Distance Learning: The Future of Legal Education? Part I

by David Frakt and Carolyn Gachet*

The use of distance learning in higher education is rapidly increasing.  Although many law schools have been slow to incorporate distance learning into their curriculums, others have embraced this new technology in innovative ways.  With the ABA poised to dramatically expand the ability of law schools to offer instruction through distance learning, this is a good time to consider how distance learning might best be utilized in legal education.  In this two-part series, we will provide an overview of how distance learning has been used by law schools to date, and consider how distance learning might best be incorporated into the law school curriculum going forward, with a particular focus on using distance learning to improve student preparedness for the bar.

Background: At the ABA Council’s February meeting, the Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar approved a proposal to increase the allowable credits for distance education in law schools.  In the proposed revision to Standard 306, law school students could earn up to a third of their credits (between 28 and 30) in distance education courses.  The current version of Standard 306 restricts online credits to 15 unless a law school is awarded a variance.  In another significant change, the proposed revisions would allow students to take up to 10 of the distance education credits online in the first year of law school.  With the current Standard 306, distance education is limited to upper-division courses.  A course is categorized as distance learning if at least one-third of the course isolates students from the instructor, other classmates or both and meets other distance learning requirements.  Most law school programs require 83 to 90 total credits. 

The intent for expanding distance learning is to provide law schools with more flexibility.  Changes to the distance learning rules will be discussed at a public hearing on April 12 in Washington D.C.  The ABA Council will meet in May to create a final proposal.  The final proposal would go to the ABA House of Delegates for a decision in August.  Although there may be some tweaks to the proposed rule, it seems inevitable that the ability of law schools to use distance learning will be significantly expanded in the near future. 

What are the potential benefits of distance learning? 

Distance learning offers several potential benefits to law schools and to law students.  For law schools, especially law schools outside of major metropolitan areas, distance learning will greatly expand the potential pool of adjuncts who can be hired to teach specialty courses.  No longer will law schools be restricted to scholars or practitioners in the local area, because the instructor will no longer need to be present on campus to teach.  Thus, law schools can draw from a nationwide pool of adjuncts to teach via a distance learning format.  This will enable law schools to offer almost any course that a student might want.  If South Dakota wants to offer a course in admiralty law, for example, and can’t find an admiralty law specialist in Vermillion, South Dakota, the school could hire an adjunct in New Orleans, or Los Angeles, or Boston.  If there is limited demand for a course, making it financially unfeasible to offer a class, law schools could potentially partner with other law schools to offer distance learning classes jointly (or severally), reducing the cost for all law schools, while still satisfying the demands of students.  In the alternative, a law school that doesn’t offer a course could allow students to attend a course at another law school virtually through a distance learning platform and accept the credits earned at the other law school. Distance learning may allow law professors on sabbatical or doing work overseas as a Fulbright Fellow, for example, to still teach a course or two at their home institution online.

Distance learning may also make attending law school more feasible for non-traditional law students, including working adults and persons with significant family responsibilities, by significantly reducing commuting time, and, depending on the format of the course, allowing greater flexibility to the student on the time that they would attend and participate in the course.  For example, a distance learning format may allow students to view pre-recorded lectures at their convenience, or may allow students to participate in classes while sitting at their computer terminal at work (or on their smartphone or a tablet sitting on a train), allowing working students to move seamlessly between work and school.

By making attendance at law school less onerous and time-consuming, distance learning could potentially expand the pool of students who would consider pursuing a legal education.   Distance learning can also shorten the length of time required to complete law school, a major potential benefit.  Most law students try to find work in the summer. Often students may seek employment opportunities away from where their school is located.  This currently limits the ability of students to take summer school.  But if law schools could offer distance learning courses in the summer, more students would be able to take advantage of these courses, potentially enabling students to complete their J.D. a semester early.  Distance learning courses would also make it more feasible for students to do semester-long externships for credit away from school, such as in Washington D.C., or in their state capitol, while still attending other courses through distance learning.   If the classroom portion of an externship were offered through distance learning, geographically separated students could take the course together.  

Which law schools are leading the way with distance learning?

Several law schools have already created, or are in the process of implementing, innovative programs that utilize distance learning.  Mitchell Hamline School of Law was the first ABA-approved law school to offer a hybrid J.D. program, which is a part-time, on-campus/online J.D. program.  Mitchell Hamline School of Law received a variance from the ABA which allows up to 50% of the legal education to be completed through distance learning. Mitchell Hamline launched the hybrid J.D. program in January 2015.  The hybrid J.D. program was intended to take four years to complete but the 16 hybrid J.D. students were able to complete the program in three years.  This suggests that distance learning may enable “part-time” students to complete a J.D. in three years instead of four, because of the greater flexibility and efficiencies inherent in distance learning.   The online courses at Mitchell Hamline School of Law are mostly asynchronous which allows students to study on their own schedule.

