By Journalist Kylie Hager (OSU)
Seth Young (OSU) presented his bill to the house of representatives, saying prior to admission to the State Bar of Oklahoma, all persons studying to be lawyers must complete two (2) consecutive years as an apprentice for no less than sixty (60) hours per month, in addition to any other credentials needed by the Oklahoma Bar Association. A delegate asked Young how this would benefit law firms, he said “law firms will benefit the most with the opportunity to train new lawyers a certain way and it can help them financially as well.”
When Young was asked about his inspiration for the bill he said, “growing up in a house full of lawyers, his dad used to say ‘Law school teaches you everything about law except how to practice it.’” This was his inspiration behind this new policy that will be going through the Senate. Young noted that 50% of all lawyers coming out of law school are not confident in their own skills. He stated that, “everybody knows that if you are not confident in your abilities, regardless of whether you can or cannot do it, your performance will suffer a little bit. He compared this new tactic for law school graduates to the medical profession since most of them have to go through residency. He said, “lawyers have lives in their hands too.”
Young was hoping he would get more of a debate on his bill, but he was still happy with the results and opinion of the House of Representatives. He said he was not expecting it to be passed so easily, he was expecting it to be more of a hot topic since law school loans are brutal and this bill only offers a twenty dollar wage and about fifteen hours of work a week with the internships. Bill OSU-522 was very influential in the House of Representatives and was passed with unanimous consent.