Re: Concord Law School
Posted by Revfidel on 7/28/08

On 7/25/08, Phil wrote:
> Hello all,
> This is an excellent topic, but as a former Concord Law Student
> (1.5 years in the program) and a current student in an ABA
> accredited law school, I can certainly compare and contrast
> Concord or a correspondence course and the ABA law school
> experience.
> Concord was as convenient a program as you can find. When I
> attended (September 2005-June 2006), they had software in which
> allowed real-time lectures with your professors and the rest of
> your classmates and it allowed you to take your courses anywhere
> you could find the internet....if you didn't have your own
> computer, you could use a buddies computer if you remember the
> URL or website address and had downloaded your Verisign digital
> certificate. In fact, I was in the Virgin Island when my first
> week of class started. Is the program easy? Absolutely not!
> So, if anyone is thinking of attending, please don't think that
> this will be easy. In fact, it will be a rigourous course of
> study that will consume you. Most folks start of strong, but
> after the 4, 5, and 6 month, students dropped out like flies.
> From September 2005 to October 2006, THERE WERE NO BREAKS!!!! I
> started with 3 girls in the DC area and we started off as study
> buddies, but they all withdrew by the Spring! The first school
> year lasts from September of one year to August of the next year
> (remember no time off in the summer, etc), and then immediately
> after that, you prepare for the Baby Bar Exam for the State of
> California (officially called the First Year Law Student Exam-
> FYLSE), and by this time you are absolutely numb from this non
> stop pace especially if you work and have other things going
> on. By the end of the Spring of my first year, we had lost more
> than 50&37; of our class. In order to continue on as a student
in
> the JD program, you have to pass the Baby Bar, and based on my
> recollection, they allow you to take it 2 or 3 times, and if you
> can't pass it after that, you have to sit out of the JD program
> until you can get it done or pass the baby baby. You could even
> lose your second year grades if you don't pass it before you 2nd
> year end. Don't forget this because this wasn't sufficiently
> mention when you enrolled. This will require you to fly to LA
> (I live in DC), get a hotel, pay for the test (about $400 or
> $500 for the baby bar) and any other expense (I think I spend
> around $1500-$1700). So, remember this because you will have to
> take leave to do this if you work! But I left Concord because I
> didn't want to uphill battle of being limited to taking the bar
> in the state of California (especially since I don't live in
> California). I live in DC and have family in Michigan (and
> definitely want to practice in both states without any
> problems).
> Is an ABA law education superior to Concord? I would say yes.
> This is not to say anything negative about Concord and the
> online verson, but I quickly found out that teaching in a brick
> and mortar school is superior, (but that shouldn't be a surprise
> since you are in a classroom full of people who will discuss
> issues or vantage points that you didn't even consider and not
> to mention a professor). As a student, you have to prepare much
> more for an ABA school. They teach the Socratic method where
> the professor will put you in the hot seat and ask you every
> question under the sun about a legal case. In fact, at my
> current ABA school, if didn't prepare for a certain case, you
> must tell the professor before class starts because it is seen
> as a very negative thing if you are not prepared when the
> professor calls on you and they take this seriously. This
> definitely wasn't done at Concord and the professors asked for
> volunteers and a few students seemed to always answer, and some
> never volunteered (at Concord, you could hear the professor
> talking through your speakers, and when you responded, you had
> to type your answer in the software tool). I would say the
> overall experience at an ABA school is far superior than at
> Concord...wow, you have many different organizations such as the
> sports law society,(which is my area), student bar association,
> law fraternities and many-many others, guest speakers,
> networking and studying with students from all over, doing
> internships with firms, being involved in law clinics where you
> acutally practice "live" law to real clients while in law
> school, mock trials, moot court, etc, etc, etc. With Concord,
> you might get distracted every now and then with the TV on in
> the background or the phone ringing. To prepare for my cases at
> Concord, I did a cursory search on the net and this was
> sufficent. This doesn't fly at my ABA school. If you are
> called on, you had better be prepared in a thorough manner. I
> was able to exponentially improve my legal writing at the ABA
> school, and if I had learned this method at Concord, I would
> have briefed cases much better. So, if a person has a choice
> between an ABA and Concord, you have to choose an ABA. But if
> you want a legal education put can't leave your job and being
> barred in Calinfornia is not a problem (and passing the Baby Bar
> after your first year) then Concord is certainly a viable
> option. Some states allow you to take the bar exam in their
> state if you do other requirements. For example, in Washington
> DC, you can take the bar exam with a Concord law degree if you
> take at least 26 hours at an ABA school. 26 is basically 1 out
> of 3 years, so in DC you might as well complete at an ABA
> accredited. My last point is that Concord is not for the
> student that is not highly focused and motivated, of if you have
> a busy lifestyle already with work and your family. It will
> consume you. If you are interested in an ABA school, MAKE SURE
> YOU STUDY HARD FOR THE LSAT BECAUSE IT IS EVERYTHING!!!!! I
> thought that I didn't really need to a good score because
