PhD in law (or LLD) easiest, fastest, cheapest.

Hello to everyone,
seems like this site has REALLY good info about all issues of education.

Well, my matter is a "strange" one... have been working on my thesis for almost 3-4 years now, just to be informed that my subject (international - oil & gas - offshore / can be categorized under any of the above) is so difficult and demanding that there are no examiners available to read/examine it... anyway, don't tell me what I should do as to ask for my money back, etc, etc... have had a fight with them, with no result... been over that now...

So, focusing on my problem... are there any places out there that offer PhD in law (or LLD) distance? Hopefully that I just can turn in my work (with some additions in order to avoid submitting the exact same work), spend some more time with it, and pay a small amount of money?

Thanks to all.

 

This may be the closest one - http://www.myunion.edu/academics/cohort/index.html

I think Union offers a PhD completion type of option. I know someone does and I am certain someone else will jump in. I am not sure who may offer a PhD in Law but Interdisciplinary Studies could be the opening you need.

What school have you been working with? Is it regionally accreditied? Won't offer advice but it would be good to know who to stay away from!

 

I don't think you're that likely to find a fast or easy way. Cheap will be Unisa (South Africa).

Potentially easy would be to shop your thesis to a lot of the English Universities and see if you can find one that is willing to work with you on it. Particularly you might look at Scotland, you are likely to find some oil and gas expertise there.

Some specifici suggestions in terms of UK schools would be:

Aberdeen: Well ranked and I think willing to look at a distance PhD student.
Northumbria: Definitely willing to consider a distance learning PhD law student, largest law school in the North East of England so reasonable chance to find a supervisor.
Check The Robert Gordon University, I know they are into oil and gas, I don't know where they stand on doctoral law students.

My general advice (and it's very general and probably worth a little less than what you're paying for it) is to focus your search on the UK, South Africa and Australia, as they all have schools that work on the research only doctoral model and this means that in theory a distance doctoral degree is possible. From there it is a matter of finding someone willing to work with you. From there you can approach departments and ask the question, or you can contact subject specialists on the faculty within your area and work from that angle.

It has also been noted in the past that some European universities have faculty willing and able to supervise students in English. If you know of someone in your area of research at a (for example) German university it might be worth an approach.

In anycase, good luck.

 

You may want to consider the option of JD (Juris Doctorate) as well. its available at various schools as a distance ed option. An example of such a school would be ALU.

 

JD is a bachelor degree, not an LL.D./Ph.D.
The university I was working with for my LL.D. up to now, is in Asia; wouldn't like to comment more on it, as I have sued them...

 

A JD is not a bachelors degree. It is a "professional degree" - a Juris Doctorate

 

This is actually not a straightforward issue.

In the US, the first legal degree in the US was traditionally called the LL.B., or "bachelor's of law". Historically, the LL.B. was like any other bachelor's degree program; you enrolled in it after finishing high school.

Eventually, most US law schools began requiring a previous undergraduate degree for admission. And then it seemed more appropriate to confer a graduate degree, rather than a second bachelor's. So the LL.B. was "rebranded" as the J.D. The only thing that changed was the name.

But most other English-speaking countries never did this; they still use the traditional LL.B., and they still allow students to pursue this degree as undergraduates. So in other countries, the LL.B. is perceived as a bachelor's degree (just as it historically was in the US).

And in these countries, the US JD is regarded as equivalent to the LLB, just with a different name. And this equivalency may be accepted even in the US. For example, several current US Supreme Court justices still hold the "old-fashioned" LLBs (not the "newfangled" JD), yet no one doubts that their law degrees are 100% valid.

Or consider that there is currently a joint international JD/LLB program offered by the University of Detroit Mercy (in the US) and the University of Windsor (in Canada). Again, this implies equivalency.

Finally, consider that the doctorate is the highest academic degree everywhere -- except in US law schools. If the JD is really a "doctorate", then how come the LL.M. -- the master of laws -- is higher?

 

JD is a Bachelor degree equip,
no more knowledge,
just waste more time than LLB.

 

Historically, the word 'doctor' simply meant 'teacher'. As teaching became institutionalized in the medieval universities, universities started requiring qualifications in order to teach, typically completion of that particular university's program in the subject to be taught. But since professors moved around from school to school, universities gradually started recognizing each other's teaching qualifications. So doctorates turned into degrees, complete with diplomas. (A 'diploma' was originally any official document conferring a right, status or privilege, hence 'diplomat'.)

And since medieval universities were basically professional schools, they usually emphasized doctorates in law, medicine and (of course) theology. The seven liberal arts were considered preparatory subjects at this time and were taught by a motley crew of 'arts masters' - hence the master of arts MA. ('Master' is another old word for 'teacher', but perhaps with more of a skilled trades connotation as in 'master craftsman'.)