Syracuse University College of Law recently received a variance from the ABA.  JDinteractive at Syracuse University College of Law is marketed as the first “live online” J.D. program.  JDinteractive is the first ABA-approved real-time, fully interactive online law degree program where approximately 66% of the coursework will be online.  At least 50% of the online class time will be in “real time.”   The first JDinteractive class is slated to begin in January 2019 and will enroll up to 65 students. 

Southwestern Law School in Los Angeles received a variance in November 2017 to offer a hybrid-online J.D. program for the 2019-2020 school year.  Loyola University Chicago School of Law has created a Weekend J.D. program that involves the classroom and online learning.  Touro Law Center is enrolling students for the new FlexTime J.D. program and classes will begin in fall 2018; the program will take less than four years so that students can sit for the July 2022 bar exam. 

There are also several law schools offering hybrid LL.M. programs, with some components in residence and others online, including at Berkeley, American (international Human Rights and Humanitarian Law) and Northeastern (Executive LL.M.). Many schools also offer fully on-line LL.M. programs.

If these experimental programs prove successful at attracting students, you can be sure that other law schools will be looking to develop their own hybrid/online J.D. (and LL.M.) programs in the near future.  In the meantime, law schools are likely to start experimenting with incorporating distance learning into their regular J.D. curriculum right away.  Professors or administrators with proposals to utilize distance learning should keep in mind that Standard 306 requires any courses with a distance learning component to be approved through the regular curriculum approval process. 

In this post, we’ve outlined a few ways that distance learning can potentially be utilized in traditional J.D. programs. In Part II, we will discuss the use of distance learning to enhance bar preparation. 

*Carolyn Gachet, Esq., is the Founder and President of Zip Bar Review, a distance learning company. She has been involved with distance learning since 2009. 

Comments

[Joe Finorke]

As a long time attorney, I am opposed to this. The greatest experience I had in law school was establishing a one to one relationship with my peers and you professors at the front of the room. It was most like a courtroom setting with you folks acting as a "neutral" adversary fleshing out the issues. When I grasped a legal concept, I was excited and engaged, damn near inspired.... It was real and visceral... It was a law school bonding experience that lives with me almost 30 years on into my career.

Frankly, distance learning is really just a fancy word for on line or watching a video. Today, for most of my CLE/Ethics requirements, it is called a WEBINAR. Let me be frank here. It is bullshit. I can't tell you how many times I started to nod off...I was not really actively engaged nor really that inspired. It is not a law school experience. On the other hand, I can't wait to face a prosecutor who got his degree through distance learning.

[Joe Finorke]

Sorry to be so verbose here. Being a good lawyer is all about relationships and getting along with others in an adversarial environment while advocating for a client. It is not really about knowing the rote law or citing cases. If you don't know your Judge, culture of the courtroom---you will be ineffective. You need to know how to be a lawyer, not a technician. Distance Learning might be fine for teaching diesel repair or languages. It is not appropriate for developing people skills in a complex, adversarial environment.

[anon]

“It really doesn't matter where one went to law school. Law practice is really not about the "Law." It's about relationships, schmooze and trying to get along with others in a courthouse community."

Deep State

[Deep State Special Legal Counsel]

anon,

You quoted me accurately. At least one person listens to me, because judges and prosecutors don't. They don't believe me when I say my clients are all INNOCENT and that breathylizer was not working at .26. Anyway, that position is valid...I would refer you to the finest book I have read to date on the nature and role of a lawyer in a courthouse community. "The Craft of Justice, Politics and Work in Criminal Court Communities" by Flemming, Nardull and Eisenstein. It hits the nail on the head. It is all about getting along with others while representing a client who may have done terrible things.

[twbb]

One of the problems I see with online learning is schools seem very eager to turn it into an entirely moneymaking device, with some administrators no doubt dancing around with dollar signs in their eyes as they dream about economies of scale where they can add as many students they want with little cost additions per student.

[anon]

I thought I was quoting Joe Finorke:

" all about relationships and getting along with others in an adversarial environment while advocating for a client."

References to Illinois spice it up, as well.

Very entertaining. Not.