Law Degree online

Is there anyway I can piece together a law degree (not to practise as a lawyer) online? The law degrees fees online that I manage to find seems to be absurd.

 

The cheapest I've seen is Northwestern California University School of Law. The tuition is $2850 per year ($237.50 per month). Tuition & Finances | Northwestern California University School of Law

Home - St. Francis School of Law St. Francis School of Law tuition is $10, 000 per year.

CalSouthern School of Law tuition is $375/credit x 88 = $33, 000 https://www.calsouthern.edu/law.

 

The unaccredited, California-approved law schools are inexpensive, but the problem is that you have to travel to California to take the "Baby Bar" after the first year, so that can blow a hole in your school budget pretty quickly with air fare, hotel, etc., if you're not close by.

If you have no intention of practicing law, I would look into the EJD program at Concord Law School; regionally accredited, and no need to take the Baby Bar.

https://www.concordlawschool.edu/academic-programs/executive-juris-doctor

Another option could be the many available Master's programs in Law; some are Master of Legal Studies, Master of Studies in Law, or Master of Jurisprudence/Juris Master.

 

Bachelor of Legal Studies

APU - $6,400/yr

Bellevue - $6,300/yr

Affordable Legal Studies Degree Online (Bachelor's) 2016

Don't know about the other schools but APU should allow generous transfer credit.

 

OK, LLB at a reasonable cost

LLB and Diploma in Law | University of London International Programmes

You could do it even cheaper at UNISA

 

I have seen a lot of Indian LLBs but I don't seem to be able to find information on how to register for these. But they certainly look cheap. UOI seems good but I don't like the "Externa了“ wording... ：（

 

I'm still not convinced that an RA/non-ABA degree holds any more utility than any other non-ABA JD.

A non-bar qualifying JD, by its very nature, is made for use in the non-legal world. Perhaps, we could argue, that it should then be treated like any degree. An RA JD would, in theory, have the same sort of utility as an RA MBA. Maybe even with bonus points for being unique.

Where I think that starts to break down is that many JDs are ABA only with no further institutional accreditation. An individual with an ABA only JD who chose to work outside of the legal field as say, a loan officer, would likely not face issues using a non-RA degree (their ABA JD).

In a world where many people know little about US accreditation I feel like even fewer know, or care, about law school accreditation. RA is certainly fine. But I wouldn't overpay for a non-bar qualifying JD (or a JD where you just decide not to take the bar). I feel like the added tuition for RA, compared to the DEAC law schools, just isn't justified for the return you're likely to see.

 

A little off topic but do think that JDs should call themselves Drs., particularly those in higher ed?

I had a faculty member this semester who is an Asst. Professor and holds a J.D. He introduced himself as Dr. XYZ and the university website lists him as Dr.

 

If there are 2 candidates for a teaching position, one with a RA law degree and the other with an unaccredited law degree, who do you suppose is going to get the job, all other things being equal?

 

If he went on to earn a higher law degree than his J.D., the LL.M. (Master of Laws), would he want to be called "Master"?

The only law degree holder I would address as "Doctor" would be someone with the S.J.D. degree, which is the true doctoral law degree.

 

There may be a trend to renamed all professional first degree a doctorate. These are three in which the bachelors are steadily being renamed doctorates. I think opticians have also lose their bachelor.

MBBS=MD
Bpharm=Dpharm
LLB=JD

 

Is this true for the UK and the commonwealth nations?

 

I agree and I didn't refer to him as Dr. I instead used Professor XYZ. There's also one faculty that has a S.J.D. and they put Ph.D. behind her name. Of course it's the Ph.D. equivalent but she did not earn a Ph.D.

 

some past discussions

http://www.degreeinfo.com/general-distance-learning-discussions/11208-non-bar-jd.html

http://www.degreeinfo.com/general-distance-learning-discussions/13194-non-bar-jd.html

http://www.degreeinfo.com/general-distance-learning-discussions/15881-dl-law-non-bar-utility.html

http://www.degreeinfo.com/general-distance-learning-discussions/23763-jd-degree-3.html#post241716

 

In a law school, they never refer to the profs as "doctor" (of course unless they also have a Ph.D, as a couple of my profs did), but in other places where JDs teach, such as business schools and criminal justice or political science departments, about half the time we're referred to as "doctor" and half the time as "professor". Always feel a tiny bit of irritation when I'm called "doc" because I'm not really one and it feels phony. One of my former colleagues is JD/Ed.D., when I asked him if he'd pursued the Ed.D. because he was into pedagogy, he said "No, I just got tired of being called 'doctor', so I decided to get a real doctorate degree." Several years of work part time while teaching just to alleviate that frustration, but I know what he feels, it's part of the reason I prowl about here, looking for new doctorate opportunities as a future project.

 

Is it for fun?

One of the few in the USA. They don't offer financial aid. It doesn't require an LSAT for admission. No law firm, court, etc. is going to really respect a "law degree" from them since they don't require even an LSAT. The good news is they don't require a 'baby bar' either.

Tuition & Finances | Northwestern California University School of Law

For work?

No law firm is going to hire someone from an online law school, not even for 'legal consulting' jobs that don't require a bar exam. The school I mentioned above isn't going to help with getting hired in any legal-related field; they don't even require an LSAT for admission. We get online law schools a lot. Even had a few people skip law school altogether and just take the BAR in states that allow you to work at a law firm/do apprenticeships/etc. and take the BAR without law school.

The UK degrees in law aren't going to be of much/any use if wanting to work in any USA legal field.

Sounds like a large expense for fun, and these online law schools are really going to be useless in any legal-related job field.

 

Also, what country are you in / wanting to be in?

My comments apply to USA only.

 

The bolded area is incorrect. You must pass the baby bar to continue past the first year 1L. This is a consumer protection measure by California law.