Top Law Schools

I noticed that many of the online law schools do not fare too well in the law school rankings . I imagine this is because the classical rankings system employed is geared to classroom based programs. Anyway, I was wondering if anyone knows of a system used to evaluate and rank online law schools? Also, are the online law programs any good or is there a stigma attached with having an online law degree? Will I be able to get a job after I graduate? I'm going to keep researching the matter but any thoughts or comments would be appreciated.

The Internet has revolutionized many aspects of our society and there are now several online law schools offering degrees out there. However, law is inherently a conservative arena, for in law present decisions are determined by examining past decisions that set a precedent. Along these lines, online law schools are still stigmatized and are not yet ranked by any law school ranking.

Personally, I like the idea of online law schools and am open to the concept. However, the reality of online law schools is that at present their graduates fare poorly in the job market as online law schools are not yet considered the equal of even marginal brick and mortar law schools.

Until online law schools become more prestigious, I would focus upon the traditional ABA approved law schools. That being said, if you are in California, which does not require that you attend an ABA approved law school to take the state bar, then attending an online law school is a more viable option.

Of course, if you are accepted into any ABA law school, go there first in a heartbeat, but if you are in California and deciding between an online law school and law schools that are not ABA approved, to me that is a tough decision. I would focus upon the bar passage rates of the schools you are considering, for if graduates are not passing the bar there is no way they are getting jobs as attorneys.

The stigma of online law schools will likely continue until one of them has enough money to start hiring faculty from the top law schools. Concord Law School, which is run by Kaplan, is the best known online law school and is the one most likely to move into an acceptable class at some point.

Until online law schools get more accepted, I recommend attending an ABA approved law school even if it means paying a lot more in tuition. This extra cost will be rewarded with more job prospects and not having to be the one who has to break the stigma still attached to online law schools.

IF you want Rankings, this is a chapter by chapter breakdown of every school, and you can sit for more State Bars Now.. Aba online programs also. I got a pre order copy and it actually helped make my decision. There is even a Socratic Method Online law School where the students use headsets and meet 2 nights per week. Some schools offer live video also. Great ABA online programs that I did not know were available. 1 even at UCONN. for an LLM. Plus, top UK programs--some great LLB and Sports LLM accredited programs. onlinelawschools.org --I got it at americas Legal Bookstore 800 359 8010 --they are on back order now. Highly reccomended

Ken, if you go to the CA Bar results, there are many schools from online/correspondence that score better than ABA students-on the BAR-those are posted facts. and the lawtutor.org-his site had 2 ranked in the top 50, concord and oak brook, based on bar results, Thats top 50 counting ABA. You use the same books and cases and most meet live thru video or their is 1 I read in the Online law Schools Book that uses the socratice method and meets with headsets. BUT, the CA BAR RESULTS break down each school, AND , the Online Schools are doing well, sorry to burst your bubble, but in some instances, much better than ABA Students. I think its the person and not the school. PLUS, if you plan on a private practice, and I do undertstand all people dont want that, then I would rather pay from 6000 for all 4 years up to Concord the max of 35 k for 4 years(the book breaks down each school), then OWE 100 k when I graduate. Plus, there are more bars that you can sit for now and you can practice law in every state immediately, although it would be federal in some states, I dont mean to be rude in anyway so dont take it the wrong way, but its the wave of the future. Penn state now offers JD courses Online and MANY ABA Online programs in the Online Law Schools book, complete LLM degree programs, from TOP ABA SChools. All from home and you can earn your speciality. THINGS ARE CHANGING

The #1 Online ABA program (LLM) which gave you a tax one an I believe it said in the book int'l business used to be at ST THOMAS (ABA)in Miami. IT is now at Thomas Jefferson in San Diego according to this book . PLus, like I told you , there were many other ABA Schools that dont advertise but have online LLM and online courses. They have been using distance learning overseas for centuries. The TOP law schools in the UK an AU and more all offer the JD or LLB online or via correspondence, and there are some states that you can sit for the bar immediately with an LLB, and some require an LLM, which you can also get from an ABA School Online. THINGS ARE CHANGING. For those interested in online info, i would do my homework. The LaW Bible talks about How to Become an Attorney and this new Online Law Schools book breaksdown each school chapter by chapter and the bar exams. I dont mean to preach but since its the wave of the future, its worth taking a look. The Dean of Concord I believe was the head of the ABA, and now ABA Schools offer Online Programs. The LLM was the 1st taste of online programs, and I would say in 5-10 years, their will be ABA jD degrees just like U of London, Nottingham, and other top UK schools. Every top Barrister of lawyer overseas probably had some if not all their LLB completed online or via distance learning. Many of our past presidents including Lincoln received their Law Degree by Correspondence.

