Calif Senate Bill 1568

On Aug 9th the Calif Senate Bill 1568 taking control away from the BPPVE and giving it to the State Bar of California passed!

All indications are that since no budget impact the Governor will sign, however, the State Bar is also in the process through the Board of Governors changing all the rules regarding unaccredited and correspondence law schools.

Now in order to graduate from one of this schools, even if you dont want to practice law you must pass the Baby Bar after 1st year of law study, No more so called non-bar J.D. degrees.

The Juris Doctor law degree will no longer be regulated by the Consumer Protection sub-agency BPPVE but will be regulated by the State Bar and the State Bar wants a minimum testing requirement to obtain the Juris Doctor degree since many of the correspondence schools that closed and that will be closed were handing out non-bar J.D. degree for little work and sub-quality work thus devaluing the California J.D. degree.

Rumor has it another correspondence school is closing down this year and a couple more will next year.

I hope the make the rules for the J.D. degree very very tight and clamp down on the correspondence law schools big time it only benefits future graduates.

 

I think that the DL law schools should change the name of their non-bar JDs to something else (perhaps Postgraduate Diploma in Law, or something).

Of course, if you got your non-bar JD from Concord or Taft, you'd have an accredited, academic degree. Nothing de-valuing there.

 

Of course, if you got your non-bar JD from Concord or Taft, you'd have an accredited, academic degree. Nothing de-valuing there

Actually a non-bar DETC J.D. degree has no use in the real world.

1) You explain to a potential employer your "law degree"
is an executive J.D. degree that DOESNT qualify you to
sit for the bar or become an attorney and the employer
will dismiss that degree as not a real law degree.

Employers only understand law degrees that qualify a
person to become an attorney.

If you have one of those degrees DONT GO AROUND TELLING
PEOPLE "I HAVE A LAW DEGREE BUT IT DOESNT QUALIFY ME
TO BECOME AN ATTORNEY"

2) A non-bar or executive J.D. degree from Concord will not
be accepted as a doctorate degree in an regionally accredited
school for teaching purposes.

I cant even imagine anyone pursuing a law degree that does not
qualify that person to become an attorney!!

 

Whats keeping people from getting a bachelors or masters in Law to represent a non-law practice training in the law? Are there already any such programs?

An example a business degree with a law emphasis might work as well, just don't call it a JD and oriented toward practical aspect of the law.

 

So, you've noted that the utiltiy of a non-bar JD professionally and in academia is limited. I agree with you.

Of course, that doesn't refute that they are, indeed, accredited, academic degrees. They are. They simply have limited utility.

 

I can think of several uses.

Like I told you in a previous post, I once knew a philosophy professor who specialized in the philosophy of law. He had both a PhD and a JD. I don't recall where the JD was earned and I don't know whether he was a member of the bar. But I do know that he didn't practice law. I can easily imagine a non-bar JD having lots of utility in that kind of situation.

A non-bar JD might also have utility for legislators who are responsible for writing enforceable laws that will accomplish their purpose, that won't have unintended consequences, and that will be likely to survive court challenge.

BTW, why are you using multiple log-ins? What's this now, three?

 

My count is at five for the former Saratoga student.

 

Are we sure this information is accurate? The following information appears to indicate that the bill simply passed a committee stage:

CURRENT BILL STATUS


MEASURE : S.B. No. 1568
AUTHOR(S) : Dunn.
TOPIC : Law schools and law degree programs.
HOUSE LOCATION : ASM
+LAST AMENDED DATE : 08/07/2006


TYPE OF BILL :
Active
Non-Urgency
Non-Appropriations
Majority Vote Required
Non-State-Mandated Local Program
Fiscal
Non-Tax Levy

LAST HIST. ACT. DATE: 08/10/2006
LAST HIST. ACTION : From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 13. Noes 4.)
FILE : ASM SECOND READING
FILE DATE : 08/14/2006
ITEM : 27


TITLE : An act to amend Section 6061 of, and to add Sections
6046.7, 60603.7, and 6061.5 to, the Business and
Professions Code, and to amend Section 94900 of, and to
add Section 94364 to, the Education Code, relating to
law schools.

 

Yup. JDLLM, JDLLM2, JurisDoctorLLM, justicelawyer006, and now ReLawyer. Hmm.

 

http://forums.degreeinfo.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=18593

In looking back through JDLLM's original posts I found it ironic that he originally thought differently about the non-bar J.D. degree.

 

Can't a person change their opinions? Anyway I would think a study of law would benefit many professions other than being a practicing lawyer.

 

I couldn't agree more. I only thought it was ironic that he had changed his opinion within the past year. I am quite curious what led to this change.

I think that the study of law would benefit nearly anyone.

 

Oh God we agree on something!

 

Thomas,

I think it's funny, and a little sad, that you have a doctorate "degree" but you do not have a bachelor's degree.

 

Actually, an ABA-accredited, regionally-accredited JD is not accepted completely as a doctorate anywhere. It generally won't qualify one for an assistant professorship outside of law either. Pay scale is probably the only advantage to having a JD. Also, some states and accrediting agencies count it as a doctorate for accrediting headcount.

Dave

 

Interesting tidbit about Belford "University":

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belford_University

I'll be happy to send my congratulations when you finish your Excelsior degree, Thomas.

Dave

 

So will I.

 

Oh wait, now it's "Rushmore University".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rushmore_University

Thomas, why does your "PH.D" change so frequently? Once again, I look forward to congratulating you on your accredited, Excelsior degree.

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ReLawyer: To help your thread get back on target, thank you for not being as combative as in past interactions; helps focus on the target. Now for my question: Do you see DL as a viable medium (Bar seeking JD or not) for a law degree?

I have a cousin who's Bar certified in IN and VA, and she'll be testing for CA Bar certification in a couple of months (her business covers clients in many states). She's a Univ. of Michigan - Ann Arbor law school graduate, and surprisingly open to DL, given that it's a nationally ranked "Top Ten" in residence law school.

Her opinion was that a majority of the courses could have been done via independent study or by DL interaction, but that a short residency was sufficient for a portion of the courses. Just wondering about your take on the subject.

Dave

 

Business schools will count the JD as a doctorate for purposes of teaching Business Law and Business Ethics.

 

First that's easy the Belford University degree I recieved as a gag gift from several friends. The one I actually did serious work towards from Rushmore I just heard from the school and I passed my dissertation defense and they are finalizing my degree. So I decided to put up the serious degree credential. I suppose I could use both but would seem rather silly.

Now back to point DL can be a fine tool but don't most lawyers need courtroom training in order to get a JD degree?