Advice needed for prospective law student

[PearsonOTHMQualifi7654]

@Jonathan Thank you for the detailed reply, this helped make the decision that I would consider online or hybrid programs due to the increased amount of programs of this type being offered in the states. As for relocation, it's something worth considering if I get accepted.

To practice law in the United States—with the exception of California—most jurisdictions require candidates to attend an ABA-approved law school in person (day, evening, or weekends) to qualify for the bar exam. Nearly all states emphasize in-residence study and do not accept fully online J.D. programs for bar eligibility. […]

Once licensed in California, an attorney may later become eligible for admission in other states through reciprocity or motion, usually after several years of active practice and meeting each jurisdiction’s character and fitness requirements. However, this route is not accepted everywhere: New York and New Jersey, for instance, require a J.D. from an ABA-approved, in-person law program and do not recognize online J.D. degrees for initial admission.

Even though a few ABA-accredited hybrid or partially online law programs now exist (e.g., at Syracuse University or Mitchell Hamline School of Law), most states still insist that a substantial portion of the J.D. coursework be completed on campus.

This is out-of-date and inaccurate today. “Nearly all states […] do not accept fully online J.D. programs for bar eligibility” is especially untrue.

The quoted material looks like the product of AI trained on information from ten years ago or more that has been superseded since the ABA accredited a large number of partly and a few wholly distance learning programs. Although online ABA graduates can still face state-level impediments to bar admission in some states including New York,

Sorry, I understand there are many ABA-approved online and hybrid programs however, NY and NJ do not seem to accept them, maybe partially at best. I have been looking into this from a few years back myself, and at the time the laws from NY and NJ seemed to be a roadblock unless I did an in-person law program. ABA has been compelled to change with the times to allow for online education, however bar admission is still determined by each state. For me, NY and NJ is of primary concern and was top of mind when I had chimed in.

Without becoming overly critical, could you please provide specific examples of states that allow bar admission from fully online J.D. programs?

I understand and acknowledge the growth of ABA-approved online and hybrid law programs, however states such as New York and New Jersey remain restrictive.

I haven’t found a clear list of states that have formally accepted fully online J.D. degrees for bar eligibility. For instance:

• California does allow graduates of online or correspondence law schools registered with its bar examiners to sit for the bar. 
  
• Connecticut recently approved graduates of Purdue Global Law School (a fully online law school) to sit for its bar exam for a limited period.
  

If you could share one or two additional state examples (e.g., Texas, Florida, another jurisdiction) with official documentation or state bar rules, that would strengthen the conversation significantly. Thank you!

[Jonathan Whatley]

However, I haven’t found a clear list of states that have formally accepted fully online J.D. degrees for bar eligibility. For instance:

• California does allow graduates of online or correspondence law schools registered with its bar examiners to sit for the bar. 
  
• Connecticut recently approved graduates of Purdue Global Law School (a fully online law school) to sit for its bar exam for a limited period.
  

If you could share one or two additional state examples (e.g., Texas, Florida, another jurisdiction) with official documentation or state bar rules, that would strengthen the conversation significantly. Thank you!

I should clarify my main claim:

• Most states generally accept any ABA JD as academic qualification for bar admission.
  
• It follows that a program that is both fully online and ABA accredited is generally acceptable toward bar admission in many states, likely most states.
  

Few states will have policy stating a fully online program is accepted. What most states will have is a policy stating ABA-accredited law schools are accepted, and not mentioning that online study is either allowed or disallowed. (If you see a mention of “correspondence,” that’s often a specific term of art for old-school postal study.)

At this time, ABA standards require that a fully online program still have a brick-and-mortar law school behind it. The ABA is currently considering removing this requirement.

• Fully online law program (within a mixed law school) = ABA accreditable. Example: The Hawai’i Online JD Program from the University of Hawai’i at Manoa, which is ABA-accredited.
  
• Fully online law school, i.e., the school has no physical campus at all that is an instructional site = not currently ABA accreditable, but Calbar accreditable. Example: Purdue Global Law School, which is Calbar but non-ABA.
  

[bjcheung77]

Just curious... Where are you located within Canada? Where do you want to practice law? Your previous studies will definitely determine the outcome of your application, that GPA is one of the items they look at. Do you already have an action plan to follow for your application?