The inaugural JDinteractive class attending the Jan. 7 convocation ceremony in the Melanie Gray Ceremonial Courtroom and listening to remarks by Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of New York Adam J. Katz L’04.
The College of Law matriculated 32 students into the inaugural JDinteractive (JDi) class in a Jan. 7 ceremony in the Melanie Gray Ceremonial Courtroom in Dineen Hall. JDinteractive is the nation’s first fully interactive online law degree. The ABA-accredited program combines live, online classes with self-paced classes and short residencies. JDi is designed to deliver the College of Law’s J.D. program to well-qualified students who cannot relocate for a residential program but who desire a high-caliber legal education.
The diverse and academically accomplished JDi Class of 2022 is spending the week of Jan. 7-11 on campus as part of its first residency. During the residency, students are taking an intensive and immersive course designed to introduce them to the American legal system. JDi students also are meeting with members of the College of Law and University communities, including Chancellor Kent Syverud, and enjoying a traditional Orange Nation tailgate party before watching the Syracuse-Clemson men’s basketball game.
In welcoming the JDi Class of 2022 to the College of Law and to the University, convocation speaker Adam J. Katz L’04, assistant U.S. attorney for the Northern District of New York, said, “You are pioneers. You are students who embody the College of Law’s long-held dream of expanding its legal education beyond Syracuse, and we landed one heck of an inaugural class!”
Members of the JDi Class of 2022 are illustrative of the experienced, talented and service-oriented students JDi has been designed to attract:
JDinteractive aims to increase diversity within the legal profession by making a high-quality legal education accessible for students for whom one might otherwise be out of reach. The inaugural class demonstrates this diversity:
“Congratulations to the inaugural JDinteractive Class of 2022. This professionally accomplished, service-minded group of students joins a truly groundbreaking program that raises the bar for online legal education and expands access to legal education in general,” says Chancellor Syverud. “I commend College of Law Dean Craig Boise and University College Dean Mike Frasciello for forming a partnership that harnesses the online learning expertise developed by University College to translate the J.D. program into a format for working adults and others who seek a high-quality online law degree program. I am particularly pleased that service members and military spouses are represented in this cohort. I wish all the students and the program well, and I look forward to tracking their progress.”
“The matriculation of the JDi Class of 2022 marks a banner day for the College of Law. Designed with 21st-century practice in mind—like our residential J.D. program—JDinteractive will provide our online law students the knowledge and skills to thrive in the modern legal community,” says College of Law Dean Craig M. Boise. “I could not be happier that these academically impressive students have chosen to be the pioneers of our program, and I am excited to see what they, as the newest members of the College of Law family, will achieve.”
Delivering the College of Law’s outstanding legal education beyond its Central New York campus, JDinteractive incorporates both an interactive learning platform and technology-enabled services. JDi is a year-round, 10-semester course of study designed to be completed over three years and three months, with students taking an average of nine credits per semester. Online students take the same required courses as residential students, select among elective courses, and are provided with hands-on experiential learning and skills-building classes. To accommodate the schedules of students with work or other commitments, evening and weekend classes are offered.
A hallmark of JDinteractive is that more than half of class time takes place in “real-time,” with online students and professors interacting live in a virtual classroom. Self-paced class sessions with interactive exercises complement these live sessions. Students also attend in-person, short-residency courses on campus and at satellite locations. In addition, JDi students have the opportunity to participate in student organizations and to complete a legal externship—gaining critical practical legal experience—before graduation.
“Over the past four years, College of Law faculty and staff have worked to develop a program that we believe will set the standard for online legal education,” says Associate Dean for Online Education Nina Kohn. “We’ve designed JDinteractive to combine the best of what happens in Dineen Hall’s classrooms with the power of technology to create an even more personalized and flexible approach to teaching and learning.”
In February 2018, the American Bar Association granted the College of Law a variance from ABA rules that limit online legal education to offer JDinteractive. As part of the variance process, the program’s design was closely reviewed by legal education experts.
More information can be found at jdinteractive.syr.edu.
