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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.
