Online Law School

[shawn3500]

Who in here has experience taking online law school?

My main concern is of course the bar exam, who isnt?

Do you know if you can attempt the bar after only 1 year of law instruction? I am in California.

[financialandtaxguy]

You need to read through the other posted topics in this section to get familiar with online law schools as there is plenty of information for you here!  No, you cannot take the General Bar after one year of instruction, but you can take the Baby Bar which is required by the California Bar for online and distance learning students.  My advice to you is to read through the other postings in this section, and there is also a link to the California Bar website where you can get more accurate information.  Keep asking questions, there is a good amount of help here!

[shawn3500]

Yeah but if you go to cal bar website it says you only need an A.A. to take the bar exam. I am almost done with my bachelors. I am referring to the California bar exam.

Any clarification on this? I even heard you can take the official bar exam without ever even going to law school in
California.

[passaroa25]

Many of us who post in this section are experienced in online law school.  The policy in California is that you can sit for the bar after completing legal education by online instruction, correspondence, law office or judge's chambers study or any combination of the above.  Anyone seeking to sit for the California bar must sit for the First Year Law Student's exam and pass it.  Once you pass it, you are given credit for a year of law study.  Online legal education is difficult because, as online law school students, we have to know as much as a law school student who attends a brick and mortar law school.  As I said before, most students who are studying the law online are not devoting 10 hours a day, six days a week to study.  This is what it would take to pass the FYLSE.  We work and have families.  Law school students attending brick and mortar schools have more time to devote to studying most of the day.   If you are considering an online law school, get one of the most respected casebooks on torts, contracts, and criminal law.  For example, Contracts by Farnsworth and similarly respected authors on the other two FYLSE subjects.  Memorize all three casebooks, then enroll in the cheapest online law school you can find.  I say the cheapest because none of the online law schools are ABA approved.  And, it would only make sense to pay, for example, $10,000 a year to attend Concord, if that online school was ABA approved.  Memorize the casebooks before enrolling in an online law school would give you a better chance of passing the FYLSE the first time because the curriculum in any online law school moves at such a fast pace, that studying part time (which is what most online law school students do) will almost guarantee that it will be difficult to pass the FYLSE on the first try.