An online law degree appears to be a godsend for those wishing to pursuer a career in law in the United States. But there are problems with online law degrees..

Online Law Degrees

Online law degrees offer the convenience of obtaining a law degree and fit your learning around your other commitments such as family and job. Many colleges offer correspondence courses and online internet learning and allow you to obtain an online law degree but there is one major problem with online law degrees and that is that they are not recognize by the American Bar Association (ABA).

The American Bar Association does not approve any law schools who provide a J.D. degree and consequently will limit your ability to sit the bar exam in most states. To qualify to practice law in any state you need to pass the bar admission exam of the board of bar examiners in whichever state you wish to practice in. And to sit the exam you will need an accredited Juris Doctor degree to do so but the ABA does not currently accredit any such online or correspondence degrees.

Accredited Law Degree Online

The only state that currently accredits law degrees online is California and the State Bar of California registers and regulates such schools. This means that graduates of these accredited online or correspondence law schools in California are allowed to sit the California bar exam.

However notwithstanding California’s recognition and accreditation of these correspondence schools the ABA still do not recognize them with the result that most states will not let you sit their bar exam unless you fulfill other requirements such as gaining experience with an attorney.

The net effect of this is that even if you graduate from one of the accredited online legal providers in California you will not be let sit the bar exam in other states and some students/graduates have commenced legal proceedings to have their degrees recognized and to sit the bar exam in other states. Mel Thompson sued the ABA but lost, however Ross Mitchell sued the board of bar examiners in Massachusetts and succeeded in being allowed to sit the bar exam in his own state. He passed and was sworn into the state bar of Massachusetts.

Law Degree Online

As you can see there are significant problems with online law degrees, whether they are obtained through internet based learning or correspondence, and as long as the ABA refuse to offer accreditation for these courses you need to look ahead and check out all of your options before investing your money in an online law degree.