Sorry if this is a repeat. I've read the archives looking for the answer to this specific question, and I can't seem to find an answer. I live in Arizona, have three children and a job, and a life, etc., so a traditional law school is not very viable. There aren't any night law schools available here either, so I've been looking into the big three DL law schools, and I've set my sights on Northwestern. (cheapest, yet still has a good rep). My ultimate goal would be to move to CA after passing the bar and opening up a sole practice doing bankruptcy law. From what I understand this is completely viable assuming I pass the baby bar and the real bar. My question: They say the JD degree is accepted by the CA state bar, but it's not "approved" by the State Bar. (And I know all about the ABA's stance on DL.) So what the heck is the difference between accepted and approved if I can still sit for the bar and practice law? Does it have to do with CA's reciprocity agreements with other states? Or am I missing the boat on something major?
Nothing to do with reciprocity. If it's not ABA there's not much difference. California has Cal-Bar Accredited schools (yes they use the term accredited) which are non-ABA. These schools are local resident sit your butt night schools. The distance learning ones are not Cal-Bar accredited (Cal-Bar won't accredit distance programs) and are registered schools with the Cal-Bar but that's as far as it goes. From a utility standpoint there's not much difference because Cal-Bar/Non-Cal Bar doesn't matter because both are non-ABA which is what ***really*** matters. Since you live in Arizona for the time being, your only option would be a Cal-Bar registered (non-accredited) distance learning school. Such as Northwestern, Taft, Oakbrook, Saratoga(defunct?), Concord and quite a few others. So yes the Cal-Bar will accept a Northwestern JD graduate and accept them into the Bar of CA (provided they pass the Baby Bar and regular Bar). But they do not accredit Northwestern University themselves because Northwestern is distance learning only.
Re: Re: Question about DL Law school Are you guys using Northwestern as a generic example? I was unaware that NW Law was offering distance degrees ...
Re: Re: Re: Question about DL Law school Unixman, you're probably thinking of the other Northwestern(s). We're referring to the oldest existing one in CA, dedicated to Distance Legal education. http://www.nwculaw.edu Hope this helps.
Thanks, Bob. I appreciate it. Unix, I wish Northwestern (The Chicago one) offered DL degrees in law. But alas, I'm thinking of Northwestern California University School of Law.
"Approved" by the state bar means the same thing as "California Bar Accredited" and you don't have to sit for the baby bar. "Accepted" means that the JD conferred meets the minimum number of contact hours required to sit for the bar in CA, assuming you passed the baby bar after your first year, and that the school had registered with the state bar. http://www.calbar.ca.gov/state/calbar/calbar_generic.jsp?sImagePath=Pre-Legal_and_Legal_Education.gif&sCategoryPath=/Home/Attorney%20Resources/Bar%20Exam&sHeading=Pre%20Legal%20and%20Legal%20Education&sFileType=HTML&sCatHtmlPath=html/Admissions_Pre-Legal-Education.html
Thanks for the clarification. My wife's entire family graduated from NW (Chicago), including several from Northwestern Law - hence my question. Cheers.
I'm fairly new to DL, so I haven't heard of them before. Most notably, for me at least, is that they're twice as expensive. They're in Colorado, which is fairly ...odd considering the only bar you can sit for is the California one. Also, I did a google search looking for actual practicing attorneys who claim to have gotten their degree from Northwestern Cali, and there are a whole lot out there. I couldn't find a single one for Laurel. But, like I said, I may be looking in the wrong place.
Another difference between Calbar "accredited" and "registered" is that the "registered" (non-Calbar accredited) schools MUST follow a four-year, therefore part-time schedual. Calbar "accredited" schools may choose to offer a three-year full time program.