FlexJD

FlexJD Program Format

• Remote, Online Instruction

  The majority of the FlexJD program is delivered through engaging online coursework designed for working professionals. Students participate in live online classes each week while also completing asynchronous coursework with weekly assignment deadlines. The flexible format combines interactive instruction with recorded lectures, reading and writing assignments, assessments and discussion-based learning, all complemented by limited on-campus intensives throughout the program.

• Limited Law On Campus Intensives

  During the required Law On Campus intensives, you’ll meet your classmates and faculty in person and build upon the foundation you’ve created online. Beginning with orientation and continuing through graduation, the Law On Campus sessions will provide unparalleled opportunities to develop a strong sense of community and shared goals while advancing your legal education.

  Over the four-year FlexJD program, students complete three required and three optional on-campus intensives integrated into the curriculum. Each intensive is approximately four days long and scheduled around weekends to accommodate working professionals. The three required intensives take place during the first-year curriculum, while the remaining optional intensives occur during the upper-level years, including the final two semesters of the program.

  >> Learn more about Law On Campus

• Four-Year Curriculum

  The FlexJD program allows you to earn your law degree over four years instead of the traditional three-year, full-time format, making it possible to balance your education with professional and personal commitments. As a FlexJD student, you’ll complete Northeastern’s foundational first-year JD curriculum while gaining access to a wide range of upper-level electives, experiential learning opportunities, clinics and skills-based courses designed to strengthen your professional development.

  The program follows an 11-semester, cohort-based structure that begins in the fall and concludes with a spring semester. Throughout the program, students benefit from dedicated FlexJD faculty and staff support, along with 24/7 technical assistance.

  After completing the program, you’ll be prepared to sit for a bar exam** and launch your legal career with both rigorous academic training and meaningful practical experience. FlexJD graduates have demonstrated the success of the model with a 100% bar passage rate.

  Students may also apply to transition into the full-time JD program after completing the 1L curriculum, subject to approval by the academic dean.

  >> View FlexJD Currciulum

  **Students applying to the FlexJD program should check with the jurisdictions in which they may seek admission to the bar to ensure that graduation from this program will make them eligible for taking the bar exam and being admitted to the bar in those jurisdictions. Because of the limits certain states place on the use of distance education, FlexJD students cannot currently sit for the bar exam in New York or Alabama.

• Signature Cooperative Legal Education Program

  FlexJD students complete two experiential learning terms designed to provide meaningful, hands-on legal experience while enrolled in law school. One semester-long co-op is required and consists of a field placement paired with a concurrent reflections seminar. Students must also complete an additional semester-long practical experience, which may take the form of a co-op, field placement or approved experiential project.

  Each experiential term requires a minimum of 275 hours of work during a non-academic semester. During the first co-op period, which takes place in the second spring semester, students are concurrently enrolled in a reflections seminar course. Outside of that seminar, students focus primarily on their experiential placement during these terms. On average, FlexJD students complete approximately 20 hours of co-op work per week. Based on current FlexJD placements, this is often balanced between limited traditional business-hour commitments and additional flexible hours completed around students’ personal and professional schedules.

  Throughout the program, students receive individualized support from advisors in Northeastern Law’s Center for Co-op and Career Development. Advisors work one-on-one with students to develop a co-op strategy aligned with their career goals while helping them build practical experience, professional skills, and networking connections. Students also gain access to a global network of more than 1,000 co-op employers while still having the flexibility to pursue self-sourced opportunities.

  Download our co-op overview to explore recent FlexJD co-op placements, employer examples and additional details about the Cooperative Legal Education Program.