News — Albany Law School is proud to announce that it remains on the cutting edge of legal education and technology with the launch of its new Flex Juris Doctor program.

The law school is currently accepting applications with the first class scheduled to begin in August 2024.

Overall, the program allows students to pursue a career-changing law degree from wherever they wish, primarily online, and with the flexibility and convenience to accommodate their schedule, without moving or disrupting professional and personal responsibilities.

“At Albany Law School we believe in inclusion and excellence in the pursuit of justice. Our goal at Albany Law School is to continuously seek to make high quality legal education as accessible as possible. This program exemplifies and advances our commitment to making sure that legal education is accessible,” said Albany Law School President and Dean Cinnamon P. Carlarne. “Our new Flex JD program harnesses not only the deep breadth of legal scholarship and knowledge of our faculty but also the critical experiential learning opportunities that we offer all of our students.”

“This is an exceptionally exciting time to be entering the legal profession. Through this program students can get the tools they need to have a meaningful impact on the legal community no matter where they are,” Chair of the Albany Law School Board of Trustees Dan S. Grossman, Esq. ’78 said. “Through the power of technology, students anywhere in the world now have access to a world-class legal education that will improve the quality of life for not only themselves, but their families and communities.”

Delivered primarily through online classes, Albany Law’s Flex Juris Doctor program provides all the benefits students can expect from the oldest and highest-ranked independent law school in the nation, but with the flexibility that allows students to advance their professional passions when it works for them.

This unique Flex Juris Doctor program offers specializations as well. These allow students with specific goals to focus in areas with practicing experts in that field including:

  • Business Law
  • Environmental Law
  • Government Law and Public Service
  • Social Justice and Public Interest 

No matter a student’s interests or aspirations, they will be prepared for the bar exam and practice law in the field of their choice. 

“The Flex JD program is designed to make acquiring a Juris Doctor individualized and adjustable,” said Professor of Law Jonathan Rosenbloom, “There is no law program in the nation that encapsulates specialized education and empowers students quite like this.”

With an expectation of flexibility and convenience in the 21st century, the law school’s Flex Juris Doctor program is delivered, primarily, through asynchronous and synchronous coursework. Students also experience all the same benefits of an on-campus program at Albany Law, including:

  • Learning from full-time faculty and leading legal scholars who teach both on-campus and online.
  • Access to legal thought leaders across the state thanks to law school’s location in New York’s state capital, and its Government Law Center, students can interact with lawmakers, government officials, and important nonprofit leaders to enhance learning.
  • Experiential learning through the Edward P. Swyer Justice Center and its clinics, externships, and immersive experiential learning opportunities that can be done near them or on campus. 
  • Small classes. Albany Law’s 8:1 student-to-faculty ratio ensures students get to know faculty and classmates.
  • Assistance from the Career and Professional Development Center, which empowers students to find employment at a 90%+ annual rate.
  • Access to the Schaffer Law Library which has been ranked in the top-50 in the United States.

“Students, states, and communities entrust Albany Law School to make sure that our graduates are prepared to uphold justice and ensure the integrity of our legal system,” Carlarne said. “While we will continue to vigilantly educate our on-campus students and those in our Online Graduate Programs, the new Flex JD program is the next step in the evolution of Albany Law School becoming a holistic graduate school of law.”

Example Schedule - 87 Total Credits

Fall 1

  • Contracts I
  • Civil Procedure
  • 1L Legal Methods (partially on campus)
  • 1L Social Justice Seminar

Spring 1

  • Contracts II
  • Constitutional Law I
  • Lawyering I

Summer 1

  • Torts
  • Constitutional Law II
  • Lawyering II

Fall 2

  • Evidence
  • Criminal Law
  • Specialty elective (in-person)
  • Professional Identity Formation

Spring 2

  • Property
  • State and Local Governments
  • Specialty elective

Summer 2

  • Legal Profession or Professional
  • Responsibility Seminar
  • Administrative Law
  • Elective

Fall 3

  • Elective
  • Specialty elective (in-person or experiential learning)
  • required Specialty Course

Spring 3

  • Public International Law
  • Elective
  • Specialty elective

Summer 3

  • Elective
  • Elective
  • Specialty elective

Fall 4

  • Experiential Learning Elective
  • Specialty elective (in-person)
  • Elective
  

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Albany Law School is a small, private school located in the heart of New York State’s capital where it has educated leaders since 1851. The institution offers students an innovative, rigorous curriculum taught by a committed faculty. It has an affiliation agreement with the State University at Albany that includes shared programs and access for students and faculty to learn from one another. Students have access to New York's highest court, federal courts, the executive branch, and the state legislature. With approximately 11,000 alumni practicing across the country and several continents, Albany Law School’s graduates serve as a vital community and resource for the school and its students. The school offers the J.D. degree—the traditional law degree—a primarily online Flex J.D. Degree, residential and online Master’s and LL.M. programs, as well as online advanced certificate programs.