Is it possible to study a Law degree online which is properly accredited in USA

[thushan]

As the title states, is there an online university which offers a law degree which is accredited for practice in the United States of America?

[ninwa]

Are you intending to study at an online American or Australian university?

As far as I know there are no law schools in Australia that offer online courses.

There are universities in America that offer online JD degrees, but I cannot attest to the quality of any of them.

Another thing to consider is that the legal market in the US is extremely saturated right now, and to stand out you'd really need to graduate in the top 10% of your class in a top school to have a chance at gaining employment. I don't know that any of these online degrees have enough prestige to even land you a job as an attorney.

Also, American law schools are great proponents of the Socratic method, which is difficult to employ in an online setting. This may also disadvantage you in the eyes of potential employers.

According to Wikipedia, if you want to study online and be able to practice afterwards your best bet is to go for California.

No correspondence or online law schools are accredited by the ABA or by state bar examiners. However, twelve correspondence and online law schools, although not accredited, are registered by the Committee of Bar Examiners of the State Bar of California. This means that the graduates of these distance learning law schools can sit for the California Bar Examination and, under varying circumstances, the bar exams in many other states.

Here is a list of correspondence-based law schools:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Correspondence_law_school#California_State_Bar_law_school_registration

[ninwa]

Here is some information for prospective American law students. It's a bit cynical, but honest: http://www.reddit.com/r/LawSchool/comments/p7bt8/common_0l_questions/

Here is some statistical information about the pass rate for the California Bar: http://abovethelaw.com/2012/01/california-first-time-bar-passage-rate-holds-steady-shame-for-underperforming-schools-deepens/
It only lists the rates for accredited courses, so online colleges are not on the list, but it gives you a rough idea of the difficulty.
More detailed info here: http://admissions.calbar.ca.gov/Examinations/ExamResultsInformation.aspx

Here is a ranking of state bar examinations in order of difficulty using pass rate results from 2009-11: http://www.california-bar-exam-pass.com/2012-bar-exams-states-difficult.html

As you can see the California bar is only outranked in difficulty by DC. So it's something to really think about before you take this on.

[thushan]

OK...I have no idea who had been on my account, but that wasn't me who posted that. I blame one of Paulsterio, VegemitePi or Enwiabe

[pi]

OK...I have no idea who had been on my account, but that wasn't me who posted that. I blame one of Enwiabe

Fixed.

[ninwa]

OK...I have no idea who had been on my account, but that wasn't me who posted that. I blame one of Paulsterio, VegemitePi or Enwiabe

Yeah, enwiabe called me and told me it was someone from the expo who asked the question

Damn, and for a second I was all "suck on that med, we poached thushan!"