Concord Law School

CLS provides an excellent legal education. The path to success, however, is not easy. It takes dedication, many hours, and practice, practice, practice. If you are looking for a fast, short-cut way to learn the law, look elsewhere. You'll need to spend at least 75% of the time that students in a full time devote to learning. At the end of the journey, you'll know the law and see the world from a new, rewarding perspective.

Please read this if you are thinking about attending Concord Law. I have toyed with the idea of going to law school for a few years. I have taken the LSAT, albeit without much preparation and scored 153. My undergraduate gpa was 3.4 with a gpa of 4.0 in my major classes. Long story short I had options besides Concord but the extremely low cost of tuition coupled with their marketing made me think it might be a viable option to earn my JD. First off what is good about Concord: Books- they use the same curriculum as many ABA accredited law schools. Lectures- in each module there are one or two recorded lectures by practicing attorneys. (this will likely be your only experience with a successful practicing attorney at Concord) Unfortunately that is all I have to say positive about the school. Negatives Not ABA accredited- this is something that I went in knowing but underestimated the implications of. Without ABA accreditation a graduate's options are extremely limited. Get licensed and practice in CA as no states offer reciprocity, work in an extremely limited capacity in a federal setting or work in the backroom at a law office doing research. Don't take my word for this, search for graduates of non ABA accredited law schools (especially Concord) and see how many have been admitted to the bar's of other states. 4 Year JD- Though billed as a part time program, the amount of reading and note taking required is about 30 hours a week. That extra year or two not only represent additional tuition but lost opportunity as you will have no time to work or spend doing anything outside of reading or briefing. FYLSE- Because the school is not ABA accredited all students must take and pass the First Year Law Student Exam after their first year of school. The cost of the test is $740.00 (as of 2015) and Concord students pass this exam at about a rate of 1 in 3 for first time test takers. Of course you can take it again (at $740.00 a go) but you will not get credit for any of the law school you attend past the first year until you pass it. No practicing attorneys- This is something that was completely misrepresented on their website at the time I applied, they have since updated their website however it can still be a bit misleading. When you go to their faculty page you will see the names and faces of some attorneys, many of whom have successful practices. These attorneys prepare lectures for Concord which you watch as part of the modules they are not Concord faculty. Live classes- After attending the first four live classes (who are all taught by one professor) I began noticing a trend. The class time was dominated by the same students each week, asking the same irrelevant questions and who needed the most basic parts of the reading explained to them. The instructor seemed content to spend the majority of the time telling these students how to take notes, and letting them guess at the substantive parts of a case. In other words their was no real instruction in terms of Law. Bar passage rates- Compared with similar schools concord's bar passage rate is better but still far below most ABA accredited schools at 39% passage for first time takers in January 2015 . (worth noting: 1 in 5 Concord students pass the FYLSE and approximately 2 in 5 of those students who go on to complete the four years and take the bar pass it. I urge you not to take my word for it but do your own research.... Save your money and take a trip, start a business, buy the law books and study on your own, get a job flipping burgers all of which are a better use of your time.

Classes sometimes didnt work live so they rescheduled. If You get a c- in a class they kick you out of the entire program and take your money and then try to put u in a non-jd program just to fill spots. there is a lot of turnover in the admin staff and it was hard to keep up with the changing advisors etc. if you are a working mom barely making it like i am and your dream is to become an attorney, do it Anywhere but this wannabe online school that forgets they are distance learning junk and not Harvard.

I am a 4th year student at Concord Law School. I am also a physician who attended and trained at UC Berkeley, UCLA, Stanford, and Univ of Washington. I feel that I have received an education on par with any of these schools. I am interested in Health Law. Concord not only provided an extremely strong core curriculum, but also allowed me to take electives that will help in my pursuit. These electives included Health law, Administrative Law, Medical Product Liability, and Medical Risk Management, among others. I am developing a medical device and was able to take Patent Law, Patent Claim Drafting, patent litigation, and Patent Application drafting. Finally, I took a Trial Advocacy Class in the event that I would do some expert work. And I have no doubt that I will pass the bar. I am a member of one of our two moot court teams. We will compete against other school at the Traynor competition in April. We don’t miss out on these opportunities simply because we be in the same room as each other. I communicate with my teachers by phone and over the internet. The only real difference between Concord and the traditional law schools is that I am not physically next to my classmates. I think that by excluding these schools, Texas will lose out on a unique type of lawyer. One who has career and life experience. And lawyers like this could make unique and significant contributions to the people of the state and law in general.

