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[D]

I am determining and evaluating the "career viability" of earning a JD degree from an online university, e.g., Concord or Novus.  I have not yet determined, whether this is a prudent course of action--or not.  

Will there be a stigma associated with this credential? Will this credential be taken at face value by major law firms?  Will it be necessary to "defend" the "value" of this credential, or could it be an impediment to my anticipated career as a patent attorney?

[JimIvey]

I just posted a comment on this thread:

http://www.intelproplaw.com/Forum/Forum.cgi?board=patent;action=display;num=1086289946

I think it's on-point to this post as well....

Regards.

[Isaac]

Something else to consider in addition to Mr. Ivey's cogent remarks, none ofthe online schools are ABA approved.   I cannot commit on the strength of the program but the ABA simply will not accredit a school that doesn't offer all but a few of hours of course work in a traditional on campus classroom setting.

Further even for classroom programs, graduates of non ABA programs have very limited choices among the 50 states for becoming licensed because the overwhelming majority require graduation from an ABA accredited program.

Finally, if your goal is to work for "big law" you'll find that hiring is very credential driven.  Graduation from anything other than a top tier school probably means not even getting interviewed by many firms.  

A classmate of mine (from a lower tiered school) works at a large national firm.  He managed to get hired before attending law school 5 or so years ago when firms were looking for life science PhDs even without registration numbers.   After working there for 4-5 years he was offered an associate position after he passed the bar.  He tells me he has never encountered another attorney at his firm that is not from a top tier school.

So IMO graduates from an online school should expect at least as up hill a battle as a graduate of a low tier ABA school.  

If you plan to practice solo, I expect the handicap of not graduating from Harvard, Standford, or Duke is a little less.