I was preparing a motion for admission to the State Bar of Texas when I noticed that the Board of Bar Examiners now will not accept a first professional law degree (JD or equivalent) from any class of Bar applicant, foreign or domestic, student or attorney, with LL.M. or not if the first professional degree is based on correspondence study. Since every Bar applicant must posess a first professional degree, that means no D/L trained lawyers will be licensed in Texas, one of the largest Bar associations in the U.S. Period. This change is less than five years old, I believe. Comments?
Eew. Don't know anything about the topic... But if what you say is the truth, my state is going crazy. Why can't people see that D/L is not really any different than B&M except for the price and time constraints. I think they do see the difference..I think everyone's just mad because they had to go to a B&M and waste part of their lives and retirement - instead of doing what we do..and they're jealous I'm really sorry to hear that, nos. I hope things turn out for the better for ya.. *Sighs* Good luck. - Aero
To say that the Texas Bar is hostile to distance learners would be an understatement. We (Taft University) had a graduate a few years ago who was admitted to, and graduated with honors, from Southern Methodist University’s LLM program. This individual, a self-made multimillionaire, a member of the California Bar, and very politically connected, has been denied the opportunity to take the Texas Bar Examination.
And Taft has at least DETC accreditation! Thank you for your expression of concern, aeromancer27, but my complaint was general in nature. My JD and BA are traditional B&M, RA and ABA, though, of course, the LL.M. will be D/L all the way.
Well, then... Sorry nos.. I thought it important, because of your reply, to let you know that I meant nothing against you or anyone else that completed B&M stuff. It's just kinda upsetting to me..calling Texas home - to find out once again..that my state is even more good about screwing up the dreams of some (those that would try to pass the bar with an online degree). I have nothing against my State - and I really like it here..I just wish sometimes they would pay attention to technological advancement - Aero.
Yeah, I know. I've lived and practiced right next to Texas for the last 12 years and I see a LOT of Texas lawyers. They sometimes have different rules but in general they seem pretty much the same as lawyers everywhere else. I wonder if the on-line ban has anything to do with the fact that there are, let me see, seven law schools in Texas? Hm. UT Austin, Texas Tech, SMU, South Texas College of Law, Baylor?, who else?
I was under the impression that the only state bar that has ever accepted applicants with non-B&M JDs was California. I thought, that this had always been the case. I know that when I looked up ABA-approved law schools, the ABA web site listed their reasons for not approving non-B&M law schools. Some of the reasons did seem pretty valid. Of course I haven't even thought of applying to law school yet so I may have a mistaken impression about the teaching methods, Socratic interaction stuff that goes on. Thanks for the info.
Interesting cite. On the one hand, I am interested to see that Texas might expand its vision but on the other hand I think the reasons border on the obscene...talk about family values! No, there are many states that will allow a correspondence JD holder to take the Bar, including my own New Mexico. The catch is, almost all of these states require the lawyer to have actively practiced law in another state for some period of years first. So for example a California lawyer with a correspondence JD and five years of full time law practice in California would be eligible to take the New Mexico Bar. The number of states that absolutely WILL NOT accept a D/L JD under any circumstances is probably smaller than the number who WILL.
I wanted to bump this old thread, as a few folks have mentioned some well connected Taft Alumni being denied the opportunity to take sit for the bar in Texas. A couple of years ago the law changed. Here is a link to a thread I posted at LSD, so perhaps some of you fine folks can help me understand if the way I'm reading these changes are correct? .... Post: Correspondence verbiage removed from Texas Bar Requirements This seems to me like (probably because of Mitchell/Hamline and Rutgers new hybrid programs) a door has been opened for Taft graduates? (I'm considering applying to Taft, as my first professional identity is not, will not be, attorney, but I wouldn't mind having some training/practice ability in law). Let me know your thoughts on this... Also, I feel better to revive an appropriately-topic'ed thread than start a new one. R.
