I remember how Brits used to say something like this, “I read law at Oxford.” What they meant was they paid for a ticket to the library and spent time studying for the exam. They were literally reading law. If you could pass the test in three weeks good for you. If it took four years, well that is your business.
That was how all attorneys used to learn the law. Abraham Lincoln did so, via apprenticeship. In some states that is (or at least was until recently) still an accepted process.