Your Personal Rankings of d/l law schools

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by traderneil, Jul 28, 2004.

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  1. traderneil

    traderneil New Member

    Would some of you who have experience with on line law schools give your personal ranking of the current crop of schools for JD's based on ease of use,bar success,cost, technical help,and job placements.Tks Traderneil
     
  2. DesElms

    DesElms New Member

    I cannot believe Nosborne has not chimed-in, here. I so looked forward to his opinion on this one. He must be in court.

    I tend never to rank things, but here's my official cut to the chase:

    Sign-up at Northwestern California School of Law and never look back.

    Stay as far away as possible from Saratoga and these guys and these knuckleheads, for sure; and probably also from SCUPS and Kaplan's Concord School of Law, just for good measure.

    Read and absorb as much as humanly possible of Johnnie's Distance Learning Law School Page, and all the sites linked-to thereon. And, since Johnnie hasn't really been able to keep that page up-to-date, once you're done reading it all, do lots of Google searching on the general themes you found therein and see if new pages have been created that feature them. Especially seek out pages that give you the straight skinny on how much harder it is than you thought it would be; how much more memorization there is than you ever imagined; and HOW TO QUICKLY BRIEF A DAMNED CASE! -- the single most important skill you'll need to survive.

    And, finally, make sure your eyes are wide open about the fact that if you do get your JD from one of California's distance learning law schools, you really will be pretty much locked-in to practicing only in California for at least three to seven years... maybe even forever. Before getting the mistaken impression in your head that you'll be able to sweet-talk such-and-such state into letting you sit for their Bar exam -- even after you've done the magic, obligatory three to seven years of practice in California -- read carefully what you find on this web site.
     
  3. nosborne48

    nosborne48 Well-Known Member

    Sorry to disappoint!

    Actually, I was on a surprise vacation for my fiftieth birthday.

    I know of no research distinguishing among these schools on the basis of the overall utility of thier JD degrees. I strongly suspect that there IS no real difference.

    California is the only place where a d/l JD grad may initially take the Bar. After a few years of practice, the d/l JD becomes elegible to take the Bar exam in about two dozen other states. This is so regardless of which d/l school one "attends".

    In MY opinion, COST and HISTORY OF SUCCESS at the Baby Bar and Bar examinations are the two most important factors. A third factor could well be whether the school is DETC accredited.

    The only d/l program I have personal experience with is the University of London Master of Laws BUT I have looked at all of the California d/l JD programs and my personal favorite is NWCU Law. It's cheap as dirt, has a LONG history of producing licensed attorneys, and was polite and responsive when I asked about its JSD program.

    I also like Taft. More expensive but, again, a long history of success and DETC accreditation. That recognition may be useful in ways we haven't anticipated (think Oregon ODA, for example)

    If you are comfortable with a rather fundamentalist Christian approach to law, Oak Brook deserves careful consideration. It is not QUITE as cheap as dirt and is not DETC and imposes a bunch of additional requirements for meetings and such BUT it has a consistantly high Bar success rate.

    I make no comments on other schools except to say that Concord is the most expensive of the bunch by far and doesn't seem to do particularly well come exam time.
     
  4. DesElms

    DesElms New Member

    Re: Sorry to disappoint!

    Happy Birthday! Fifty, eh? I'm still two years from that particular milestone.
    I was just thinking about this very subject while reading another thread wherein a poster there remarked that listing an unaccredited degree on a government security clearance form could end-up in criminal charges... and it made me think immediately about a California D/L JD (or any of the other California unaccredited brick-and-mortar JDs), and whether listing that on a government security clearance form, as long as one was admitted to the Bar as a result of obtaining it, would earn one criminal charges. Your mention of Oregon's ODA, here, raises the same sorts of questions in my mind.

    Do you really think Alan, et al, would prosecute an attorney, licensed to practice in California (and doing so), who presents his unaccredited JD for consideration on a resume or CV in Oregon?
     
  5. bo79

    bo79 New Member

    Speaking of Saratoga University..... Dose anybody know whats going on with that school? I remember hearing that the school closed down and students are unable to get their transcripts and a few other interesting stories.
     
  6. jra

    jra Member

    Seems like it closed down (or never opened), the website looks like designed by my 8 year old brother... i mean.. with such a website i would have never ever consider them seriously... i emailed them but never got an answer, but i added the aol email that they put on their website to my aol im contact list and the guy using that adress logs in several times a day but has never answered when i try to contact him
     
  7. nosborne48

    nosborne48 Well-Known Member

    Alan Contreras posts regularly; we could ask him. I don't know, though. Agencies don't like to give hypothetical opinions.
     

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