Correspondence law school

A correspondence law school is a school that offers legal education by distance education, either by correspondence or online by use of the internet or a combination thereof. In the United States, the American Bar Association has historically been the only source of acceptable legal education standard approved by the states to allow passing law school students an opportunity to become a lawyer in the United States. The online/correspondence schools offer are not ABA approved and as of 2015 law schools that are ABA approved cannot offer over 4 online classes that can be applied toward a Juris Doctorate degree.http://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/migrated/legaled/standards/20072008StandardsWebContent/Chapter_3.authcheckdam.pdf

With respect to online or distance learning sources or means of legal education, most states will not accept such education, and some even forbid it as an alternative to brick and mortar as of 2015. Correspondence schools historically have much lower bar passage rates than ABA-approved thus traditional brick and mortar law schools and are generally not regulated by any institution of higher learning. The minimum time of legal education also differs in that traditional ABA law schools are 3 years in length, correspondence schools are a minimum 48 weeks per year, and a maximum of 52 weeks per year .California Business and Professions Code section 6060.

In the United States, 7 states offer some form of alternative legal education, thus an ability to practice law via successful completion of the minimum mandated years of law school in those jurisdictions. In California, law students who have successfully completed their first year of law school are mandated to take and pass the First Year Law Student Examination, commonly known as the "BABY BAR," within the first three attempts of becoming eligible. Eligibility occurs once the student has completed their education as specified in  California Business and Professions Code section 6060. If student fails to do so, all law school education beyond year one will be ignored by the state, the student must pass this exam before becoming a lawyer if they have obtained their entire degree online, or by correspondence law school.

United Kingdom

Distance legal education in the United Kingdom is accepted by the Law Society of England and Wales as a qualifying law degree and one of the possible ways to become a solicitor or a barrister.[4] Several institutions offer basic legal education (leading to the LLB degree), the oldest of which is the University of London External System. Numerous universities in the UK offer LLB degrees through distance education today, including the Open University.

In several other countries influenced by the British legal heritage, legal education can be obtained through distance education, including South Africa (through UNISA) and Australia.