Concord EJD or JD acceptable Doctorate in order to teach college

[lawguy2b]

As a retired college professor and a former student at Concord, go for the JD Degree.  The bar pass rate is low, but in my experience you get a teaching job networking with a full-time faculty member or recommendation  from a current adjunct.  It is very political and difficult to even obtain an adjunct postion and yes, a Master's dergree is the minimum for teaching.  A degree from an accredited school is a must.  Last year 37% of those who graduated from law school was from an online school.  I have read of all law school graduates-only about 50% have found a job as an attorney-not a bright outlook.  I always liked adjuncts who had several years of work experience with a degree.  I stayed away from those who only went to school, did not have actual work experience.

[cooley3L]

As a retired college professor and a former student at Concord, go for the JD Degree.  The bar pass rate is low, but in my experience you get a teaching job networking with a full-time faculty member or recommendation  from a current adjunct.  It is very political and difficult to even obtain an adjunct postion and yes, a Master's dergree is the minimum for teaching.  A degree from an accredited school is a must.  Last year 37% of those who graduated from law school was from an online school.  I have read of all law school graduates-only about 50% have found a job as an attorney-not a bright outlook.  I always liked adjuncts who had several years of work experience with a degree.  I stayed away from those who only went to school, did not have actual work experience.

where do you get the 37% stat?
And How can you put the word "only" in front of 50% (you know that is half right)?

[jonlevy]

He made it up.

[Maintain FL 350]

It is very political and difficult to even obtain an adjunct postion and yes, a Master's dergree is the minimum for teaching.  A degree from an accredited school is a must.

The OP's question was whether a Concord JD (or EJD) is an acceptable doctorate in order to obtain a college teaching position. The short answer is "no way", with a few narrow exceptions.

First, the fact that Concord is regionally accredited doesn't mean much when it comes to teaching law, which is the only field in which someone with a JD could reasonably expect to land a fulltime position. ABA accreditation is the only accreditation that matters in this respect, and Concord's JD is not programmatically accredited by the ABA. It's possible that a Concord JD would permit the holder to teach some online courses, or live courses at an unaccredited school, but that's about all. No ABA or state accredited school is going to hire a online grad as tenure track or adjunct faculty.

Secondly, a JD is not interchangeable with a Ph.D. If a position calls for a doctorate, that usually does not mean a JD (and it never, ever means an EJD). I've met Poly Sci and Econ profs who had a JD in addition to a Ph.D, but never just a JD. Again, a JD holder may be able to score a few adjunct classes, but that's about it. The fact that a college teaching position calls for a regionally accredited doctorate does not mean that any doctorate from any regionally accredited school will suffice. Kaplan (Concord's parent institution) is regionally accredited, but that doesn't mean it's considered on par with other RA universities. In the very competitive world of academic hiring, this matters.

In short, if the OP is considering spending tens of thousands of dollars on a Concord JD/EJD in hopes that this will count as an acceptable doctorate for the purposes of obtaining a professorship, save your money. Alternatively, get a Ph.D from a well known university, publish like crazy, and you may get lucky. There really is no easy shortcut to becoming a professor.

[jonlevy]

Actually I have met faculty at a HBCU that had only a JD and also Community College faculty with just a JD, but not an online JD.

[Sacricolist]

Colleges and universities will count the JD (brick and mortar) as a doctoral degree for accreditation and tenure track purposes.  They will grant the JD equivalency for these two issues.  However, if the teaching position requires a doctoral degree the JD is NOT an academic/subject matter substitute.  The doctoral degree expected is usually the PhD.  Sometimes other doctoral degrees are appropriate including the EdD, DBA, DSc, etc.

The JD or other professional doctorates (MD, PsychD, DPT, PharmD, etc.) are usually not considered in the same league unless the person has significant research, career and/or publishing experience.

So when looking to use the JD degree (or any other doctoral degree) to teach in"related fields" it may be darn near impossible to find such a position given the number of people with appropriate credentials in the field who also apply for the same job.

Just my abbreviated two cents.

[Maintain FL 350]

Actually I have met faculty at a HBCU that had only a JD and also Community College faculty with just a JD, but not an online JD.

What is an HBCU? I'm not familiar with the term.

Colleges and universities will count the JD (brick and mortar) as a doctoral degree for accreditation and tenure track purposes.  They will grant the JD equivalency for these two issues.  However, if the teaching position requires a doctoral degree the JD is NOT an academic/subject matter substitute.  The doctoral degree expected is usually the PhD. 

Exactly. If someone can obtain a college teaching position with a J.D. only, then the J.D. will suffice for purposes of tenure. However, the chances of actually obtaining a full time, tenure track position (in fields other than law, of course) with only a J.D. is near zero. A J.D./MBA might be able to land a business/business law position, for example, but that's very rare. The traditionally law-related fields, such as poly sci, history, philosophy and econ will almost invariably require a Ph.D.

I live in the LA area, and even the community colleges here have newly minted Ph.Ds teaching intro courses while they look for full time positions. The competition to get hired at the local universities (even the small, non-elite schools) is insane, and I imagine it's similar in all major metropolitan areas. In any case, even if a college was willing to hire a J.D., I don't think an unaccredited J.D. would suffice. There is just too much competition.

[jonlevy]

HBCU: Historically black colleges and universities

I agree, JDs are qualified to teach Legal Studies and not much else.  Criminal Justice, Public Law, Poli Sci, History, Public Administration require theoretical and research backgrounds that a JD alone surely does not provide.  Sure some colleges do hire JD's nonetheless if they have other experience but it is not a good practice.  I have seen JDs teaching Homeland Security courses but they usually have relevant exprience.  An EJD on the other hand is a non starter - a vanity degree at best.