The Hybrid JD Program — A Success Story Rooted in Support and Innovation

Fifty years ago, UNH Franklin Pierce School of Law was founded “on the principle that we’re going to look at other law schools and see what they could be doing differently,” Dean Megan Carpenter explains, “and then we’re going to take that new, more practical approach.”

Paramount to the program’s success is a culture dedicated to providing students resources at every turn in their lives. 

“As a working adult with three children, UNH Franklin Pierce provides the support and flexibility I need to balance school, work, and family,” says 1L Brad Loyd, who lives in Timnath, Colorado. “From the first day of Immersion, when Dean Carpenter and Assistant Dean [Lauren] Berger personally introduced everyone in my class to the program, I knew I had chosen the right school. Since then, the law school has continued to exceed my expectations."

When Loyd’s daughter required emergency surgery last year, Berger and Hybrid JD Program Coordinator Dan Cwynar arranged for him to finish his finals while also attending to his daughter. That was only one example of the support Loyd has received.

“Additionally, I cannot speak highly enough of the professors and their willingness to help students,” he continues. “From holding after-class meetings to explain potential legal career opportunities to inviting us on hikes, their support and encouragement are amazing and go far beyond what I could have imagined. I could not be happier at UNH Franklin Pierce.”

Under the leadership of Carpenter, the law school has remained true to that founding vision through innovation. While there are many programs that demonstrate the school’s forward-thinking approach, in 2019, UNH Franklin Pierce launched the Hybrid JD program, creating the country’s first specialized law degree for working professionals in intellectual property and technology law (more recently, the school added a second track, focusing on health and life sciences). While innovating, the school was careful to remain faithful to its founding mission of uniting theory with practice, meeting students where they are, both literally and metaphorically. 

“Supporting students in the Hybrid JD program is the engine of its innovation,” Dean Carpenter says. “Our students are nontraditional professionals, often spanning multiple generations, and we surround them with the resources and networks they need to thrive. We offer individualized mid-career counseling, provide mental health support, and ensure they can participate fully in law review, moot court, and student organizations.”

“I cannot speak highly enough of the professors and their willingness to help students. From holding after-class meetings to explain potential legal career opportunities to inviting us on hikes, their support and encouragement are amazing and go far beyond what I could have imagined. I could not be happier at UNH Franklin Pierce.”  

— 1L STUDENT BRAD LOYD

 

The hybrid program allows students to remain in their jobs and homes while earning a JD. The curriculum is designed to be year-round, 10 semesters total, lasting three and a half years. Students in the program already have related career experience. In addition to online classes, they take part in immersive, in-person learning experiences at least four times a year — in Concord, New Hampshire, or in other locations across the country. Immersive experiences have taken place in Hawaii, Texas, Silicon Valley, New York City, Washington, D.C., Boston, Los Angeles, and elsewhere.

The ultimate goal of the hybrid option is to provide students the ability to change their lives through legal education, without disrupting what they’ve already built. With this in mind, UNH Franklin Pierce offers access to legal education that would not otherwise be possible for many prospective law students.

Accessibility of a legal education at the law school extends to students from a wide range of backgrounds and communities from across the country and the world. In its initial years of existence, the Hybrid JD program has accomplished its goal of attracting students who are working full-time in high-level positions, raising families, and living successful lives. Among the most recent cohort of hybrid students enrolled, 72% have advanced degrees and 22% currently serve as patent agents.

In the fall of 2025, UNH Franklin Pierce welcomed a record 250 entering JD candidates, among them 93 non-residential (hybrid) 1Ls.

According to numbers provided by the Admissions Office, applications to the law school grew by 32% in the recent admissions cycle, well above the New England average of 27% and the national average of 22%. Class members hail from 37 states, plus Washington, D.C., and nine foreign countries. Of the total new JD students enrolled, 12% have served in the military, a number that rises to 22% among hybrid students. 

“The Hybrid JD program provides students with the flexibility to earn an ABA-accredited JD degree without needing to leave their jobs or relocate their families,” Cwynar says. “We offer specialized JD tracks that attract students from various professions and demographics, and since the inception of the program, there has been a significant increase in the percentage of students from diverse backgrounds.”

Recent Hybrid JD graduates have experienced successful career outcomes, landing jobs with private law firms, in the U.S. Navy JAG Corps, in academia, and within the pharmaceutical industry — and beyond.

“Most importantly, our immersive learning experiences put students in direct contact with the lawyers, policymakers, and innovators shaping today’s legal landscape,” Carpenter says. “Our students don’t just study law, they enter the profession already connected.”