Continuing our Legacy of Innovation & Access: Detroit Mercy Law offers first online JD program in Michigan

Detroit Mercy Law is the first and only law school to offer an online JD program in Michigan. Applications are now open for the first incoming class, to begin in fall 2026. The program is designed to be a fully-online, part-time, four-year program. 

“This program is aligned with Detroit Mercy Law’s mission of educating the complete lawyer, as well as our legacy of innovation and access,” said Dean Nicholas Schroeck. “We continue to be leaders in legal education, and this is another significant step forward.” 

Graduates of the program will hold a Juris Doctor from Detroit Mercy Law, an American Bar Association (ABA) accredited law school—meeting the educational requirement required to sit for the bar exam in Michigan and many other jurisdictions. Detroit Mercy Law is among 20 other law schools to receive acquiescence from the ABA’s Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar to establish a distance education JD program. Of those, only seven others are fully online, while the rest follow a hybrid model, requiring some in-person attendance. 

A $2.22-million gift—the largest given directly to the School of Law—from Dr. Jonathan D. Rose ’81, ’82 will help launch the program and offset startup costs including instructional design, videography, and faculty hiring. 

Cristina Lockwood, Professor of Law, and Catherine Archibald, Professor of Law, led the committee work on the program proposal. Both faculty members teach in the legal writing program—an area where Detroit Mercy Law has long demonstrated leadership in legal education, offering a unitary tenure track for legal writing professors in recognition of the critical importance of legal writing skills in the profession. 

For Lockwood, this program is about providing access to legal education for those who cannot attend residential programs. “Our program removes a barrier to legal education for many people—caregivers, established professionals, military members or their families, and others who require more scheduling flexibility, people who require accommodations better suited to online learning, or those who face geographical constraints.” 

Since its earliest classes, Detroit Mercy Law has welcomed students from historically underrepresented communities in the legal profession. Building on that commitment, this program expands access to legal education for students across Michigan—a state with five law schools, all located in the Lower Peninsula and four concentrated in Southeast Michigan. 

“As a strong regional law school, most students in the residential US JD programs have ties to the metro Detroit area and choose to launch their careers here,” said Jennifer Rumschlag, Associate Dean of Institutional Outcomes and Communications, who supports both the admissions and career services teams. “This program creates an opportunity to serve other communities with unmet legal needs. By allowing students to remain rooted where they live and work, it increases the likelihood they’ll stay and serve those communities after graduation.”  

The online program replaces the residential, part-time evening program, which was previously suspended following declining enrollment. Enrollment for the first online JD class is limited to 25 students, with future classes expected to offer up to 45 seats. 

Students in the online program will take between nine and 12 credits in the fall and winter semesters and three credits in the summer to complete the 90-credit hours required for the US JD. Classes will be offered asynchronously, with some upper-level courses such as clinics, taught synchronously. There is no requirement for students to attend in person at any point during the program. 

“From the moment the possibility of the program was announced, we’ve seen interest from highly qualified applicants who would not be able to pursue a traditional in-person legal education for a variety of reasons,” said Grace Henning, Director of Admissions for the US JD program. “I’m looking forward to helping this new group of applicants through their admissions journey—from wherever they are.”