What do you think about the ON-LINE Concord Law School?

What could be the pitfalls with a law degree obtained on-line?

Does the on-line process matters, if one were to go on and pass the bar?

M.S.

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Request for Question Clarification by czh-ga on 31 Jan 2005 11:33 PST

Hello sanyika-ga,

What kind of work do you plan to do after you get your law degree? Who
do you consider to be your target employers on completion of your law
degree? Companies that only hire Stanford or Harvard grads will not
look favorably on your online degree. We need more information about
your career goals to be able to advise you about the value of the
Concord Law School degree. Here are some starting points to help you
think through your options about an online degree.

http://computer.howstuffworks.com/online-degree1.htm

Good luck.

~ czh ~

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Clarification of Question by sanyika-ga on 31 Jan 2005 16:06 PST

I have a doctorate in medicine.  I very interested in corporate tax
law; although, considering my station in life, health care law would
appear to be more practical.  Computer financial software development
was an emphasis in my undergraduate training.

In a word, a Juris Doctorate can make the Doctorate in Medicine more influential.

I hope this clarifies.

Just my opinion, but you cannot gain the skills you need to be a good
lawyer by taking courses on-line.  I was very very shy when I started
law school.  It is not the book learning that was so important, but
the Socratic method of analyzing cases, and the required mock trial
experience.  In a physical school, you are required to stand up,
speak, and learn to think on your feet.  Skills imperative for
lawyering.

There is no "practical" on the bar exam, so I suppose it is possible
to leare all you need to know to pass the bar from books.

Regardless of your manner of education, you should find a good lawyer
mentor to help you learn the ropes.  Nothing is sadder than a
beginning lawyer without guidance.

You should check with your local bar association and confirm that they
will recognize an on-line degree.  It would be a shame to do all of
that work and then not be permitted to take the bar exam.

You might find this prior thread helpful:
http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=318993

If you want to just be a sole practitioner doing divorces and DUI's,
Concord is likely fine.  If you want to work in a big firm in a big
city or be a judge or work in a large corporation, you should set your
sites higher.

I think that Concord is likely to be a bad choice for you.

First off, although I would argue that where one goes to law school
has little bearing on whether one passes the bar, it bears immensely
on what sort of opportunity that one has once one enters the
profession.

It is true that schools that are thought of as elite have higher bar
passage rates than their lesser esteemed counterparts.  However, I
would attribute much of this to the type of student that they attract
to such institutions and not the education that is received.  I say
this with some confidence because I am at a good law school, in my
third year, at the top of my class, and utterly unprepared for the bar
exam.  This is simply because many law schools do not focus on
preparing their students for passing the bar, but instead leave the
task to bar prep courses.  To be certain, my preparation will be
easier given that I have gone to three years of law school, but I am
unconvinced that I would not have received the same amount of
preparation at any other law school.

That being said, it would be shortsighted to enroll at Concord without
realizing that potential employers (assuming you are not planning on
hanging your own shingle) will not look at the degree favorably.  In
the law, pedigree matters to many people.  How elitist the profession
is has often appalled me.  Many employers will not even be willing to
interview someone from Concord.

Now, your situation is somewhat different given that you have a
Doctorate in Medicine.  You would likely be better poised to gain
employment than your classmates.  Still, I would wager that it would
be very difficult.  The only reason to put yourself in this position
would be if you were absolutely committed to practicing law and could
not attend another school.

However, as stated above, if you are planning on practicing solo, it
might make more sense.  Again, however, at least some corporate
clients will look at where you went to school and judge you based on
that fact, foolish though it might be.

You might want to poke around this page to get an idea of ?law school snobbery.?

http://www.ernietheattorney.net/ernie_the_attorney/2003/09/does_it_matter_.html