> already had 1.5 years of law at Concord and passed the baby
> bar. I was wrong, that doesn't mean anything if you don't make
> a good LSAT and you will not get accepted into any school with a
> low LSAT. But let me say this about Concord, the type of
> student that can be successful at Concord, could be successful
> at an ABA school no doubt!!! You must be a person motivated
> person with a lot of initiative to make it through the Concord
> program because you won't have study groups to pull you through
> and/or professors extra office hours to assist you. You are on
> your own!!!!Sorry for the filabusters, but I just wanted to add
> some points to this discussion having studied at Concord and an
> ABA school.
>
>
> On 7/15/08, Manoj wrote:
>> Concord seems to be emerging as the Harvard/Yale of on-line law
>> schools in the USA. Even though ABA does not accredit on-line
> JD
>> courses, I believe the likes of Concord and Taft provides an
>> alternative to people like me who are unable to attend a bricks
>> and mortar school due to the geographical distance (I live in
>> Switzerland), schedule (full-time work) and cost.
>>
>> ABA is run by dinosaurs. You can get an on-line LLB degree from
>> the UK (or any common law country) and be eligible for bar
> exams
>> in the US. Neither the ABA nor any other bodies have any issues
>> with the mode of instruction or eligibility.
>>
>> With the absence of ABA approval, the responsibility of
> choosing
>> a genuine on-line law school lies on the applicant, so that
> they
>> don't invest time and money on diploma mills. Other than that,
>> ABA is almost defunct during the law education stage in my
>> opinion. The acid test is the bar exam. As long as any on-
> line
>> or correspondence schools bar exam pass rate follows the
> general
>> trend than they are good enough.
>>
>> I would however like to see on-line schools offering trial
>> advocacy immersion workshops to bridge the gap due to the
>> on-line divide.
>>
>> The schools I am considering -
>>
>> Concord (part of Kaplan University, renound faculty, Concord
>> model may be eventually become industry standard)
>> William Howard Taft (they are $16000 cheaper, oldest school)
>>
>> My tupence. Hope this helps
>>
>> On 7/12/08, John wrote:
>>> On 7/12/08, Mary Ann wrote:
>>>> Does anyone have any comments on Concord?
>>>
>>>
>>> Concord is a very successful online school Mary Ann. You
>>> will not get socratic teaching, or have a professor ask you
>>> to brief a case in front of the class, or explain a legal
>>> theory, but you will be able to call your own hours for your
>>> own study time. They have canned video lectures that you
>>> watch at a time of your own choosing. And computerized
>>> modules to track your reading completion to keep you on
>>> pace. I highly considered Concord, and called many times
>>> about the program talking to their enrollment advisors and
>>> to the dean. I also called a Concord graduate and asked him
>>> about the program and how he liked it. You may want to do
>>> the same. The program has grown considerably as you can tell
>>> on the Cal Bar pass rate stats. However, I decided that
>>> interaction with a law professor is one of the hallmarks of
>>> getting a good legal education. If you cannot set aside a
>>> regular time to attend a class, Concord is not a bad way to
>>> go. It's more expensive than other online and pure
>>> correspondence programs, but you will have a large cohort in
>>> your class group. Note that you really dont interact with
>>> anyone, its mainly self study and meeting once a week for a
>>> online chat session with the instructor. The main goal of
>>> the school is to prep you for the BB and Cal bar exam, and
>>> based upon their pass rates they do a better job than most.
>>> Perhaps forming a study group would be advantageous to
>>> overcome this obsticle. I have an online study group at Cal
>>> SL, where we are able to speak and hear each other
>>> contemporaneously and go over the case reading and outlining
>>> for exam prep. We meet once a week. The setup is very
>>> useful. You might want to check to see what programs are
>>> there to interact with other students, I think they encourage
>>> study groups, but mainly let the students organize for
>>> themselves outside the school such as with a yahoo group
>>> account. Going it alone in a law program is a rough road,
>>> but its done all the time so just have to be extremely
>>> disciplined to keep on pace. Since my online class is
>>> totally interactive, we get to talk to each other and
>>> encourage each other through the rough spots and before and
>>> after exams, and complain about how we missed certain
>>> elements on the exam. If you were at Concord, where you dont
>>> get to talk to anybody, I would find a study buddy or a few
>>> of them just to interact about the program for encouragement
>>> and feedback.
>>>
>>> Here is a link to a successful Taft student talking about
>>> what it takes to complete a correspondence JD program and
>>> passing the bar:
>>>
>>> http://www.asis.com/users/edenson/lawstudy.html
>>>
>>> Check it out. Its a little old but still absolutely relevant
>>> for any correspondence student. I even use it to guide my
>>> outlining and memorization technique.
>>>
>>> John


Phil,

Great post. One question, did your ABA school accept you as a
second year student or did you have to begin as a first year
student? Anyone who can pass the Baby Bar Exam should be able to
start as a second year student. It is an accomplishment and I
doubt many ABA first year students could pass the exam.

Thanx, RevFidel

Posts on this thread, including this one

• Concord Law School, 7/12/08, by Mary Ann.
• Re: Concord Law School, 7/12/08, by John.
• Re: Concord Law School/Taft, 7/13/08, by Karen.
• Re: Concord Law School/Taft, 7/13/08, by Jack B..
• Re: Concord Law School/Taft, 7/13/08, by Paulo.
• Re: Concord Law School/Taft, 7/14/08, by George.
• Re: Concord Law School, 7/15/08, by Manoj.
• Re: Concord Law School, 7/25/08, by Phil.
• Re: Concord Law School, 7/28/08, by Revfidel.