Can I go in a law school with only a BTL (Bachelor of Talmudic Law)

You can go to law school with a degree in opera. Seriously, the woman that graduated #1 in my law school class had a degree in opera. As long as your BA is from an accredited institution and you have the LSAT scores, you’re eligible to go to most, if not all, law schools. You also have to consider preparation… do you have a sufficient background in other liberal arts and social sciences subjects so that you’d thrive in the law school environment?

Why would you want to go to law school, that’s the question.

This has been discussed many times before. The short answer is “yes” followed by many caveats:

1. To get into the elite law schools (such as Columbia and NYU in New York – there are at most twenty elite ones in the United States), you’ll need a lot more than a BTL (such as impressive courses elsewhere, fantastic scores on the LSAT, etc.). Many if not most of the non-elite law schools are much less fussy, and a warm body with a respectable LSAT and any sort of undergraduate degree will be welcome as long as they can pay tuition. Some of the public law schools are non-elite in terms of how they impact getting a job, but are highly competitive due to reasonable tuition. The less elite the law school, the better your chance of financial aid in the form of waived tuition.

2. Job prospects are much better at the elite law schools, but if your goal is to be neighborhood lawyers serving a local community, that’s irrelevant ( a JD from Columbia won’t help you if your goal is to hang out a shingle in Boro Park). Remember that in some states one can skip law school and “read law” under an attorney and eventually be able to take the bar. Law school is very expensive, and student loans are not dischargeable in bankruptcy.

3. Even if a BTL will get you into law school, it is a handicap if your English is deficient since law school, and lawyers, involves intensive written and oral communication, and a good background in American history and the social sciences will make it more likely to succeed in law school and in becoming a lawyer.

4. If you think going to law school will make you rich, you have not done your research (recently) and are making a big mistake. If your desire is actually to be a lawyer, go for it, and disregard the poor economic prospects, and now is a good time to take advantage of the fact that the law schools are having trouble getting enough students (especially the non-elite).