distance JD + MPP, MPA or MBA

The web site for St Johns is www.law.stjohns.edu/law

I agree that reputation is very important in any professional practice, but I wonder if one should be embarrased to say "I qualified by independant study."? At least in the one field where I relied on correspondence work for my basic knowlege, electronics engineering technology, employers were not at all prejudiced against me.

Joybaum

 

In your situation, there would be no problems, actually even more of an admiration (because of the paralysis) by doing the study of law via DL.

Regarding the question of how often times in professional practice, a client ask where you went to law school or gpa--the gpa isn't really asked. However, in the legal culture, it is asked more often by legal clients than say in other professional cultures. I would say 30-50% of the time by the clients. Among your attorney colleagues--it eventually comes up 95-100% of the time.

I know that it is strange because most people going to a physician or an architect really do not ask where they went to school. It's just for some reason, perhaps through the media and other attorneys emphasizing it so much, the legal culture asks questions (sometimes silly) like did you pass the Bar? or Where did you go to law school? Like somehow, the affirmative answer of one or more of those questions will make the attorney become a "good attorney."

EsqPhD

 

For those interested, St. Thomas University in Florida offers on online LL.M. in international taxation. A program leading to an M.I.T. degree is available for non-lawyers.

The link is http://www.stu.edu/tax/

M.I.T. is Master of International Taxation; not the renowned engineering school.

I do not think MIT offers an MIT degree.

Christopher

 

I agree with EsqPhD; I am often asked where I went to school by fellow members of the bar and clients. In the law, there is much "brand ecognition" of the quality schools.

My concern is that an expert witness JD would be prone to attack if he/she came from independent study; might undermine the testimony in front of a jury who is often awed by the magna cum laudes, and mention of Ivies, etc.

Speaking of St Thomas, I once encountered a "store-front" attorney in Miami who was a St Thomas grad, who "creatively" framed his diploma so that you could not tell where he studied.

 

Thanks. I know this site. But where is the online LLM you mentioned?

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Jonathan Liu
http://www.geocities.com/liu_jonathan/distance.html

 

Did I say St. Johns?!? I meant St. THOMAS. Well, shucks, I knowed it wus one of them "Saint" fellers...
Sorry for the misinformation.
I looked at the Concorde site. I couldn't tell how much either of their LLMs cost?
Joybaum

 

http://www.concordlawcenter.com/degreetaxation/taxationadmissions.asp
http://www.concordlawcenter.com/degreetaxation/taxationadmissions.asp

$350 per credit. 28 credits for the Health program, and 24 credits for the Tax program.


------------------
Jonathan Liu
http://www.geocities.com/liu_jonathan/distance.html

 

http://www.concordlawcenter.com/degreehealth/healthadmissions.asp
http://www.concordlawcenter.com/degreetaxation/taxationadmissions.asp

$350 per credit. 28 credits for the Health program, and 24 credits for the Tax program.


------------------
Jonathan Liu
http://www.geocities.com/liu_jonathan/distance.html

 

OUCH!! That's a lot of money (about $8.5K) for a more-or-less unaccredited degree. I wonder if DETC will expand its already elastic "pilot" accreditation to cover these LLMs?
SCUPS wants only about $5.6K for their tax degree. Taft wants about $6.5K
Still, all of these guys are significantly cheaper than Regents and St. Thomas.
Joybaum

 

Concord University DL law program has been marketing itself quite a bit. There is a fellow I know that goes to a church nearby who is currently in the program.

I did a little checking on the www.calbar.org web site and found that for the last few years, Concord has not yet had anyone sit for the California Bar. I don't understand why people are saying that Concord is a good DL law program or paying so much money for a J.D. DL program that hasn't had any time to prove itself by having some type of reasonable Bar pass rate.

If I had to do the J.D. via DL, I would definitely choose either Oak Brook or Taft at this time--since their Bar pass rates are the highest of the DL schools. When you compare tuition, Oak Brook, Taft, and Concord are pretty much similar. If all of this is done online anyway, why would someone not choose Oak Brook or Taft over Concord--which hasn't yet proven itself?

EsqPhD

 

Since Concord was founded in 1998, we have to wait till next year to find out its bar passing rate.

Oak Brook's tuition is about half of Concord's. Oak raised it tuition to $2700 from $2500 early this year. But it is still the best buy.

 

Thanks for the information regarding Oak Brook's tuition. It is a great bargain for the caliber of the DL program.

EsqPhD

 

We have to wait for Concord's first set of Bar results but their Baby Bar results are disappointing.
I think people assume Concord is a good outfit because of the connection to Kaplan and the Washington Post. With all that money behind them, how could they possibly be a flop? And besides, they use the LATEST in multi-media technology...
But the law itself is NOT a hi tech thing. It's books and reading and careful analysis and clear, clean writing and speaking.
Joybaum