What's the fastest & cheapest online law school degree (JD) in the US?

[ProspectiveJD]

Hey everyone.

I'm working full-time, outside of the US, and want to become a lawyer eventually. The opportunity cost of not working for three years and increasing my cost-of-living by going to the US is just not worth it in my shoes, so I'm looking at online law schools.

I see there are many options, and they're usually either ABA accredited, CalBar accredited, or completely unaccredited (e.g. Novus Law School). I'm interested in EITHER ABA or CalBar schools (completely fine if I can only take the Bar in California).

I learned that CalBar accreditation requires a minimum of 32 months of study, and ABA has even stricter requirements for online degrees (uncertain?), so I suppose that's why I couldn't find any 2-year online JDs, although there are many 2-year in-person JDs.

That said, I want to know what's the fastest & cheapest online law school? I have a 175 LSAT and 4.0 uGPA (BSc from public state university).

Some schools I'm aware of:
- Purdue Global: 2 years, 8 months! 100% online! But over $50,000 and no significant scholarships (I asked). Can start in January!
- Albany Law School: 3 years, 3 months. Online. Only September 2025 start. 1 yearly in-person residency required.
- National University JFK Law: 3 years and $62,000+.
- Vermont Law: 3+ years, residencies required
- Colleges of Law: 3.5 years, residencies
- St Mary's online: 3 years, 8 months
- CSU, 3 years 5 months. 6 residencies needed (!)
- University of New Hampshire: 3 years, 5 months. 14 residencies needed.
- 4 years: South Texas, Abraham Lincoln, Northeastern, St Francis, Touro Online, Dayton, Lincoln Memorial... many others

So far Purdue Global seems like the best bet, but it's still over $50,000. Anything cheaper? Any other hack/method I could sit for a US bar in a quicker/easier way (for example, I know that if you're an attorney anywhere in the world, you can sit for the CalBar - anywhere I can do that for less than 50K/32 months?).

Any thoughts and information is greatly appreciated.

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Quick edit: I came across Northwestern California University School of Law. It's only about $15K total, so cost-wise that's fantastic. But it's 4 full years and impossible to accelerate, making it 16 months slower than Purdue. Anything like NWCUSL that's closer to 32 months? At this point I'll happily give $1000 to whoever knows but idk if that'll get this post removed

[Jonathan Whatley]

Many ABA schools award scholarships based on GPA and LSAT to improve their positions in the main US News law school ranking. Non-ABA schools aren't ranked there, so non-ABA schools like Purdue Global aren't in that game. Can you play that game with an ABA school?

CalBar generally requires a notional 4 academic years on the premise that distance learning or correspondence law study is part-time. Purdue Global was the first school permitted by CalBar to offer a full-time courseload schedule, which permits 2 calendar years. Keep an eye on whether a lower-cost distance learning or correspondence CalBar school such as NWCU is permitted to offer a full-time courseload schedule.

There are numerous British qualifying law degrees or post-baccalaureate diplomas by distance learning. A moderator on the sister board degreeinfo talks about his ex-wife's journey to the bar in the US via an online LLB from Nottingham Trent University, then an American legal studies LLM to qualify in her state. A tough journey with many fellow students dropping off. She succeeded.

A challenge to taking a British qualifying credential to California is that actually becoming a British bar member traditionally requires, after the university education in law, a legal practice course then an in-person apprenticeship-type period called pupillage for a barrister or training contract for a solicitor, if I'm not mistaken. In recent years I've read about great difficulty for some qualified students to receive a pupillage or training contract. There might have been reforms to the process in recent years.

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Handy references:
ABA-Approved Law Schools With Approved Distance Education J.D. Programs
State Bar of California list of law schools

[Avidreader]

Mexixo allows people to take undergrad degrees for a minimum of 2 years 8 months and there's plenty of cheap options to study that degree online. UVEG has that degree fully online and the school accepts foreigners. The full degree should cost around 1000 USD. Only issue is the language barrier. You need at the narest minimum B2 Spanish to understand the zoom classes and write essays and read text. The obligatory in person social service 4 month internship can be done at any mexican embassy or consulate worldwide, and the US has one of those in most major cities. Only other hurdle with this school is the 10 month wait for the digital diploma.
https://uveg.edu.mx/index.php/es/info-lde

If it is true California is friendly to any international law graduate, this is just one of many affordable mexican options including using the Acuerdo 286 challenge exam (which not be a good option here because while the degree would be fully valid in Mexico, it might be really hard to convince the California Bar you did graduate with genuine effort, just that there is no university name as such on the diploma).

