lawyer

Unlike other distance education institutions in the US, law schools form a distinct subset of graduate institutions because of the unique requirements necessary to become a lawyer. The State Bar of California is currently the only state regulatory authority that allows graduates of correspondence law schools to sit the bar exam, although once a law graduate becomes licensed in California they may become eligible to take the bar exam in other states.

Northwestern California University School of Law (NWCULaw™) was established in 1982 and is the oldest continuously operating degree-granting online law school in the country offering online correspondence based distance education. Its programs were developed so that economic obstacles, family commitments, remoteness of location, and other hardships would not prevent deserving individuals from studying law.

The School was approved to issue degrees by the State of California Department of Education in 1982. Its Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree program is presently registered with and regulated by the California State Bar. The School presently has more than 600 enrolled students, and over the last twenty-five plus years of the School's history, a large number of its graduates have gone on to successfully practice law.

On October 4, , the Committee of Bar Examiners of the State Bar of California granted Northwestern California University a FULL FIVE (5) YEAR RENEWAL as a California law school with Juris Doctor degree-granting authority. This followed a process that involved verification of the School's compliance with standards related to integrity, financial stability, assessment of student achievement, educational quality and much more. The process is required periodically of all such law schools. The five-year extension is the maximum allowed by law. Renewals of degree granting authority have been sought and successfully received by NWCULaw at the end of each set term since the School was founded in 1982.

NWCULaw has a proven record of success for online law schools, and is the first such School to offer Internet based videoconferencing support to its students. It offers entirely online correspondence programs leading to the presentation of the Bachelor of Science in Law (B.S.L.) and Juris Doctor (J.D.) degrees. Students who successfully complete two years of the four-year law study program are eligible for conferment of the B.S.L. degree. Those who continue on to successfully complete the entire program are eligible for conferment of the J.D. degree. The School also has a Paralegal program.

The School's high quality, very affordable online programs are offered over the Internet through a course management system and technology platform featuring Online Discussion Boards, Online Audio/Video Lectures and a Virtual Classroom to provide dynamic collaboration and communication between students and faculty members.

The faculty consists of law professors who are available to all students for course-specific questions, discussions and reviews via the School's Online Discussion Boards and through Cyber-Mail. Students have access to an electronic law library, through LexisNexis™, and can network with the professors and each other, and participate in online "real-time" chats, through the online law school's Internet campus. The School's faculty members have the further capability of conducting individual sessions with students over the Internet by means of online Videoconferencing technology.