Discover JD-Next: Bridge

Give your incoming 1L students a head start on law school.

What is JD-Next Bridge

JD-Next Bridge is an online, asynchronous course offered to incoming students to help prepare them for the rigors and expectations of law school. Both 5-week and 8-week course options are available; both include the same content with different pacing.

Why Students Benefit:

JD-Next Bridge provides a realistic preview of the law school experience, focusing on skills that directly impact 1L success:

Reading and briefing cases: Students learn how to dissect complex judicial opinions and identify key rules and facts.
Analytical reasoning: Through interactive exercises, students develop critical thinking skills needed to tackle hypos and legal arguments.
Legal writing fundamentals: JD-Next Bridge introduces students to structured, persuasive writing using model answers and rubrics

The course is organized around classic Contract Law cases like Hawkins v. McGee, exposing students to materials they will encounter in their first semester of law school. Each week, students engage with manageable, self-paced modules featuring:

Concept-based videos split into digestible parts.
Written “problems of the day” for hands-on practice.
Assessments and assignments with immediate feedback.

Students spend an estimated 6-10 hours per week in the course, and JD-Next Bridge ensures meaningful progress at every stage.

Validity studies have demonstrated that JD-Next scores are correlated with grade point average during the first year of law school. Students who completed the JD-Next program had, on average, a 1L GPA improvement of 0.2 points – a significant academic boost that translates to greater persistence and success in law school.

Why Law Schools Benefit:

JD-Next is a powerful tool that can help identify students at risk while providing them extra support before school even begins, aiding persistence and their overall success. Our program can also be used to help you with waitlist or contingency admission status.

And with flexible pricing and course lengths, law schools can decide which incoming students should take the course and for how long.

Upcoming JD-Next Bridge Dates

JD-Next Bridge Session	Course Start Dates	Exam Window	Score Release Date
5-week session	June 2, 2025	July 10, 2025	August 8, 2025
8-week session	June 2, 2025	July 31, 2025	August 29, 2025

Note: JD-Next Bridge contracts must be finalized at least two weeks prior to the course start date to allow sufficient time to set up the JD-Next Bridge program for your institution.

Implementing JD-Next Bridge at your law school is simple and seamless. Contact your local Aspen sales representative or contact us at jd.next@aspenpublishing.com for pricing and further details.

Course Details

JD-Next is asynchronous, self-paced, and fully online. Students can access our content from anywhere and will have access to a course facilitator to help guide them.

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Topic Areas Covered in JD-Next

Expectation Damages*

Calculate expectation damages, considering the duty to mitigate.

Legal Test for Consideration*

Apply the legal test for consideration, including both elements of legal value and bargained-for-exchange

Gratuitous Promise*

Distinguish between a gratuitous promise and a contract supported by consideration. Apply the rule for inadequacy of consideration and policy goals centered around free market principles. Identify sham or nominal consideration and the legal implications of each.

Past Consideration*

Identify the issue of past consideration and apply the rule that past consideration cannot serve as consideration to support a contract. Identify the elements of promissory estoppel.

Insufficient Illusory Promise*

Identify an illusory promise as insufficient to support a contract. Determine whether a court would infer an implied reasonable efforts standard to a given scenario. Apply the rule for illusory promises to determine when or how reasonable efforts might be inferred.

Objective Theory*

Apply the objective theory of contracts to a given scenario, particularly where subjective intent and objective conduct diverge. Spot the issue of mutual mistake, identifying where a mutual mistake may have occurred and the legal consequences.

Bargaining and Unilateral Offer*

Distinguish between an invitation to bargain and a unilateral offer. Apply the rule that a modification cannot be made to a unilateral offer once the offeree has accepted via performance.

Offeree Acceptance*

Identify the issue of whether an offeree has accepted an offer via the manner specified by the offeror.

Promissory Estoppel*

Apply the legal test of promissory estoppel to a fact pattern, including the elements of whether the promisor would reasonably expect the promisee to rely, and whether the promisee did in fact rely on the promise to his or her detriment.

Dispositive Facts

Identify legally determinative facts, distinguishing them from narrative or irrelevant facts.

Conclusion (Holding)

Describe the holding or conclusion as in a FIRAC case brief. Select the best version of a holding, identifying the rule applied in the case and the legally relevant facts.

Issue

Recall the elements of a strong issue statement and use those criteria to select the best issue statement for a given case or fact pattern.

Procedure Posture

Identify facts related to the procedural history of a case or fact pattern. Identify the court issuing the opinion, which party sought relief, what motion was at issue, and the disposition of the lower court.

Rules

Identify and articulate the rule applied in a given case or fact pattern. Select the best version of the rule, identifying what was essential to the rule, what elements it may have contained, and what reasoning the court may have used to support the selection or application of the rule. Distinguish between reasoning relevant and irrelevant for supporting the rule.

FIRAC

Identify and distinguish between the elements of a FIRAC case brief given multiple elements of a FIRAC brief, including narrative facts, determinative facts, issue statements, rule statements, analysis, application, and the holding.