ABA Accredited Online Law School

ABA accredited online law schools for obtaining an online law degree do not yet exist. ABA approved online law schools don't exist yet because the ABA Standards for the Approval of Law Schools currently do not allow for an online law school Juris Doctor degree program. ABA online law school Standard 306 allows an ABA approved law school to award up to 12 credits toward the JD degree for distance education courses, but does not set any guidelines or standards for online law schools for receiving an online law degree. ABA accredited law schools can only grant four credits a semester and students can’t take online law school classes in their first year of law school.

The State Bar of California allows online law schools, in order to provide alternative students an opportunity to receive a legal education. One online law school that provides this opportunity for an online law degree is the California School of Law.

In reviewing ABA accredited online law schools standards, including “Standard 306,” which applies to online law schools and receiving an online law degree. Bucky Askew, the ABA’s staff consultant on legal education, predicts that the ABA will, indeed, broaden its standards for online law schools when it addresses the issue next year.

The ABA reviews its standards for ABA accredited online law schools every five years. Up until 2000, it did not allow any distance education credits to be part of a law degree, says Askew. Then the ABA began allowing traditional law schools to offer a few online courses. “My guess is they decided to start slowly to permit schools to do this on a fairly limited basis and see how it goes,” says Askew.

"There's growing comfort with online education as a useful and meaningful method of offering a part of the law school curriculum," he says. "[But], for a high quality program, you have to have students together because so much of learning happens in that interaction in the classroom space."

ABA Accredited Online Law School

More than 100,000 people apply annually for 45,000 open seats at ABA-accredited law schools. Average cost of law school is upwards of $50,000 to $150,000 for a degree, depending whether a school is public or private.

The California School of Law provides a online law school experience similar to that at ABA accredited law schools. At the California School of Law the virtual classes meet each week on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, with students and professors participating in a live video conference in which they discuss and debate the law, as if they were physically in the same room. In class, students and professors utilize the traditional Socratic Method of legal education used at prestigious residential law schools.

In conclusion, the ABA continues to remain behind the technological curve when it comes to ABA accredited online law schools and the technology to facilitate legal education. Online law schools provide students with access to a law degree, which they may have never been able to obtain due to outrageous tuition at traditional brick and mortar law schools and the additional costs associated with relocation. Luckily, for this new generation of law students, schools like the California School of Law are utilizing technology without sacrificing the benefits of traditional legal pedagogy.

Online Law School
5276 Hollister Ave, Suite 262
Santa Barbara, CA 93111
Phone: 805-770-3030
Website: https://californiaschooloflaw.com