Students can earn law degrees while studying at home through correspondence law schools.
Correspondence law schools allow students to study for their law degrees outside of formal classroom settings. Graduates of California correspondence schools must successfully meet requirements imposed by the Board of Bar Examiners in order to receive admission to the State Bar of California and receive their licenses to become attorneys who can practice law.
Features
Students can independently study for their Juris Doctor degrees with self-study materials and oversight from California correspondence law schools. According to the State Bar of California, correspondence law schools must require at least 864 hours of study and preparation per year, over a total period of four years. Though some correspondence law schools conduct their programs over the Internet, they do not qualify as distance-learning law schools because they do not offer interactive classes. Under the rules of the California Committee of Bar Examiners, correspondence law schools must make disclosures to prospective applicants and students regarding requirements that graduates must fulfill in order to receive their law licenses in California.
Available Schools
Several correspondence law schools have registered with the State Bar of California. The State Bar identifies these schools as California Southern University, International Pacific School of Law, Oak Brook College of Law and Government Policy, Taft Law School, MD Kirk School of Law, University of Honolulu School of Law and Northwestern California University.
Accreditation Status and Effects
Correspondence law schools do not have accreditation from the American Bar Association (ABA) or the California Committee of Bar Examiners. The State Bar of California imposes additional requirements on students of unaccredited law schools from which students of accredited programs receive exemptions. For example, students at ABA-accredited JD programs receive exemptions from the First Year Law Students' Examination. In contrast, students of correspondence law schools must take and pass both the First-Year Law Students' Examination and the state bar examination.
First-Year Examination Requirement
Students of correspondence law schools must take and pass the first-year exam in order to receive credit from the State Bar of California for completed academic classes. Individuals who do not pass the first-year exam must continue taking the exam until they pass; test takers who need more than three tries to pass can only receive credit from the State Bar for one year of completed academic classes, rather than credit for all classes taken up to the date when they pass the exam. The first-year exam includes topics in contract law, criminal law and tort law. Students can take the exam on two designated dates each year in Los Angeles and San Francisco. For the June 2010 examination, the State Bar reported a pass rate of 41.6 percent for first-time test takers from California correspondence law schools and 27.4 percent for repeat test takers.
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