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Concord Law School is part of Kaplan University, an online college that offers many different courses of study. More than 1,000 students have graduated from Concord Law School with their Juris Doctor or Executive Juris Doctor degrees. Concord is a non-accredited program that provides opportunities for students to earn their law degrees who may not be able to do this by attending daily classes. Online courses permit students to retain their full time employment and to complete their law studies in the evening or on weekends.

Distance learning is becoming more and more popular, and Concord Law School is the first online law school to be part of an accredited university. Concord advertises that some of their students are graduates of Harvard, Yale, MIT, and other prominent schools. The school’s professors have law practice experience, and they are readily available to students, according to the schools’ advertising.  Students who complete the Juris Doctor program are eligible to sit for the bar exam in California, and they may be eligible in other states. The Executive Juris Doctor degree does not provide eligibility to sit for the bar exam. Instead, it has three specialty areas from which to choose. These are Health Law, Law and Technology, and Criminal Justice. Concord has operated their law school online since 1998.

Requirements for admission to the Concord Law School are a bachelor’s or master’s degree. An interview is also required before acceptance, but it is generally very easy to gain admission to this distance learning program. One review of online law schools rated Concord as the third best program in the U.S. Two other California schools are rated as number one and number two. These are Taft Law School and Northwestern California University. All three of these programs permit a graduate to sit for the bar exam in California. Once a student passes this first mini-bar exam, the student then qualifies for more difficult courses in the second, third, and fourth year of studies.

Before enrolling in the Concord Law School, students should take time to find out exactly what the requirements for study are once they are enrolled in the law school. According to reviews, students often gain admittance without realizing how much time they will need to put into their law studies. Some students who have enrolled in the program have been greatly disappointed because of the amount of interaction with professors. All classes are online via Real Player, and the chance to interact with other students does not exist at all. Since most students learn through discussions with others and by hearing conversations and questions from other students, this can be a problem for a learner who may not be able to complete the demanding program individually.

The law program at Concord takes four years to complete, and tuition is approximately $10,000 per year. There are some additional charges as well if the student decides to take more than 24 units per year. The charge for extra units is $416 for each unit. In addition, text book fees are approximately $600 per year and computer equipment is around $1,000 annually. Another fee is $29.95 each month for an online provider charge. A digital certificate costs $19.95 annually, and the student must have access to Microsoft Word or to another compatible word processing program.

Although Concord Law School is a good option for anyone who must complete a law degree through distance learning, it is usually a better choice to attend classes at a traditional law college if at all possible. Law schools are ranked in first, second, third, and four tiers. Online law schools are usually not included in these rankings, but one website does rank Concord Law School as a second tier school. It is third in the second tier, which is a very good rating. Under certain circumstances, Concord Law School can be the right choice for a student seeking an education in law.