JDinteractive is an ABA approved online law school program that delivers Syracuse’s College of Law juris doctor degree through interactive live and self-paced online classes, residential courses, and a guided externship placement.
Core Courses, Residencies, & Electives
A year-round, ABA-approved online law school program, JDi is designed to be completed over three years and three months, with students taking an average of nine credits per semester.
The following courses are part of your first two years’ curriculum and will be spread over your first five-six semesters.
- Torts
- Civil Procedure
- Contracts
- Legal Communication & Research I & II
- Property Law
- Constitutional Law I
- Criminal Law
- Professional Responsibility
- Constitutional Law II
- Professional Writing Requirement
- Administrative/Statutory Requirement
These required core courses give JDinteractive online law school students a strong foundation in the basics of public and private law, and ground students in the fundamentals of the profession.
In-person residencies are a required face-to-face part of your legal education. These six required courses complement the rest of the curriculum with experiential courses, skills-building classes, and specialized electives. To maximize your in-person time, your residency week is packed with classes, social, and networking events.
- Legal Foundations
Your first residency will cover the foundations of law and is required to start the JDi program. This residency is one-week long and held in Syracuse at the College of Law in mid-August, prior to the start of your first semester. This cannot be taken at a different time and is usually the third week of August.
- Legal Applications
Your second residency is six full days of in-person classes and is also held in Syracuse the first week of January, prior to your second semester.
- Professional Skills
Your third and fourth residencies are five full days and take place in Syracuse. It is recommended that these residencies are taken concurrently in the same week. Students choose one or two of the available experiential courses below to total 3 credits: Negotiation (1.5 credits), Lawyer as Counselor (1.5 credits), Model Rules to Role Models (1.5 credits), Oral Communication & Advocacy (1.5 credits), Administrative Representation for Veterans (1.5 credits), Criminal Investigations: Essential Lawyering Skills (1.5 credits), Advanced Litigation Skills (1.5 credits), and Trial Practice (3 credits).
- Advanced Legal Topics
These final intensive residencies (5 and 6) are 4 to 5 days in length and are typically offered 4 to 6 times per year at off-campus locations or in Syracuse. These 2 credit courses provide students with a “deep dive” into a specialized field of legal practice from an expert in that field, and students must take two of these courses. 5 and 6 residency courses cannot be taken concurrently. Past topics have included: Start Ups & Venture Capital, Arbitration, The Corporate Lawyer in a Sustainable World, Employment Discrimination, Bankruptcy & Creditors’ Rights, Crypto & Digital Currency, Franchising Law, Elder Law, General Counsel, International & EU Human Rights Law, and Comparative Law.
*Dates and offered topics will vary. Residencies #5 and #6 cannot be completed concurrently. New topics are added frequently.
Students may choose from upper level elective courses to complete their degree. Currently, we offer the following electives. Some electives are offered yearly and some every two years. All offerings are subject to change.
- Administrative Law
- Business Associations
- Civil Rights Law
- Commercial Transactions
- Constitutional Criminal Procedure – Adjudicative
- Constitutional Criminal Procedure – Investigative
- Counterterrorism or Cyber Security Law
- Deposition Practice
- Entertainment Law
- Evidence
- Family Law
- Federal Income Tax Law I
- Feminist Perspectives on Gender, Sexuality, and the Law
- Foundational Skills in Attorney Licensing
- Intellectual Property
- International Law
- Law & Practice of Electronic Discovery
- Law Clinics (Veteran’s Legal Clinic, Transactional Law Clinic, Low Income Taxpayer Law Clinic)
- Mediation Skills
- Mergers & Acquisitions
- National Security Law
- Patents & Trade Secrets
- Real Estate Law
- Sports Law
- Trademark Law
- Trial Practice
- Wills & Trusts
Experiential & Advocacy Programs
Experiential learning opportunities are incorporated into on-campus/residential courses; for example, the third and fourth residencies focus on building specific skills today’s lawyers need. Additionally, each JDinteractive student will have an externship opportunity before graduation, which will give students the chance to apply what they are learning in a legal practice setting. Syracuse Law is also renowned for its advocacy training curriculum and competition teams, as well as its student-run Syracuse Law Review.
Externships at the College of Law offer students opportunities to earn academic credit while gaining real-world legal experience. Students are able to explore various areas of the law and potential career paths while engaging with alumni and building professional networks.
The College of Law offers a variety of opportunities to develop students’ advocacy skills throughout their law school experience, and the Advocacy Program is an important part of this legal training. Online students have the opportunity for a moot court experience, and are now eligible to join the Virtual Advocacy Division of the Advocacy Honor Society.
Online students will have the opportunity to join the Law Review team. By joining a student-run publication team, students build their professional skill-set, expand their scholarship, and deepen their knowledge of practice areas and specialties.
Accelerated Course Of Study
The JDi program is designed to be a part-time program. It is not designed for students who are seeking to attend law school full-time. Occasionally, students will seek to accelerate their studies and seek to take the equivalent of a full-time course load for one or more semesters. Students wishing to take more than the standard part-time course load may petition to take more credits in a particular semester. Such petitions will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
There is no guarantee that students will be able to accelerate their studies. Students who wish to accelerate their studies should be aware that this may have consequences for their graduation date and financial aid.
JDinteractive is an online law school program comparable to Syracuse’s residential juris doctorate. Online law degree graduates earn exactly the same degree as residential students. The College of Law therefore expects both cohorts to receive exactly the same learning outcomes. Among other outcomes, all JDinteractive graduates will:
- Develop knowledge of a broad cross-section of constitutional, statutory, regulatory, and common law.
- Competently comprehend, interpret, and analyze constitutions, statutes, regulations, and judicial decisions.
- Speak and write effectively about the law in a manner appropriate to the audience.
- Research law and investigate facts proficiently.
- Approach legal problems practically.
- Appreciate the important roles lawyers play in society and recognize the impact of law on people and institutions.
