Purdue Global Law School began as Concord University School of Law. Founded in 1998 as the nation's first wholly online law school, Concord was accredited by the Distance Education Accrediting Commission (DEAC, www.deac.org), formerly the Accrediting Commission of the Distance Education and Training Council (DETC), before it formally merged with Kaplan University and afterward, the Purdue University system, when the institutional operations and assets of Kaplan University were acquired by Purdue. 

Until 2020, Concord was registered as a Distance Learning Law School with the State Bar of California's Committee of Bar Examiners (www.calbar.ca.gov). In August 2020, Concord became one of the first distance-learning law schools to be granted full accreditation by the Committee for its Juris Doctor (JD) program. In November 2023, its name changed from Concord Law School at Purdue University Global to Purdue Global Law School.

Due to its accreditation with the Committee, Purdue Global Law School has the authority to offer a JD degree that qualifies recipients to take the California Bar Examination and, if other regulatory requirements are satisfied, obtain admission to the practice of law in California. Depending on the jurisdiction and field of law, graduates may subsequently be able to practice elsewhere.

Effective July 1, 2024, the Indiana Supreme Court amended its bar admission rules so that a graduate of a non-ABA approved law school who was eligible to sit for another state’s bar exam at the time of graduation can petition the Indiana Board of Law Examiners for a waiver of the ABA legal education requirement. As such, Purdue Global Law School JD graduates, who have been eligible to sit for the California Bar Exam upon graduation since the school’s founding, became eligible to sit for the Indiana Bar Exam with an approved waiver petition.

In October 2024, the Connecticut Bar Examining Committee (CBEC) voted unanimously to add Purdue Global Law School to its list of approved law schools. As such, Purdue Global Law School graduates who earned their JD degree in 2024 or later are eligible upon graduation to sit for the Connecticut Bar Exam through 2027, at which time Purdue Global Law School will seek renewal.

Purdue Global Law School also awards an Executive Juris Doctor (EJD) degree, a professional law degree that offers individuals interested in an education in law the chance to take courses without becoming a licensed lawyer. The EJD is designed to offer students more flexibility in their studies, as the degree is not aligned with the requirements to sit for the California Bar Exam or the bar exam in any other jurisdiction.