As of 2011, some correspondence law schools, such as California's Oak Brook College of Law and Government, still primarily use snail mail. However, many schools, such as Taft Law School in California, have since evolved to utilize a mixture of mail, email, online and audio lectures and question and answer sessions via Internet chat rooms. Other programs, such as Kaplan University's Concord Law School, also in California, offer a fully online education.
Each correspondence law school sets its own standards for admission. Taft Law School in California requires that you have at least a bachelor's degree to apply but does not require your to take the Law School Admission Test or LSAT. Oak Brook College of Law and Government requires an associate degree or two years of undergraduate credits plus an evaluation of pre-legal education from the California state bar.
You will take the same kind of coursework at a correspondence school as a traditional law school. Internet chat rooms and two-way video chat allow professors to teach via the Socratic Method, a question and answer format considered central to a law school education. It will take three to four years to complete your education. In your first year, you'll take courses such as legal writing and contracts. During years two, three and four, you'll study criminal and civil procedure and choose a specialization, such as tax or corporate law.
You'll need to pass the bar examination in the state in which you want to work to practice law. However, not every state bar recognizes a law degree from a correspondence law school. The New York State Board of Law Examiners will not allow graduates of such schools to sit for the bar exam. Some states, such as California, distinguish between the bar requirements for graduates of accredited programs and graduates of non-accredited programs. California requires first-year students enrolled in a non-accredited school to take an exam. Fail more than three times and you will not receive credit for correspondence coursework when applying to take the state bar examination.
The American Bar Association is the main accrediting body for law schools in the United States. As of 2011, the ABA does not accredit any law school that educates students 100 percent online or through correspondence. The ABA does accredit the distance learning programs of law schools that meet ABA criteria for accreditation. However, it does not accredit any program that provides more than two-thirds of its coursework through correspondence or other distance learning methods. Some correspondence law schools have earned accreditation from other national accrediting agencies. Concord Law School is accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools.