Law Program

Does anyone know any good online law programs or 2 or 3 year programs. I am about to complete my business degree from University of Phoenix. Any helps is appreciated.

Thank you.

 

Simply put, if you are looking to practice law, the answer is no. You need an ABA-accredited law degree, and there are no ABA-accredited, online J.D. programs.

If you are looking for a legal studies degree (which would not allow you to practice law), there may be some options.

 

concord

what about concord law?

 

Wait a second Stefan. You're wrong about your basic premise of needing an ABA accredited law degree to practice law. That's not to say I'd recommend the path I'm about to advise of, as it's long and thankless due to elitism in the legal field but it's a path.

1. Go to Concord School of Law (Kaplan) and take the California Bar. Practice law in California for 3-5 years and then take the Multi-state Bar exam for other jurisdictions based on reciprocity.

2. Go to Massachusetts School of Law at Andover and take the Massachusetts or Connecticut Bar. Practice in either jurisdiction for 3-5 years and then take the MBE for other jurisdictions based on reciprocity.

Concord is fully online, Andover is seat only. Both options will involve moving if you're not in California or Massachusetts already. Neither require the LSAT.

Now all this said, I don't recommend a non-ABA accredited degree. But if you're doing what you're doing for personal enrichment or to start your own shingle and are proximal to either state they are options and frankly, the law is the law. You'll learn the same crap either way you look at it so long as you're motivated.

Just don't expect Harvard if you go to Concord or Andover.

 

You can also take the Concord route, pass the Cal. Bar and practice certain laws only in any state. I think immigration and certain others require you to be licensed in any state to practice law in the federal court. I may be a bit off with some details but I am almost positive. Search some old threads - this came up.

 

Here it is - http://www.degreeinfo.com/distance-learning-discussions/21147-how-can-person-practice-law.html

 

The process you describe is usually called Admission on Motion based on reciprocity. Every state makes up its own rules, so there's a bunch of different requirements that don't translate into one general answer. For example, NY requires you to have been a member of a reciprocal jurisdiction's bar, who has practiced law for 5 or the last 7 yrs., and who is a grad of an ABA-approved law school. So, that one's out for the plan. PA has similar requirements but only states that the lawyer be a graduate of "an accredited law school," but it looks like they define that to mean "ABA-approved law school." So, you have to look at the target state and plan accordingly. Also, about the Multistate Bar Exam (MBE): you might be confusing this w/ the Multistate Professional Responsibility Exam (MPRE). I may be wrong, but I do not know of any jurisdiction that would require you to take just the MBE as long as you were licensed elsewhere for 3 or more yrs. The accepting state is mainly concerned about you knowing its law well enough to not be too dangerous operating as a lawyer in it, so requiring the MBE doesn't make much sense. Now, each state that uses the MPRE (most do w/ Maryland a notable exception) will normally require you to have met its minimum passing score for admission on motion. Some are higher or lower, some say the score can only so x years old, etc. So maybe that's what you're referring to. In any case, it's possible to go the route you're talking about as long as you don't mind going around a lot of roadblocks along the way.

 

Yes, for exclusively federal areas of law like immigration, bankruptcy, and patent, trademark, and copyright law, to name just a few, you can generally practice law as long as you're admitted to the bar in any U.S. jurisdiction (including U.S. territories like Puerto Rico and Guam). So this is an option for those going the DL route.

 

Another possible option … and w/o attending law school:

California, Maine, Vermont, Virginia, Wyoming and Washington allow the opportunity to take their respective Bar Exam via “Reading the law” (Legal apprenticeships /LOSP), e.g., “…an applicant who has not attended law school may take the bar exam after reading law under a judge or practicing attorney for an extended period of time. The State of New York requires that applicants who are reading law must have at least one year of law school study and Maine requires applicants to have completed at least two-thirds of a law degree. Such persons are sometimes called country lawyers or county-seat lawyers."
Reading law - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Keck, N. (2006) Lawyer's apprentice: reading the law in Vermont
Lawyer's Apprentice: Reading the Law in Vermont : NPR

Audio:
NPR Media Player

DL Law School Discussion board …
Distance Education Law Schools

 

Oops … Wyoming, which once allowed the no-law-school option, I believe, now requires a JD degree from an American Bar Association (ABA)-approved law school.

