Concord Law School

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Concord Law School of Kaplan University
Established: 1998
Type: For-profit online university
Faculty: 70
Students: 1,500
Location: Los Angeles, CA, USA
Campus: Online
Affiliations: Kaplan Higher Education Corporation, The Washington Post Company, accredited by Distance Education and Training Council of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools
Website: http://info.concordlawschool.edu

Concord Law School is a four-year, part-time legal education program based in Los Angeles, California. The school is a subsidiary of the Kaplan Higher Education Corporation. All lecture and study sessions are delivered entirely from a secure website on the Internet. It is a nationally accredited school of law with an accreditation from the DETC.

Though the formal merger of Concord into Kaplan University in late 2007 made Concord the first online law school to be part of a regionally accredited university [1][2]it is not accredited by the American Bar Association as the ABA does not grant accreditation to any online law program. ABA's accreditation standard 304(f) states “a law school shall not grant credit for study by correspondence”.[3]. Students at ABA accredited law schools may be awarded no more than 12 total credits from online courses.

Concord Law School is not accredited by the California Committee of Bar Examineers. [4] Therefore, students at this institution must take and pass California's First Year Law Student Examination, colloquially called the "Baby Bar", after the first year of law study. Students are not eligible for advanced law courses or to sit for California's State Bar Examination until the student has passed the Baby Bar.[4][2]

Both a J.D. and an abbreviated Executive J.D. degrees are offered. The recipients of J.D. degrees can sit for the California Bar Exam. After passing the bar exam and admission to the bar graduates can practice law in California.

The school has a diverse student body of working professionals from all over the United States and several other countries.

Contents

[edit] JD Program

The Juris Doctor Program at Concord is a 92-unit, four-year program. Students are required to successfully complete at least 22-24 units of coursework between 48 to 52 consecutive weeks each year. The Program consists of required courses and electives. Graduates of this program will have met the legal education requirement of the Committee of Bar Examiners, State Bar of California and may apply for admission to the State Bar of California. [5]

In March 2008, four graduates of Concord became the school's first group of attorneys to be admitted by oral motion to the Bar of the U.S. Supreme Court, thus qualifying them to argue cases before the court.[6]

[edit] Executive JD Program

The Executive Juris Doctor (EJD) Program is a 72-unit, three-year program. Students who complete the EJD program will not be eligible to sit for the California State Bar Examination. [5]

[edit] Deans of Concord Law School

  • 2004 - Current: Barry Currier, Dean & Professor of Law. Barry Currier became the Dean of Concord Law School in June 2004. He brings to the position more than 30 years of experience in legal education and the legal profession.[7]
  • 1998 - 2004: Jack R. Goetz, Dean Emeritus. The founding Dean of Concord Law School.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Concord Law School Merges with Kaplan U., The Chronicle of Higher Education, October 30, 2007
  2. ^ a b Concord Law School Accreditation
  3. ^ American Bar Association Distance Education Policy
  4. ^ a b California State Bar Law Schools
  5. ^ a b Concord Law School Catalog
  6. ^ Welcome to the Big Show: JDs With Cyber-Sheepskins Admitted to US Supreme Court, The National Law Journal, Mar. 21, 2008.
  7. ^ Barry Currier was Concord Law School's biggest critic. Now he's a believer. Legal Affairs, Geoffrey Gagnon

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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Kaplan Inc. (a subsidiary of Washington Post Company)