Concord law school has the worst financial aid department I have ever worked with! Not only do they work you to the bone, on what is called a part-time schedule, then they have the nerve to hold up your student loan stipend, when you need it to pay for that ridiculously expensive FYLSE! Unbelievable! Save your time, money and energy. After all the expense of this place, you'll probably end up not being able to transfer your credits to a brick and mortar school anyway. It's not worth it!

This is LAW SCHOOL. I chose an online program because I know independent learning is best for ME. If you are not an effective independent learner, if you do not have the discipline, if you are not ready to devote every non 9-5 workday minute to your studies, think again! I read, I listened to lectures over and over,created outlines worthy of Bar Prep study, PARTICPATED in the online classes, made friends and talked "offline" with classmates...I LEARNED. I passed California's first year law student's exam on the first try. I am entering my 4th year and will have my JD next year, will sit for and PASS the Bar. I am a 51 year old mother of a teen, and work full time. Not for the faint of heart but if you want to be a lawyer on your own terms and not be chained to brick and mortar, this is the program for you...provided you do not make the mistake of thinking an online program is a watered down, walk in the park program. It is NOT. Ask any of the Professors, this program meets (exceeds in the amount of writing you will do)brick and mortar schools out there. If you are ready to WORK, go for it. Best of luck!!

I would recommend anyone Concord. I just finish my 1st year final and the mbe portion of the exam is very basic and easy. I actually got 97% on one of the subjects. I belive they just try to pass everyone! I really appreciate they give me a chance because my undergraduate GPA is not even 3.0. I was also not approved of financial aid initially but I asked them for the number to call Fed financial aid and I talked to someone on the phone for less than 5 minutes and I was approved of over $20K per year financial aid. Before that, my pastor told me that God will give me money for school. If you want to go to a law school badly like me and have difficulty get into an aba school, consider Concord. You can always transfer to another school after you pass Baby Bar. And yeah, don't forget to pray to God to open doors for you.

The financial aid department is horrible, unprofessional and gives you excuse after excuse as to why the keep incorrectly processing your financial aid. Spent more time calling financial aid then doing class work. Concord should be ashamed of their unprofessional and uneducated financial aid "experts"

Save your money, Concord has too many traps and hoops to overcome. I learned this the hard way.

This program requires approximately 50 - 75 hours per week minimum to be successful. Do not attempt to work in any capacity while going through the JD program. Their estimates of 30- 35 hours per week are not accurate. Also, this program will consume your life, at the expense of everything else, including your family. Think very hard before attempting this. No matter what your undergraduate degree or your GPA, you are in for the ride of your life, with very little guarantee that the degree will be recognized. Please proceed with caution. If I had known the actual time this required up front, I would not have entered the program.

I did two years at Concord. First year they provided assitance and guidance. Second year you are on your own. Had to do a Constitutional Law eassy on the third module wihtout even any discussion of how to do one. At second year you are on your own. Did not pass the FYLSX so decided to transfer to the EJD. They re-set my course material and gave me new instructors for two of the four classes. For the EJD, grading was the same as the JD as opposed to emphasis on ganing a better understanding of the law. I do know people become lawyers in CA with Concord, but I do believe they are not what they represent they are. Overall diappointed in the program. They make you buy the books then half way through the modules you get the on-line West Law versions of the case books and horn books (as available). The second year instrcutors were more interested in logging off than answering questions and all they asked was you send them an e-mail. I do not have a brick and motor experience to compare but at least you have other students to interact. Study groups? Unless you are going to skype or are fortunate to have folks near you, good luck, not to mention the time zones differences for classes as those on the east coast have to take late classes. Be aware, this is not a part time program but really 3/4 time. If you are a full time working adult, you are going to have to mange your time. No doubt some folks have enjoyed and done well, but be aware of what you are getting into. Good luck and best wishes on your law school journey. BTW - if you are using the GI Bill, go to a brick and motor school and maximize your Housing Allownace benefits.