The point of this little historical excursus is that essentially speaking, any university degree that qualifies somebody to teach their subject at the highest level (not just preparatory subjects) can plausibly qualify as being a real doctorate.

Here in the United States the JD degree is the normal degree found among law school professors and top level legal scholars, who aren't expected to have any other advanced degree. We see similar things in medical schools where the professors typically have MDs.

Now we need to consider the class-aspect. We've been talking about university professors and their degrees and qualifications - doctors of medicine and doctors of law. But alongside these worthies there were the gritty little street-level practitioners that actually served regular people. While physicians with doctorates taught Galen in university lecture halls and bled the occasional king, surgeons were skilled tradesmen who followed armies on campaign, removing arrows, suturing wounds and setting broken bones. (They often doubled as barbers when things were quiet.) Even today, in Britain surgeons pointedly refer to each other as 'mister' in honor of their tradesman roots and the bachelor of medicine degree still qualifies people to practice medicine.

So the tradesman practioner-level and the university teaching-level historically were different and different qualifications were expected for each one. We still see the distant echoes of those historical differences reflected in degree terminology and usage today.

In law, the universities' historic doctor of laws (LLD) gradually shriveled as it turned into an honorary degree awarded to powerful bigshots for non-academic reasons. The legal doctoral degree lost its significance while bachelor's degrees expanded to fill the void. Now the pendulum is moving back the other way, at least here in the United States, as the JD replaces the LLB and revives the doctoral name from the old LLD.

(The old traditional doctor of divinity DD has pretty much turned into an honorary degree as well, but it's been replaced by things like the DMin and the DTh so there's less argument about what is and isn't a doctorate.)

 

A JD is also considered as a terminal degree - just like a PhD or MD. I have seen a reference to that while searching for lecturing spots. A JD diploma holder has better chances than my Master's in Criminal Justice when it comes to teaching positions at universities and colleges here in the U.S. The Jurist Doctor degree carries much more UMPH now and is highly desired in academia, criminal justice system, and private sector.

 

Hi Radek,

I can't say that I really agree with that observation about the JD. If you mean a JD vs an MA, then you are probably right, but I'm seeing more and more ads for CJ instructors that are specifically excluding a JD as a qualifying degree.

 

I wasn't clear enough. I looked at schools that offered a lot of law based courses for their CJ programs, like: Ethics and the Law, and similar courses with a Law component in them. It was more of a preference of where I searched and doesn't include a large pool of schools with position descriptions. My opinion was only relative to where I searched.

I do agree that there are schools that would love a Master level degree, but the ones I looked at (about 10 of them) often diminished the M.A.'s value by stating that "... terminal degrees such as PhD, MD, or JD are preffered."

 

If you were focusing on law based programs, then I agree that they would prefer the JD. I've seen the local CC express a preference for the JD when hiring for their ethics and criminal law classes.

 

So, we may call LLM as a higher terminate degree, and SJD as the highest terminate degree.

 

In retrospect, this was a small pool of schools that I was researching. The odd thing was that so many of those schools were implying that a JD is much better suited for Criminal Justice courses.

I was thinking of completing my JD, but I think I would like to pursue a PhD first.

 

So, are there any ABA approved law schools online?

So, are there any ABA approved law schools online?

 

It seems strange that the you or the university would find this out after 3-4 years spent on your thesis.

A long shot would be to look at the U of Middlsex (UK) D.Prof. program - they have various routes including this one:
http://www.mdx.ac.uk/mdx/courses/dprof/pworks.asp

 

I know this is an old thread, but I'm wondering if anyone has come across any new information about this since 2009. I just finished my Graduate Route LLB through the University of London and I'm hoping to go straight to a PhD in Law that doesn't have a minimum time required for completion. Most universities say a PhD takes a minimum of three years to finish, and that just seems silly for a subject like law. If anyone knows of a reputable university that offers a distance PhD in Law without any time constraints, I'd be appreciative if you posted it here.

 

Hi Law-Dude,

I noticed that you just completed the Graduate Route LLB from University of London.
I have few questions:

1. How many years did it take you to complete the degree?
2. Did you find the exams difficult?

Thanks
sshuang

 

Hi sshuang,

It took me two years to complete and the exams weren't difficult for me. I do have lots of legal experience from work, and could see it being more challenging for some, but the first year's exams were quite easy and some of them seemed more like political sciences courses to me than legal courses (Common Law Reasoning and Institutions and Public Law, although they had cases and statutes that had to be known, focused a lot on politics and history).

The second year was more difficult in that there was a heavier focus on case law that statutes (you can bring statute books into the exam, but not cases), but it was still passable.

I suspect the famous "fail rate" for the University of London's LLB program is largely the result of many people who are not ready to study in the English language enrolling in the program. The exams weren't any harder to study for than a third or fourth year undergraduate exam from an American university.

Feel free to let me know if you have any other questions about the program!