your keyboard has a key called "Enter"

It assists in paragraph formation.

oh my god mods please block this guy.

go away, you can of douche spam

The law Tutor's site has Rankings from 2005. He has 2 of the Online law Schools Ranked in the top 50. I am not a spammer. i only mentioned about the online law schools book as he wanted rankings. Concord and Oak Brook both ranked in the top 50 of all TIER 1-tier 4 schools, and they are online schools., scoring higher on the bar than many aba schools lawtutor dot org. No spamming. REAL #'s from the CA Bar webstite THere is no place to look at Rankings for those schools so people should know--anyone can look up tier 1-4 or look at us news rankings, but many people unfortunately cant go to an ABA school so why not have somewhere to look----Hows that spamming. What if you wanted to go to online law school? where would you turn ? check out the rankings for yourself. those 2 schools blow away top schools. They must be doing something right. and cost 8900 per year at concord and 3500 per year at oak brook. pretty good,especially if you are opening your own practice and dont care where you went to school

Wow. Good stuff. Thanks.

Kill self.

Bye.

Perhaps I'm misinterpreting your post or the data I found, but this site published by Concord

http://info.concordlawschool.edu/NR/rdo ... alysis.pdf

seems to suggest that concord grads are not even "blowing away" the aba average, let alone top schools. At 32.3 %, they can't really come close to the "top" schools in CA, no matter how you define "top."

I will admit, however, that at 32.3 %, they are better than I would have thought from an online school. I wonder though if employers are caught up to speed with their abilities. I would guess that their remains a stigma in the legal community to online degrees, and that could hurt employment chances.

don't forget.



THINGS ARE CHANGING

The CA Baby bar, average pass rates are super low, i think below 30. The Oak Brook school at only 3500 per year has better #'s than concord. I found the rankings on lawtutor . org. In the book, since the standards for online law school are low, it says that those are not accurate due to anyone that passes their 1st year can take the baby bar, so you have everyone taking it. anyway, if you go on the CA BAR site, click on bar results, it breaks down each school 1 by 1 with their scores. You will see even on the Actual bar, not baby bar, some of the Online schools scored higher than some aba schools. Thats all I am saying. There is not 1 guide, us news, or anything available for someone to review all the online law schools accpet for this new online law schools book. thats it. Anyway, Penn state now has online jd courses as the 1st school to test online for the JD, There was a big article as well. The UK has always had correspondencel law-and top attornies from foreign countries have all received their degrees via correspondence. And, any US student can get a prestigious law degree from the UK completely online, and sit for US bars with the LLB, and possible an online aba llm, Did you know, Thomas Jefferson, cooley, chapman, UCONN + others are all mentioned in The online law schools book and all have ABA online LLM programs, without stepping foot in school---------Check it out but the transformation is starting, thats all I am saying. Some of the schools use headsets and teach with the socratic method, just like your in class. its crazy........ I know when i am ready for my llm, i would rather get it at home due to my job, but its an option now, where as before you didnt have it. Every other major accept medicine basically have online programs--Now law does too

I am an online law student. I have "kinda" made a comparative study of the eleven correspondence and online law schools registered on the California State Bar website.

For some basic information about correspondence and online law schools, go to Wikipedia: Correspondence and Online Law Schools, at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Correspondence_law_school.

As the statistic set forth in this Wikipedia entry show, except for the students at one online law school, namely the California School of Law, the passage rates on the First Year Law Students' Exam ("baby bar") for students at the correspondence and online law schools are shockingly low. Indeed, the passage rates on the October 2008 baby bar were 10 % and 14 % at Abraham Lincoln and Concord, the two biggest online law schools. In contrast, for the California School of Law students who had taken the School's recommended, but not mandated baby bar exam prep course and who had taken the School's Legal Methods course, literally 100 % of its students taking the June "09 baby bar were successful. The apparent reason for this School's excellent baby bar passage rate is that it is the only online law school that has the technology to use the Socratic Method of instruction as it is used at the top prestigious law "residential lawschools. Go to http://www.californiaschooloflaw.com/ for more information.

