SYRACUSE — The Syracuse University College of Law is offering what it says is the “first live” online juris doctor (J.D.), or law-degree, program. The Chicago, Illinois–based American Bar Association granted the school a variance to allow the online program, Syracuse announced on Feb. 26. The organization granted the variance in February, says Nina Kohn, […]
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SYRACUSE — The Syracuse University College of Law is offering what it says is the “first live” online juris doctor (J.D.), or law-degree, program.
The Chicago, Illinois–based American Bar Association granted the school a variance to allow the online program, Syracuse announced on Feb. 26.
The organization granted the variance in February, says Nina Kohn, law professor and associate dean for research and online education at the Syracuse University College of Law. Kohn spoke with CNYBJ on March 8.
The program will offer “real-time and self-paced” online classes; on-campus residential classes; and experiential-learning opportunities for students who would “normally not be able to attend law school due to family and job responsibilities or geographic constraints,” according to a school news release.
“It may be because they can’t commit to staying in one place for three years, as is common with members of the military and their partners,” says Kohn.
The Syracuse law school plans to accept applications during the current semester and enroll the first class in January 2019. After the inaugural January 2019 matriculation, online cohorts of students will matriculate every August, similar to its residential program, which serves students who are taking classes at Dineen Hall, home of the Syracuse College of Law.
Students in the online program will be taking the same classes required of the residential students and will be held to the same academic standards, says Kohn. “We’ll use the same admissions criteria,” she adds.
The online law-degree program will be a three-and-one-third year program involving 10 semesters, continuing year-round. It differs from the residential program, which is typically a three-year, six-semester program with breaks in the summer, according to Kohn.
About the variance
When asked to explain the need for the variance, Kohn notes that the American Bar Association is the accreditor of law schools. It has a series of rules about what law schools can and cannot do.
Its current rules “dramatically” limit the amount of education that a law school can offer online. What Syracuse had to do to offer this program as an accredited law-school program was to convince the Bar Association to grant it a variance, which is an exception from the rules.
“We had to convince them that the program we are offering was sufficiently rigorous and compelling that they should make an exception and allow us to run it, even though it is not consistent with their current rules,” says Kohn.
Planning the program
The Syracuse online program is the result of a multi-year process and careful deliberation by the faculty. “It was a long process,” says Kohn.
Multiple faculty committees worked on this program, from the initial deliberation on whether to pursue it in the first place, to the general curricular framework, to specific course content.
The College of Law is working with the Syracuse University Center for Online and Digital Learning, which is playing a “critical role” in providing the instructional design and technological support needed for the program.
When asked about skepticism in the legal community about the online program, Kohn replies, “This is an ongoing process. What lawyers are trained to do is be critical thinkers and to ask tough questions. If lawyers weren’t asking tough questions of the program, that would be surprising and frankly concerning.”
Syracuse talked with the bar, alumni, students, faculty at Syracuse and elsewhere, informing them about the program.
“At the end of the day, I think what will be important for the bar to understand is that this is a traditional law-school curriculum,” says Kohn.
