Syracuse University’s College of Law is preparing to adopt a new online Juris Doctor program, a pilot project that would be one of the first of its kind in the United States.

Faculty said they expect the program to help students who might traditionally be unable to attend the College of Law.

Collaboration between professors and administrators has helped the project evolve from an idea in 2014 to a fully-fledged program, partly taught online and on campus. The program is expected to be accredited by the American Bar Association and is on track to be implemented in less than a year, said Nina Kohn, associate dean for research and online education in the college.

The College of Law announced the pilot project’s timeline earlier this month.

The online pilot, set to launch in January 2019, is a hybrid program that will be one of the first in the country to mix both self-paced and real-time online classes with on-campus classes and experiential learning opportunities.

“I think we will be a pioneer,” said Christian Day, a professor in the College of Law. “I think we have the advantage of being the first (online J.D.) school, a fine law school at a fine university, and if we do it right, there will be other schools that will also do it.”

At least 50 percent of online classes are taught in real time, and all of the classes are taught by College of Law faculty, said Kohn, who spearheaded the push for the program.

Students would take a total of six classes on the SU campus over the three years and three months it’s expected to take to complete the online J.D., according to the program’s website.

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William Mitchell College of Law, a law school in St. Paul, Minnesota — now known as Mitchell Hamline School of Law — was the first school to adopt the hybrid J.D. degree accredited by the ABA.

After the implementation of the J.D. program, the school found an increase in applications from students who couldn’t otherwise attend law school, per TwinCities.com. SU faculty said they also expect to see improved accessibility at the College of Law with the addition of the school’s J.D.

“We hope to reach a group of qualified students for whom a residential program is impossible,” said Kathleen O’Connor, executive director of SU’s online education program. “For instance, there are a good many of students who would like to have a J.D., be an attorney, practice law — but they cannot leave the obligations that they have at home.”

These students are likely to be older with well-established career paths, faculty said.

“They will probably be established in their communities, with good careers to date,” Day said. “All of those things augur well for success, because of their maturity and their professionalism at the present time in their careers.”

The initiative has experienced widespread support from faculty, mainly because the online and residential programs are “basically mirrors” of each other, O’Connor said.

“The online J.D. students will have the same academic standards as our residential students,” Kohn said. “They will be required to take all the courses our residential students take, and with the same admissions criteria that we have in our residential program.”

Students with online J.D. degrees are currently unable to sit for the New York State Bar exam, which certifies them to practice law in the state. SU’s College of Law is hopeful that graduates will be able to take the New York State Bar exam in the near future, according to the online J.D. website.

The ABA does not accredit online programs without special permission from the school. In order to offer the new program, the College of Law had to bring in a legal education expert to assess the potential for the program, Kohn said. As implementation of the online program approaches, Kohn said the program has been “vetted to an extent that law schools are not.”

Kohn said she expects other schools will follow SU’s lead in the near future.

“Our goal is to create a model for law schools,” she said. “A lot of law schools are interested in moving into the online stage, but the model we’re creating here takes us to the next level.”

Published on February 27, 2018 at 1:05 am

Contact Gabe: gkstern@syr.edu | @gabestern326