In reply to "Woozy" whose comments about the statistics are below, he or she is confused. The data is 100 % clear, both on the website and in the Wikipedia article: six students from the California School of Law took the June "09 baby bar and four passed. The only failures were by two students who had not taken the School's prep course and/orr the School's legal method course.

As to the pejorative comments below by "Voice of Reason about job prospects for online law students, this probably will not be the case for California School of Law graduates because the School already is getting a reputation for providing a high quality and rigorous educational experience, through use of the Socratic Method.

lol wtf is this?

It should go without saying that all online/correspondence law schools are garbage. Ranking them is pointless; they're all below the bottom.

People who go to tier 4 ABA-approved real law schools have terrible job prospects, for the most part. Many of them never pass the bar. Many of those who pass can't get a job practicing law. Many of those who do practice law spend their careers in pretty undesirable jobs, and essentially none of them are competitive for the most desirable jobs.

Online law school is worse than T4. Much worse.

Oh geez now there's 2 of em.

wwwwhat is happening right now?

I enrolled in an online law school. I was doing pretty well, but then my civ pro professor hit me with the rail gun like three times in a row. I got totally pissed and put in some Torts hax, then went all slipfall on his ass with some frags.

Oh wait, I was playing Quake. Nevermind.

what is this i dont even

TipTravHoot wrote:I enrolled in an online law school. I was doing pretty well, but then my civ pro professor hit me with the rail gun like three times in a row. I got totally pissed and put in some Torts hax, then went all slipfall on his ass with some frags.

Oh wait, I was playing Quake. Nevermind.

+1

Online Law Student wrote:I am an online law student. I have "kinda" made a comparative study of the eleven correspondence and online law schools registered on the California State Bar website.

For some basic information about correspondence and online law schools, go to Wikipedia: Correspondence and Online Law Schools, at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Correspondence_law_school.

As the statistic set forth in this Wikipedia entry show, except for the students at one online law school, namely the California School of Law, the passage rates on the First Year Law Students' Exam ("baby bar") for students at the correspondence and online law schools are shockingly low. Indeed, the passage rates on the October 2008 baby bar were 10 % and 14 % at Abraham Lincoln and Concord, the two biggest online law schools. In contrast, for the California School of Law students who had taken the School's recommended, but not mandated baby bar exam prep course and who had taken the School's Legal Methods course, literally 100 % of its students taking the June "09 baby bar were successful. The apparent reason for this School's excellent baby bar passage rate is that it is the only online law school that has the technology to use the Socratic Method of instruction as it is used at the top prestigious law "residential lawschools. Go to http://www.californiaschooloflaw.com/ for more information.

I'll ignore the blatant spam and address your one outlandish claim. We've all gotten the email with this 100% passing the baby bar claim. If you go to their site (LinkRemoved) you will see the 100% figure represent all of two people, and they actually had 2/9 total takers pass. I guess that's still a higher percentages than other online schools, if your figures are accurate.

I am ready to enroll

In reply to "Woozy" whose above comments are about the School's baby bar statistics, he or she is confused. The data is 100 % clear, both on the School's website and in the Wikipedia article: six students from the California School of Law took the June "09 baby bar and four passed. The only faiures were two students who had not taken the School's prep course or the School's legal method course.

As to the pejorative comments above by "Voice of Reason about job prospects for online law students, this will not be the case for California School of Law gradiuates. This is because the School already is getting a reputation for providing a high quality and rigorous experience, through use of the Socratic Method. Also, its professors are of the highest quality, both in terms of the academic backgrounds and their comittment to the students.

In reply to "Woozy" whose above comments are about the School's baby bar statistics, he or she is confused. The data is 100 % clear, both on the School's website and in the Wikipedia article: six students from the California School of Law took the June "09 baby bar and four passed. The only faiures were two students who had not taken the School's prep course or the School's legal method course.

As to the pejorative comments above by "Voice of Reason about job prospects for online law students, this will not be the case for California School of Law gradiuates. This is because the School already is getting a reputation for providing a high quality and rigorous experience, through use of the Socratic Method. Also, its professors are of the highest quality, both in terms of the academic backgrounds and their comittment to the students.