Correspondence law school

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Main article: Law school

A correspondence law school is a school that offers legal education by distance education, including online law schools. The regulation of the legal profession in different countries might constrain the opportunity of students to receive legal education through distance learning.

Contents

[edit] Distance legal education in the United Kingdom

Distance legal education is rich in tradition in the United Kingdom and is still accepted by the Law Society of England and Wales as a qualifying law degree and one of the possible ways to become a solicitor or a barrister.[1] Several institutions offer basic legal education (leading to the LLB degree), the oldest of which is the University of London External System. Numerous universities in the UK offer LLB degrees through distance education today, including the Open University.

In several other countries influenced by the British legal heritage, legal education could be obtained through distance education, including South Africa (through the Unisa) and Australia.

[edit] Distance legal education in the United States

Main article: Law school in the United States

Unlike other distance education institutions in the US, law schools form a distinct subset of graduate institutions because of the unique requirements necessary to become a lawyer. The State Bar of California is currently the only state regulatory authority that allows graduates of correspondence law schools to sit the bar exam, although once a law graduate becomes licensed in California they may become eligible to take the bar exam in other states.

Law school study by correspondence has existed since at least 1984, the year in which William Howard Taft University, which claims to be the oldest distance learning law school in the U.S., became "registered" with the State Bar of California.[2]

In 1996, Abraham Lincoln University began with a hybrid in-class and correspondence approach to law school, designed to offer maximum scheduling flexibility to students, before adding an online component in 2004.[3]

The first law school to offer a degree program completely online is Concord Law School, a unit of Kaplan, Inc., which started in 1998.[4] Concord graduated its first class in November 2002.[5] Observers noted the attraction of online law schools to students, such as flexible class schedules, lower tuition, and the lack of geographical limitations.[6] However, others noted that these graduates face some disadvantages including (initial) ineligibility to take the bar exam outside of California, learning from possibly unproven pedagogical methods (by departing from the Socratic method), and the lack of personal interaction with other students or legal professionals.[7] Nevertheless, some Concord students said they were still able to maintain personal connections by using online technologies as well as occasionally traveling to school receptions.[8]

Regent University School of Law, which is accredited by the American Bar Association, began offering an online-only LL.M in international taxation, also in 1998.[9] Because the LL.M is usually the second, rather than the first professional degree in law, Thomas M. Diggs, the dean of the program, felt "the Internet format has few drawbacks for practicing attorneys who have already graduated from law school."[10] Nevertheless, Diggs expressed skepticism about an online-only education towards a J.D. degree.[11]

[edit] Accreditation and acceptance of credentials

Main article: Admission to the bar in the United States

The majority of correspondence/online law schools are unaccredited by the American Bar Association (ABA) or state bar examiners, even if they are registered or licensed to confer academic degrees by relevant state education departments. Because they lack ABA accreditation, J.D. graduates of correspondence/online schools are ineligible to sit for the bar exam immediately after graduation in many states, although once they become licensed in one state they may become eligible in other states. Proponents of such exclusions argue that without ABA accreditation, there is no effective way to check that a law school meets minimum academic standards and that its graduates are prepared to become attorneys.[12] The ABA itself flatly stated in a 2003 policy document, "Neither private study, correspondence study or law office training, nor age or experience should be substituted for law-school education."[13]

Despite this, Concord Law School Dean Barry Currier maintains optimism, saying that "once people see what we do over time, the degrees will be accepted."[14] Others have noted that the ABA's position on online and correspondence law schools is motivated more by a desire to exercise monopoly power and to protect traditional law schools' exclusivity.[15] Law professor Michael Froomkin made a similar point when he observed that, "The losers in the new era of legal education will be second- and third-tier institutions that lack name recognition and its concomitant prestige, and their faculties ... They will either have to become discount law schools, or go online themselves."[16] One graduate of a California online school, Mel Thompson, has gone as far as to sue the ABA and the Connecticut Bar Examining Committee, alleging that Connecticut's refusal to let him sit for the bar exam violated due process, equal protection, and served as an "arbitrary" and unlawful restraint on trade.[17]

Even in California, which is a notable exception among the states in allowing graduates of unaccredited schools to sit for the bar exam, students at all unaccredited law schools must take the First-Year Law Students' Examination,[18] nicknamed the "Baby Bar." Students who do not pass the Baby Bar will not have their credits past the first year of law school recognized by the California bar examiners.[19]

[edit] Consumer (student) protection

A concern in US distance education is the existence of diploma mills and schools which engage in fraudulent practices.[20] In 1994, the St. Petersburg (Florida) Times published information about a Rev. James Kirk who opened a diploma mill calling it LaSalle University in Slidell, Louisiana, which, while being investigated by Louisiana authorities, "contend[ed] it [was] exempt from licensing because even though it offers degrees in engineering and law, it is a religious institution."[21] In 2004, Saratoga University School of Law, an online law school, abruptly closed amid student complaints of fraud and false advertising.[22] Students were left without proper transcripts, and so faced difficulty in transferring to other law schools.[23] Although Saratoga had been "registered," the school was de-listed by the State Bar of California after its owner, Michael Narkin, failed to appear at a review hearing.[24] California bar and education officials (at the Bureau for Private Postsecondary and Vocational Education) defended their initial decision in 1996 to allow Saratoga to award law degrees, noting of correspondence schools that "many are providing good education to their students."[25] In response to the historically low bar passage rate of students graduating from unaccredited law schools, including correspondence/online schools, the California State Legislature passed legislation in 2007 transferring oversight authority of unaccredited law schools from the Bureau for Private Postsecondary and Vocational Education, which also oversees non-law education, to the State Bar.[26]

