LEGAL EDUCATION IN HIGHER EDUCATION: *BACHARELISMO*, LEGALISM, AND HYPER-NORMATIVITY IN THE REPRODUCTION OF THE TRADITIONAL MODEL

Abstract

This article analyzes the persistence of the traditional Brazilian model of legal education, identifying *bacharelismo* (an emphasis on the law degree as a status symbol), legalism, and hyper-normativity as the structural axes of initial legal training. It argues that the intertwining of these elements has consolidated a pedagogical culture centered on lectures, the memorization of normative content, and dogmatic reproduction—a culture out of step with the educational guidelines established by the 1988 Constitution and the National Curriculum Guidelines of 2004 and 2018. Based on a documentary analysis of legal education regulatory frameworks and a theoretical review of authors such as Boaventura de Sousa Santos, José Eduardo Faria, and Lenio Streck, the study discusses how the culture of competitive public exams and the central role of the Bar Exam (*Exame da OAB*) perpetuate *bacharelismo*. This reinforces a technical approach and upholds the "good student" as one who memorizes rules and legal doctrine without necessarily developing interpretive, critical, or ethical-political competencies. Hyper-normativity is conceptualized as both a symptom and a strategy within the legal field, highlighting how an excess of norms helps legitimize professional hierarchies and justify pedagogical practices based on the transmission of knowledge. Finally, the article maintains that reconfiguring legal education requires not only methodological innovation but also a broader epistemological, curricular, and institutional overhaul—one guided by a commitment to critical and emancipatory education, democracy, social justice, and the graduate profile envisioned in the National Curriculum Guidelines.