Oak Brook College of Law

I'm mildly familiar. It's difficult to graduate from Oak Brook and do much with a J.D. from there due to the lack of utility and lack of accpetance of DL law school degrees by the overwhelming majority of state bars.

 

The bottom line for consideration of any law school is 1] Will their accreditation provide for your admission to the bar exam and 2] does their classroom and practical pedagogy prepare you to pass the bar exam.

How well do their graduates do on the bar exam? That will tell you about the quality of the school.

I'm not familiar with Oak Brook.

 

Rhet.,

Typically schools such as Oak Brook go for accreditation from the bar in California. This is because the bar in California is typically respected and in some cases reciprocal, despite the lack of ABA accreditation. Say you go to an unaccredited law school that is recognized by the state of California, but not the ABA and you pass the state bar, in some cases you can then sit for the bar in a select few other states (you can also practice in the state of California). That being said, an unaccredited degree isn’t worth much in terms of practicality unless you can do this. I would also assume there would be a few consulting positions and things of this nature, but your options are limited. If I remember reading right Jack Matthews is an attorney with a degree from Vandy, I’m sure he could answer questions regarding other opportunities. God bless.

 

Oak Brook has a very good Baby Bar and Cal Bar pass rate.

If your state does not have reciprocity, you can still (after passing the Cal bar) practice in federal courts or as an in-house counsel. Some states may allow that, after a period of time has passed, you can sit for your own state bar. See the following:http://www.obcl.edu/faq-grad.php#2

Truthfully, I would've loved to have done a J.D. online. If Tennessee had reciprocity, I would have jumped at the chance.

 

You would need to check the requirements of the state where you wanted to sit for the bar. California apparently recognizes the degrees from Oak Brook. If you wanted to sit for the bar in another state, they would have to recognize a non-ABA accredited school and reciprocate with California. The non-ABA accreditation would, in my opinion, be the more limiting factor. The state bar association would be able to tell you right away if they would do that. I'm not sure how many states would meet both of those criteria, but there might be several.

If you are interested in studying law at a Christian university, or even specifically a Baptist university, there are plenty of them out there with ABA accreditation. I would strongly recommend Baylor University in Waco, Texas. I've heard the environment there is exceptionally Christian and they produce some top quality graduates who are known for their very visible Christian faith and ethics.

On line J.D. is a new thing, and in spite of the perception that the legal community is progressive, there are a lot of people who control the requirements who don't think it is as good as sitting in a classroom. Tennessee obviously doesn't.

 

I['ve known a number of Baylor law grads practicing here in Texas. They all are top notch. But I believe it costs a great deal more than the state-sponsored law schools. As far as Christian law schools with accreditation go, why not Liberty?

 

Up front costs at a school like Baylor aren't always a reflection of what it would actually take out of pocket to go there. The law school is small and the endowment is large. I know several Baylor grads who paid less than 20% of the cost of their law school education out of pocket, and got scholarships for the rest. If you can hang out in the top 10% of your class, and keep your GPA up, cost isn't going to be a factor at most schools.

I haven't come into contact with any Liberty graduates, which is not surprising since the legal field in Tennessee is pretty crowded with grads of in-state schools and Nashville in particular is pretty saturated with lawyers, which means earning power is not as good here and opportunities are limited.

If your faith is pretty strong, I'd advise you to go to law school at one of the prominent state-supported universities in your state. Be salt and light somewhere. Attach yourself to non-believers and build relationships in which you can share the gospel. You're probably strong enough not to be swayed by the philosophy of this world, law schools need to be salted and lighted by strong, mature Christians who aren't afraid to be in the world but not of it. Go make friends with some lost people and use the time you have together at law school to share the gospel with them.

 

That's it.

It got its name because that's where it originally held classes back in the early part of the century (20th, that is). In fact, I think it met in various YMCA facilities until a few years ago. It offers night classes, so the typical program of study there lasts longer than if you went full time, but it is an excellent school. Our firm has contracted with attorneys who went there.

I'm not originally from Nashville, I came here to go to college, fell in love with the place, and have been here ever since.

 

The Nashville law school is the only PT law school in the state. Darn it

 

Those are both in Virginia. The east coast tends to be a magnet for attorneys, like California. Tennessee doesn't seem to have the same attraction, at least in the legal field, unless you are in the music business. Looking at their websites, they both appear to be relatively small law schools.

The fact that Regent is associated with the ministry of Pat Robertson is enough to convince me to keep my distance. The only contact I've had with anyone who has gone to Liberty is through a couple of guys in my Bible study group at church who started out there, but one transferred back to a community college here after a semester and one went to Union in Jackson after a year. It apparently didn't meet either of their expectations, though they were making straight A's there.

 

You mean, the only law school to teach law from their own distinctive, religious right wing position. There are several law schools that teach from a distinctively Christian perspective, and always have done so. These are the first to apply the principles of the movement that Jerry Falwell originally defined as the "moral majority" which is one, but not the only, "distinctively Christian" position.

And actually, looking at them a little closer, at least from the information they put forward on their websites, they differ in doctrinal perspective. Their philosophy in teaching law differs a bit as well. Regent has a charismatic flavor to it that is not present in Liberty's fundamentalist approach.

 

That might be a good topic for another thread, though I am sure it has been discussed here thoroughly before, but I do not consider the "religious right" or what was once known as the "Moral Majority" position to be equal to "Biblical." The differences between Regent and Liberty, in practice and theology, preclude both of them being "Biblical," since there are some significant differences between them.

I do not believe a person must attend a "distinctively Christian" law school in order to be able to effectively turn their career position into a ministry. From some obvious, simple things like praying with every client that comes through the door, or praying for God's guidance in the way a case should proceed, to letting the fruit of the spirit show in everything you do, all the way up to complicated matters such as influencing lawmakers and laws on behalf of a Christian perspective, the requirement for that is for an individual to have a walk with the Lord that includes involvement in the ministry of a local church, a strong prayer life, and a clear understanding of the scriptures. There are several men and women whom I consider to be my mentors and friends who practice law that way, and none of them were educated in a Christian law school. I hope I live up to the example they set for me. Some of them were salt and light in the law school I attended, and I benefitted from their example. We need more Christians in secular places.