1. I just finished my year at kaplan and did not pass my finals. I am a returning student from another school in California after 22 years. I knew I had problems from the beginning. I was first told books plus tuition included, then after payment of $10,000 for the year, was told the amount was only for tuition. I was ill prepared for books. They offered horn book reading (temporary)through Westlaw but was told I had to get books. I could not. 2. All year the course and it's instructors pounded away with IRAC, IRAC, IRAC, inferring that was to be the main focus in the Finals. Well this is all well and done, but the major problem...Absolutely no emphasis on the Multi-State Portion(100 questions) of the 6 hour Final Exam. I was and I am not sure if others were totally ill prepared for the multi-state portion of the exam. Prior to finals, the multi-state issue was asked by students, the school's reply was simply that what we are studying in our multi-state practice questions is enough to get us by finals, and were told to look at CALI, just review them over and over. Well I did and memorized them. The Finals questions were set up with multitude of issues within the question. To practice such type of questions required at least half the year. The issues in the given practice questions during the year were 1 maybe 2. The issues in the Finals multi-state were 5-15 separate issues. No way to finish, no way to pass without constant review of different types of questions in various books. My scores were 65,65, 60 in essay. 65 passing. Multi-State after guessing...65, 65 and 40. I did not finish, guessed last 20 questions. To sit before the California Bar, I have to pass the kaplan finals and take the California Baby Bar. Worst of all I have to now wait 2 years to be re-instated. Now I will either apply to an accredited school or re-apply at another non-accredited school in 2 years (Per California Code). 3. It is less expensive this route(kaplan) to sit before the Bar, but lots of traps on the way. The school prepares you for IRAC, but take the initiative and do your own studying on Multi-State regarding KAPLAN, more than likely you will get a shot at the Baby Bar. My advice to not rely on KAPLAN for the Multi-State portion, they do not emphasize this.

The reviews are true, Concord's financial aid department is the worst. When you apply everyone is very friendly and ready to take your money, yet when it is time to get your funds released they delay paying you your money. I have been waiting for 2 months for the release of my second stipend. I called 3 times in a 2 week period and was told something different each time. It is extremely frustrating and quite honestly ridiculous.

Not only is the program non-supportive, the financial aid Dept is the worst I've ever seen. From the very beginning I learned that the reviews were true. That's when I decided to try other options. My first thought on reading the reviews before starting was that it could not be that bad. But then to my surprise what I was reading was true. The teachers graded with low scores from TAs without much appropriate feedback. They took weeks to answer. Due to the rigor and time needed I decided to take time from work and use the financial aid stipend to supplement my income. Big mistake. Financial aid is horrible. They didn't send it automatically so I had to wait 30 days before they would manually send it. Then they forgot to put a stamp on it so I had to wait another 30 days before they would resend it with a stamp. So I waited over 60 days for my stipend. No one cared or even tried to assist me with finding out what happened during this time. After I left the school and went to another one, it took them 45 days to update my financial records so I could start my new school. Something that could be done within an hour.

I am currently a 3rd year student and this is the best investment I have made. It is not for everyone as the course is very challenging and a large number of people don't make it past the second year. You need to take the program as if it were a full time job and accept the idea of not getting great grades, but persistance will pay off. It is not an easy program by any means, but the top quality instructors and low cost of this legal education make it a very good value. On top of it all, you will be able to sit for the California Bar Exam after completing the JD, as California doesn't have a residency requirement. If you are willing to work hard, and finish what you started, this program will be extremely valuable given your opportunities upon completion.

I received an excellent education. The education completed at Concord Law School is not for everyone, though. It requires dedication, time for studies, self-initiated learning, and a technologically capable student. Overall, the baby bar will weed out those who do not take the education seriously. The first year is tough because you learn to think and write like a lawyer. The three years thereafter simply require discipline to complete the degree in a unique environment of distance-learning combined with professor support. If you are part of the 2% of Americans that finish what they start, this is an excellent choice of a law school if distance or cost is an issue at a traditional law school. Best of luck in the decision-making.

I have really enjoyed the start of my Concord Law School (CLS) experience, which begins with their pre-law school 6-week Fundamentals Course. I feel the most valuable lesson learned from the course is what to possibly expect when I start in June. I feel it has helped me understand the online educational process CLS uses to teach, how to get around the school, and what to expect from a commitment standpoint. I finished the program in a little more than three weeks and now am spending time looking at other areas that the school offers, like ARC, Career services, Law library, etc. I am also reading some other guides/books concerning the first year in law school. This will really help me get prepared to hit the ground running in June.

Best law program around. Concord is the Harvard of the internet and the future of legal education. I have professors from some of the top law schools in the country teaching classes. Even a couple from Harvard. Go figure.