Mission Statement

The mission of American Bar Institute is to provide highly qualified students with a superior legal education at an affordable cost. The institute seeks to prepare students for positions as counselors, advocates, and judges; as businesspersons; and as researchers, teachers, and philosophers of the law by offering affordable, flexible and outstanding education that meets the demands of growing global human rights concerns. With a program of academic excellence, through a distance learning medium and tailored to allow working professionals to balance a career or those who have other daily commitments, these ends are furthered.

Today, professionals who are employed full time by the federal government, law firms, trade associations, and other organizations are able to concurrently attend our institute. The California bar examination preparation program offered by Foreign Attorney Bar Institute is designed to allow full-time working individuals to complete the California bar exam requirements as enacted for foreign attorneys without sacrificing financial or personal opportunities.

Apart from the flexibility that Foreign Attorney Bar Institute offers for working professionals, our correspondence-learning model offers something most bar exam preparation programs do not offer, affordability. With our program, you can get quality education for a fraction of the cost. Correspondence learning students save thousands of dollars every semester in housing fees, commuting costs and other campus expenses that people enrolled in traditional colleges have to pay.

According the American Bar Association the price for one year for a full time law degree seeker, that is an in-state resident is $35,378 and $40,659 for a full time non-resident[1]. Couple this with housing costs at an average of $19,019 for students living on campus[2], graduating classes are left at a disadvantage with crushing law school debts. According to the American Bar Association, almost 90% of students borrow to help finance their legal education[3]. The average debt for private law school students increased from $102,000 in academic year 2005-2006 to $127,000 in academic year 2012-2013; for public law school students the figures are $66,000 and $88,000[4]. As student debt rises too many students are left with debts they can’t repay, particularly if they don’t graduate, and too many end up in default, seriously affecting the individuals’ future. The current student debt is at an alarming 1.2 trillion dollars[5]. The impact of this debt can affect all areas of life including, purchasing a home, starting a business, delaying marriage, having children and saving for retirement. As the risks of default and delinquency rise, the financial insecurity and general instability of the United States will only deepen.

American Bar Institute offers budget-friendly California Bar Exam study program designed specifically to foreign attorneys that is affordable by design and tailored to fit comfortably alongside other household expenses. At Foreign Attorney Bar Institute, you can sit for the California Bar Exam without having to fall into the pitfalls and disadvantages of crushing student debt. Due to our correspondence-learning model we can offer a comprehensive program that is $23,378 less than the average yearly tuition at an ABA approved Law school, at an affordable $5,000 per academic year.

American Bar Institute offers a variety of ways to help cover the cost of tuition such as scholarships, which are awarded on the basis of academic criteria and/or any combination of academics, financial need, leadership positions and work experience.

American Bar Institute distance learning program carries many benefits that a traditional program cannot offer such as, accessibility for those living away from the School, no need to waste time or other resources in transport, commuting to a central location for each class. The flexibility to study in any convenient location with an Internet connection and self-paced learning. The ability to study materials at your own personal speed and intensity, without having to wait for the slower pace of the average classroom. More opportunities to study the most current material available. Flexibility for those with irregular work schedules. Accessibility for those with restricted mobility (e.g., handicapped, injured, elderly) and accessibility for those with family responsibilities (e.g., parents with young children at home)[6].

Our program thus becomes accessible to students who would not traditionally have access to quality education in the United States including marginalized groups in our societies like minorities. International students can especially benefit from this type of learning, which allows them to study in the United States and obtain a legal education from the United States where they would otherwise be restricted due to the inability to participate at a traditional learning facility. The Student will gain valuable insight into Human Rights issues through an American perspective. This perspective can then be carried out around the world to solve humanitarian needs in the students’ own country or abroad.

American Bar Institute is truly unique. With its affordability, flexibility, high standard of education, Foreign Attorney Bar Institute, can expand its mission to have a lasting positive global impact with a particular emphasis on humanitarian needs across the globe. Both faculty and administrators continually reaffirm their commitment to serving the needs of those whose human rights have been violated. These values are instilled into our students and our legacy continues to grow with each graduating class.

[1] American Bar Association, Section of Legal Education-ABA Required Disclosures, http://www.abarequireddisclosures.org (follow compilation, select year, 2015, select selection: tuition and fees and living expenses, generate report)(last visited on April, 22, 2016).

[2]Id.

[3]Dennis W. Archer, Memorandum Re: The Report of the Task Force (2015) available at, http://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/adminis...

[4]Id.

[5] Students and Debt, https://www.debt.org/students/ (last visited on April 22, 2016).

[6]The Advantages of Distance Learning, http://www.usjournal.com/en/students/help/distance... (last visited on April 22, 2016)