[edit] See also

[edit] Further reading

  • Robert J. Salzer, "Comment: Juris Doctor.com: Are Full-Time Internet Law Schools the Beginning of the End For Traditional Legal Education?" 12 CommLaw Conspectus 101 (2004).
  • Nick Dranias, "Past the Pall of Orthodoxy: Why the First Amendment Virtually Guarantees Online Law School Graduates Will Breach the ABA Accreditation Barrier," 111 Penn St. L. Rev. 863 (2007).
  • Steve Sheppard, "Casebooks, Commentaries, and Curmudgeons: An Introductory History of Law in the Lecture Hall," 82 Iowa L. Rev. 547 (1997) (on the Socratic method).
  • Bruce A. Kimball, "The Proliferation of Case Method Teaching in American Law Schools: Mr. Langdell's Emblematic 'Abomination,' 1890-1915," History of Education Quarterly, Vol. 46, No. 2, p. 192, Jun. 2006 (on the casebook and Socratic methods).
  • Daniel C. Powell, "Five Recommendations to Law Schools Offering Legal Instruction over the Internet" 11 J. Tech. L. & Pol'y 285 (2006).
  • Robert E. Oliphant, "Will Internet Driven Concord University Law School Revolutionize Traditional Law School Teaching?" 27 Wm. Mitchell L. Rev. 841 (2000).
  • Stephen M. Johnson, "www.lawschool.edu: Legal Education in the Digital Age" 2000 Wis. L. Rev. 85 (2000).
  • Ed Denson, Law study for Correspondence Students ("reflections on [the] study of law in California by correspondence").

[edit] Other countries

Distance legal education is available in several other countries.

[edit] Germany

Distance legal education in Germany is available through FernUniversität Hagen, a public university. However, the graduates receive LLM and LLB degrees, and cannot sit for the Staatsexam, the German equivalent of bar exams.[27]

[edit] South Africa

Distance legal education is an acceptable method to become a lawyer in South Africa, and is available through Unisa.

[edit] References

  1. ^ The Law Society - Qualifying law degrees
  2. ^ Accreditations and Affiliations, William Howard Taft University. See also Message from the President, William Howard Taft University.
  3. ^ Jessica Mintz, New Online Law School Raises the Bar on Profits, Wall Street Journal, Aug. 19, 2004.
  4. ^ Lois Romano, "Online Degree Programs Take Off," TechNews, The Washington Post, May 16, 2006.
  5. ^ Martha Neil, "Virtual Lawyers: Online Law School Produces Its First Graduating Class," ABA Journal, Dec. 2002 (88 A.B.A.J. 27).
  6. ^ Id.
  7. ^ Id.
  8. ^ Martha Neil, "High Marks: Members of Online Law School's First Graduating Class Are Off to a Good Start," ABA Journal, Jul. 2004 (90 A.B.A.J. 14).
  9. ^ Martha Neil, "Another path - still quite rocky - to law degree," Chicago Daily Law Bulletin, Aug. 4, 2000.
  10. ^ Id.
  11. ^ Id.
  12. ^ See, e.g., Jay Cook, "Don't lower the bar for law students," Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Apr. 13, 2007; Richardson R. Lynn, "Law degree on Net? Stay out of Georgia," Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Jan. 30, 2007.
  13. ^ G.M. Filisko, "How Best to Build a Lawyer?: Ideas Float About Changing Law School and Bar Exams, But Few Show That They Have Sticking Power," ABA Journal, May 2006 (92 A.B.A.J. 38).
  14. ^ Lois Romano, "Online Degree Programs Take Off," TechNews, The Washington Post, May 16, 2006.
  15. ^ Adam Liptak, "Virtual Jurisprudence: Forget Socrates," New York Times, Apr. 25, 2004
  16. ^ Wendy R. Leibowitz, "Law Professors Told to Expect Competition From Virtual Learning," The Chronicle of Higher Education, Jan. 21, 2000.
  17. ^ Douglas S. Malan, Grad: Online J.D. Isn't B.S., Connecticut Law Tribune, Nov. 20, 2006.
  18. ^ Description and Grading of the California First-Year Law Students' Examination, State Bar of California.
  19. ^ Id.
  20. ^ Natalie McGill, "Internet lets you earn a post-graduate degree in the privacy of your home," The Hill, Aug. 2, 2006.
  21. ^ Judy Garnatz, "Correspondence law school has its share of complaints," "Times Action," St. Petersburg Times, Feb. 13, 1994.
  22. ^ Dan Carnevale, "Online Law School Closes Abruptly, Turning Paper Chase Into Wild-Goose Chase," The Chronicle of Higher Education, Oct. 22, 2004.
  23. ^ Id.
  24. ^ Id.
  25. ^ Dee McAree, The Case of the Vanishing Internet Law School, The National Law Journal, Aug. 30, 2004.
  26. ^ Michelle L. Tessier, "Review of Selected 2007 California Legislation: Business and Profession: Chapter 534: Raising the Bar for Unaccredited Law Schools in California," 38 McGeorge L. Rev. 31 (2007).
  27. ^ See Staatsexamen#Jura (German Wikipedia)

[edit] External links