education by fostering a spirit of careful study, recognizing those who as law students attained a high grade of scholarship, and honoring those who as lawyers, judges and teachers attained high distinction for their scholarly or professional accomplishments."[1]
The exact induction process varies by law school, but students are generally notified of their membership after the final class ranks at their schools are announced. A new member receives a certificate of membership, a badge of membership for wear during academic ceremonies, a Coif key, and in some cases an actual coif Coifs were worn by all classes in England and Scotland from the Middle Ages to the early seventeenth century or a representation of one.
The basic requirement for membership is ranking in the top 10% of a member school's graduating class. If a member law school graduates fewer than 30 students, it may induct its top three students. A school can decide not to allow an otherwise eligible student to receive the honor, and may impose additional requirements for membership beyond the organization's national requirement of being in the top 10% of the class.[2]
Each member school may also induct a faculty member and one honorary member each year.[3] The national organization's executive committee may also elect a limited number of honorary members.[4] Those chosen for honorary membership are usually United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest judicial body in the United States, and leads the federal judiciary. It consists of the Chief Justice of the United States and eight Associate Justices, who are nominated by the President and confirmed with the "advice and consent" of the Senate. Once appointed, Justices effectively justices and other preeminent members of the legal profession.[5]
Chapters
As of 2006[update], over 190 law schools in the United States were accredited by the American Bar Association The American Bar Association , founded August 21, 1878, is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students, which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. The ABA's most important stated activities are the setting of academic standards for law schools, and the formulation of model ethical codes related to the legal, but only 80 had chapters in the Order of the Coif.[citation needed] Those 80 chapters included 45 of the 50 top-ranked law schools according to U.S. News & World Report U.S. News & World Report is an American newsmagazine published monthly in Washington, D.C. Along with Time and Newsweek it was for many years a leading news weekly, although it focused more than its counterparts on political, economic, health and education stories. It is particularly well known for its ranking system and annual reports on.[citation needed] The other five—Boston University School of Law, Columbia Law School Columbia Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Columbia University. A member of the Ivy League, Columbia is located in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. David Schizer is the current dean. The Law School offers the degrees of Juris Doctor (J.D.), Master of Laws (LL.M.), and Doctor of the Science of Law (S.J.D.), Harvard Law School Harvard Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University. Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it is the oldest continually-operating law school in the United States and is home to the largest academic law library in the world. HLS is highly prestigious and perennially tops various law school rankings, including Judging, George Mason University School of Law, and Notre Dame Law School—never applied for a chapter.[citation needed] Notre Dame and Columbia are ineligible because they do not rank the top 10% of their graduating class by grade point average,[citation needed] which the order's constitution requires.
For a law school to establish a chapter, the school must apply for a charter. If the organization's executive committee determines, after considering the law school's written submissions and its own investigation (which may include an examination of the school by a visitation team), that the applicant merits a chapter, it will submit the application for a vote by the existing chapters. A charter for a new chapter requires approval by 80% of the existing chapters.[6]
Criteria considered when a law school applies for a chapter of the Order include: (1) American Bar Association and American Association of Law Schools approval; (2) at least ten years of existence as a law school; (3) affiliation with a university; (4) if a part-time J.D. program exists, the part-time program must offer students and faculty affiliated with the part-time program the same scholarship opportunities as all other students and faculty; (5) a stimulating intellectual environment for the study of law; (6) commitment of the university and law school administration to quality legal education; (7) faculty scholarship and institutional support for same; (8) a diverse educational program; (9) a diverse student body with strong academic credentials; (10) a law library that will support and encourage research activity; and (11) appropriate physical facilities.[7]
A law school can also be removed from the Order if a two-thirds majority of member schools agrees to bring the matter to a vote and a four-fifths majority (excluding the school in question) then votes to remove the school.
The University of Illinois The University of Illinois is a system of public universities in Illinois consisting of three campuses: Urbana-Champaign, Chicago, and Springfield. Across its three campuses, the University of Illinois enrolls about 70,000 students. It had an operating budget of $4.17 billion in 2007 established the first Order of the Coif chapter in 1902.
References
- ^ Constitution § 2.2.
- ^ Constitution §§ 5.1–5.2.
- ^ Constitution §§ 5.3–5.4(a).
- ^ Constitution § 5.4(b).
- ^ Order of the Coif, National Honorary Members.
- ^ Constitution § 4.1.
- ^ Order of the Coif, Criteria and Procedures for Establishing a Chapter (2003).
- Michael Herz, Coif Comes to Cardozo, Cardozo Life (Spring 1999) (includes information on the order's history).
- Order of the Coif, Constitution (2003) [cited herein as Constitution]. Retrieved January 2, 2010.
- Frank R. Strong, Order of the Coif: English Antecedents and American Adaptation, 63 A.B.A. J. 1725, 1726 (1977).
External links
Categories: Honor societies | American legal organizations | Legal education in the United States | Educational organizations based in the United States