[ProspectiveJD]

Mexixo allows people to take undergrad degrees for a minimum of 2 years 8 months and there's plenty of cheap options to study that degree online. UVEG has that degree fully online and the school accepts foreigners. The full degree should cost around 1000 USD. Only issue is the language barrier. You need at the narest minimum B2 Spanish to understand the zoom classes and write essays and read text. The obligatory in person social service 4 month internship can be done at any mexican embassy or consulate worldwide, and the US has one of those in most major cities. Only other hurdle with this school is the 10 month wait for the digital diploma.
https://uveg.edu.mx/index.php/es/info-lde

If it is true California is friendly to any international law graduate, this is just one of many affordable mexican options including using the Acuerdo 286 challenge exam (which not be a good option here because while the degree would be fully valid in Mexico, it might be really hard to convince the California Bar you did graduate with genuine effort, just that there is no university name as such on the diploma).

I have an undergrad degree already - it's just about being able to practice law in the US, which means sitting for the Bar in any state (such as by being an attorney in any country in the world, or by graduating an ABA or CalBar school).

The exam in Mexico is news to me, that's very interesting! If only I spoke Spanish! You really could become a lawyer in the US + Mexico a few months from now, that's wild. Any chance you've heard of anything like this in English-speaking countries?

[Jonathan Whatley]

That Mexican route as described concludes in a degree or degree-equivalency in the study of law, but not admission to practice law in Mexico. The Foreign Education pathway to the California bar exam requires either full admission to the practice of law in the foreign jurisdiction, or both a detailed course-by-course evaluation by an accepted foreign credential evaluator that the foreign law degree is equivalent to an ABA JD, and one year of law study in an ABA or CalBar accredited school.

[ss20ts]

I have an undergrad degree already - it's just about being able to practice law in the US, which means sitting for the Bar in any state (such as by being an attorney in any country in the world, or by graduating an ABA or CalBar school).

The exam in Mexico is news to me, that's very interesting! If only I spoke Spanish! You really could become a lawyer in the US + Mexico a few months from now, that's wild. Any chance you've heard of anything like this in English-speaking countries?

Are you in the US? Do you have to establish residency in a state to become an attorney? Every state has different policies regarding becoming an attorney and many states do not offer reciprocity. You need to see what's required and what you can realistically manage to do especially if moving is involved.

[ProspectiveJD]

I have an undergrad degree already - it's just about being able to practice law in the US, which means sitting for the Bar in any state (such as by being an attorney in any country in the world, or by graduating an ABA or CalBar school).

The exam in Mexico is news to me, that's very interesting! If only I spoke Spanish! You really could become a lawyer in the US + Mexico a few months from now, that's wild. Any chance you've heard of anything like this in English-speaking countries?

Are you in the US? Do you have to establish residency in a state to become an attorney? Every state has different policies regarding becoming an attorney and many states do not offer reciprocity. You need to see what's required and what you can realistically manage to do especially if moving is involved.

I would offer my services online and don't need to establish residency (e.g. these don't require a state-specific lawyer: federal immigration law, trademark applications, patent law, federal tax matters, Social Security disability appeals, federal veterans' benefits, ERISA matters, federal securities law, international tax structures, banking, etc.). For state-specific matters, I'll handle them through pro hac vice admission as needed.

[ss20ts]

I would offer my services online and don't need to establish residency (e.g. these don't require a state-specific lawyer: federal immigration law, trademark applications, patent law, federal tax matters, Social Security disability appeals, federal veterans' benefits, ERISA matters, federal securities law, international tax structures, banking, etc.). For state-specific matters, I'll handle them through pro hac vice admission as needed.

Have you really looked into this and if this is feasible in all 50 states? You need to be a licensed attorney to practice in a state. If you're practicing online and have clients in New Mexico then you're practicing in New Mexico. In my state, you need to be a licensed attorney in another state to even apply for pro hac vice admission and an application is not a guaranteed approval. This doesn't sound like a solid plan to being an attorney in the US. You haven't even answered if you're in the US. If you're not, that complicates matters even further.