More on the Nation's First Hybrid J.D.

Following up on my previous post, ABA Approves First Hybrid Online J.D.:  U.S. News & World Report, New Partially Online Law Degree May Open Door to Similar Programs:

Half of the learning in the program takes place online, with students visiting campus only nine times in four years.  ... The new J.D. at William Mitchell College of Law in St. Paul, Minn., is the first of its type to be approved by the ABA – and may open the door to other law schools to pursue similar degrees, especially if the experiment pans out.

No fully online law schools are currently accredited by the ABA. The designation is significant because states typically allow students to sit for state bar exams only if they have degrees from ABA-accredited schools. California is an exception, allowing graduates of its online law schools to sit for the California bar exam. This has meant that graduates from online law schools are generally shut out of legal practice, except in California.

The ABA’s approval of the new half online, half on-site law program at William Mitchell, which begins in January, should smooth the path for its graduates to take bar exams in any state, says Barry Currier, ABA managing director of accreditation and legal education.

Jonathan H. Stein, an Oxford, Mississippi-based cardiologist who has enrolled in Mitchell’s program because he wants to advocate in court for universal health insurance, sees the Mitchell program as one that is bound to have a big impact on the nation’s law schools. “It’s going to put a lot of pressure on everything within the legal education process,” he says. “Once somebody starts, then everybody else is fair game.”

Most law schools could already be offering more online learning under current standards – and haven’t chosen to do so, Currier says. The ABA currently allows accredited law schools to offer up to 12 credit hours via distance learning, though that could soon be expanding to 15 credits, he says. ...

There are several reasons why law schools have been slow to develop more online J.D. courses and degree programs, experts say. One reason may be tied to the reputation of online degrees. William Henderson, a law professor at Indiana University's Maurer School of Law, says law firms are "stuck in a prestige hierarchy" where they primarily hire graduates based on diplomas from traditional, big-name, brick-and-mortar universities.