The ABA approved the program in August and Southwestern said this week that it will begin accepting applications in October for the program’s start in the fall of 2024. The classes will be entirely online and asynchronous, meaning students can complete them whenever is convenient for them, though professors will offer optional real-time sessions on Zoom, said Amy McLellan, Southwestern’s associate dean of online education.
McLellan said that a fully online format removes barriers for people who don’t live near a law school or have work or other commitments that make traditional J.D. programs unworkable.
The school expects to enroll between 70 and 80 students next year. The online program will cost the same as Southwestern’s residential program — $58,392 a year for full-time students and $38,944 for part-time students.
The program can be completed in as few as three years for full-time students and four or more for part-time students, and graduates are eligible to sit for the bar in nearly every state. New York is a notable exception, as the courts have adopted caps on the number of distance education courses law graduates may take.
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