Concord or Taft for the Executive Juris Prudence doctorate?

Although Concord U is RA and Taft is DEAC accredited, and their curriculums and mode of delivery differ, are there any reputation or credibility advantages that justifies obtaining the non practice law degree from one or the other?

 

I realize their limitations but am interested in certain areas pertaining to health law.

It's interesting that Taft's executive program primarily utilizes "black letter" guides that cover their curriculum material in pragmatic terms while Concord uses the same text books for their practice law degree program.

 

We can only speculate whether RA vs. NA matters when it comes to a non-ABA accredited JD. M.S. from such a school? OK, that's the standard accreditation discussion. But the JD is in kind of a different world.

Neither school has a particularly strong reputation that is likely to be recognized by employers. Anyone in the legal community is likely to have a dismissive attitude because of the lack of ABA accreditation.

In general you can use a JD as a substitute for an MBA (or another related masters) in the private sector. Despite the ABA unilaterally declaring that the JD is equivalent to a PhD this recognition does not tend to exist outside of academia.

Lawyers periodically get called out for trying to use the title "Doctor" with only a JD. Everyone else is pretty well conditioned that 4 years of medical/dental/podiatric/chiropractic school buys you the title of "Doctor" but three years of law school just makes you a plain ol' ordinary lawyer who remains a "Mr." or a "Ms."

So if you show up at an employer's doorstep thinking everyone is going to call you "Doctor" then dream on. You can definitely kill that dream if they have lawyers on staff. If they aren't doctors then you aren't either.

So if you want a doctorate go get one. If you want a law degree that won't qualify you for the bar then this is fine (as is California Southern, Abraham Lincoln and a few others). Your utility is limited by the lack of ABA accreditation not really by the RA vs. NA and I don't believe any will offer a reputational advantage over the others.

 

Thanks for the feedback. As I mentioned, I am not seeking employment but searching for an academic program, a doctorate, EJD, that interests me and will motivate me to complete it. So at this point, after reviewing numerous programs, Aspen's seems to be on top of the list while the law schools are merely being considered as "possible" candidates.

 

As Steve pointed out, the EJDs aren't actually doctorates. As I said, a non-academic employer is likely to accept a JD in lieu of an MBA but I can't picture any considering it an actual doctorate.

I realize you don't want/need it for employment purposes. But if your goal is a doctorate then a JD is an odd choice. Now, if you just want a law degree for personal satisfaction then give it a shot.

The American College of Education also has an EdD in Leadership, is RA and is pretty affordable. Johnson University also has a PhD in Leadership Studies. There are loads of options out there. I don't have any issues with Aspen and if an NA school had the program I wanted at the right price I certainly wouldn't shy away but I think if you can get an RA degree for the same price it is at least worthy of making the short list.

 

Although I would prefer an RA doctoral program, unfortunately the RA schools mentioned don't pique my interest. In fact I would ordinarily not think of attending a DEAC school, but the curriculum at Aspen is quite interesting and congruent with my needs.