 

Good luck on getting any kind of ROI on a non-ABA law degree. Grads from many ABA schools have a difficult time finding placement. I understand that my statement is not absolutely true in a strict sense, but there is a de jure requirement in the majority of states and a de facto requirement in general.

 

Now think about the ROI model. You need to consider the "I" in the ROI - investment. A traditional ABA law school may cost $100K plus lost wages (let's say another $100K). That is a lot more to recover then the cost of a part time online JD. The pay back period would be much shorter for an online JD. Now if you are talking employability and opportunity, that is a whole other story.

 

As mentioned previously, if you want to pursue a career in law, you will need an ABA-accredited degree to sit for the bar in most states. Otherwise, you will have to move to another state (unless by chance you live in a state like California). Relocation expenses, etc, also add up.

Also, you can find an ABA program that costs less than $100k.

 

Or you can take the DL route and practice law in federal court only removing the ABA requirement for each state. Again, it all depends on your plan and goal. I am sure there are law programs under $100K, I was thinking of the local program and the cost. That is the first that came to mind.

 

I suppose, yes, in some very narrow and very, very limited circumstances, you could use a DL law degree.

If someone wants to make a career of practicing law, however, obtaining a DL law degree is not very wise.

I'm a big fan of DL, but if the OP wants any realistic shot of employment, having a resume with a UoP undergraduate and a DL, non-ABA J.D. is not the way to do it.

 

I do agree but there is a difference between possible and wise,

 

Yes, and there is a difference between being Brad Pitt and being Joe Schmoe when trying to start a relationship with Angelina Jolie. Sure, Joe Schmoe might have a chance if Angelina is completely trashed out of her mind on alcohol and barbiturates, but outside of this limited window, nothing is going to happen.

It's just not realistic to expect an online degree to lead to significant opportunities to practice law. I'm sorry, but clients aren't going to line up to be represented by someone with an online law degree.

Now, if someone does not want to practice law, as I mentioned, then it doesn't matter as much.

 

Thanks for the laugh - I needed it today! I agree completely with everything you said.

 

If you attend a DL law school with plans to take the California bar, after the first year you would have to take and pass the "Baby Bar" exam which has a very, very low pass rate. If you pass it, then you get to finish school and try to pass the bar exam itself. Your odds of passing both of these is extremely low.

As someone mentioned above, every state has different rules about admitting someone who is admitted in another state. When I took the Maryland bar exam, there was another, shorter line for the "Attorney exam." Out-of-state attorneys who wanted to be admitted had to take an exam but it was a shorter exam than the main one. I believe it covered only Maryland procedure. That was forever ago though, so it may have changed. In Tennessee I applied for admission without exam but I didn't expect to get it because, although I had practiced in Maryland, it had been quite a while and the rules were something like "5 out of the last 7 years." However, because I'd been teaching legal studies in a Tennessee college, focusing on Tennessee law, for the previous four years, they admitted me without exam. I had been studying for the exam and you can believe I was very surprised and happy when they admitted me without taking it. Some states (Hawaii when I checked a few years ago) don't let anyone in without taking the exam.

The multi-state practice stuff some of you have referred to is primarily for pro hac vice stuff; i.e., when you go into a different state for a specific case or issue. For example, you're licensed in state X and your client has a problem to deal with in state Y. In the olden days you would either have to get counsel from state Y or get permission from the court to practice before it pro hac vice. The whole multi-state practice movement has been loosening that up a lot.

 

I in no way want to talk you out of law school, but I think you need to understand the what you're getting yourself into as far the job market goes. Kids from the top programs in the country are struggling to find work. I'm talking about Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Columbia and Penn grads. Class rank matters so much in law school when it comes to hiring. If you're not in the top 10% of your class you can forget about a job that provides you with a livable wage and the ability to service your student loan debt (It's estimated you'd need an annual income of roughly $60k in order to do that, not many kids fresh out of law school find jobs that meet that need).

Law schools have taken a ton of heat in recent years for the shady practices they use to report employment and salary statistics of graduates. Don't take what they print on their websites at face value.

I'd advise you to read the blog/website Above the Law: A Legal Tabloid - News and Colorful Commentary on Law Firms and the Legal Profession. It's written by real students from top-tier law schools and I think it provides a more accurate picture of the employment landscape (it's also really f'ing funny).