Easy Ways to Study Law Online in USA

You may not be able to earn an American Bar Association-accredited J.D. completely online, but there are many ways to accelerate a legal career through online courses and programs. Here are six options that include everything from LSAT prep to virtual career training.

1. Free and low-cost online courses: Websites such as edX, Coursera, Alison.com and Udemy offer free courses covering various legal fields, such as tax and employment law, or specific legal issues, such as bioethics and freedom of expression. Students may enroll in these online classes to gauge or fulfill their interest in different law specialties or develop a basic understanding of a topic for their current job.

EdX, for example, develops massive open online courses, or MOOCs, with higher education institutions that students can audit for free; these range from International Human Rights Law with the University Catholique of Louvain in Belgium to Intellectual Property Law and Policy with the University of Pennsylvania. On edX and Coursera, students may also pay around $30 to $150 for certificates of completion, with courses having either specific start dates or being completely self-paced.

2. LSAT prep online: Those prepping for the LSAT can also do so online. The website 7Sage, for instance, offers a program costing $179 for three months of access that includes more than 50 hours of lesson videos, printable practice exams and analytics to help law students determine where to focus their efforts.

Other options with varying costs are available from the Princeton Review, Kaplan Test Prep, Velocity Test Prep and Magoosh Online.

3. Online certificate programs and career training: A certificate – either for credit or not – may provide opportunities to learn about a specific field of law, but it won't allow a student to become a practicing attorney. USC Online at the University of Southern California offers a for-credit graduate certificate in business law, consisting of five courses in as few as two semesters and costing more than $29,000, including fees.

Other online certificates are geared toward those who want a specific job like legal secretary or paralegal. The Center for Legal Studies partners with nearly 200 accredited U.S. colleges and universities to offer virtual career training for those positions and others, along with classes on topics including intellectual property law for engineers and alternative dispute resolutions. It also offers online LSAT and other exam preparation courses.

Most of the center's online courses cost between $645 and $729, not including textbooks, though the 14-week-long online paralegal certificate is $1,289. Duke University and the for-profit Ashworth College offer similar paralegal certificates online.

"A degree, in a general sense, shows [employers] that you've completed your general education; yes, you took some classes in this and that. But a certificate specifically says you're trained," says Stephanie Elio, director of business development at the Center for Legal Studies.

4. Online law degrees: Currently, the American Bar Association doesn't accredit any fully online J.D. programs. But there are a few options to earn a J.D. in the blended, or partially online, format. One example: the Mitchell Hamline School of Law, where students complete self-paced and live online courses for 11 to 12 weeks each semester. Students visit campus 10 times throughout the program to attend skills-based classes and meet professors and classmates.

Like Mitchell Hamline, the Syracuse University College of Law was recently approved for an ABA variance allowing its J.D. program to combine live and self-paced online classes with in-person sessions on the school's campus or satellite locations, says Nina Kohn, associate dean for research and online education at the school. It is expected to launch in January 2019.

Online bachelor's and master's degrees in legal studies – typically designed to provide an overview of law for those working in other career fields – as well as Master of Laws, or LL.M., degrees, exist online. An LL.M. can be a good choice for foreign lawyers who want insight into the U.S. legal system, experts say.

Tiffany Ahern, an online student in the law school at Washington University at St. Louis who is pursuing a Master of Legal Studies, says the program offers insight into a field that's applicable to her career largely in government and politics. "This is a great way to learn about the law and get a master's in something I'm already passionate about without having to actually be on campus," says the Dublin, Ireland-based consultant.

5. Bar exam prep: Law school graduates may also sign up for online courses to prepare for the bar exam, which tests whether they qualify to practice law in a given state or jurisdiction.

Ali Nininger-Finch, a 2017 law school graduate from CUNY, enrolled in Kaplan Test Prep's live, online program, which costs about $2,500. She viewed live-streamed lectures and completed practice exam and essay questions online.

"I was in New York, and I was studying for the North Carolina bar. So there wasn't really an option for me to go to an in-person class," she says.

6. Continuing legal education credit courses: In many states, attorneys must complete coursework to maintain their licenses to practice law in the U.S. This may take the form of face-to-face events and conferences, self-study activities, webinars or online classes.

Specific state requirements vary; Texas requires at least 15 credit hours per year, three of which must focus on legal ethics and professional responsibility. Students have many options to complete CLE requirements online, including through state bar websites and others such as CLEonline.com, the National Law Foundation, the National Academy of Continuing Legal Education, Lawline and Lexvid.

Laura Waller, president of CLEonline.com, which offers online classes that typically cost $25 an hour, says students should check with their respective state bar association about whether online coursework is accepted.