Law School Online

[Alpha]

While the ABA doesn't like the idea of online law degrees, all those law schools were forced online during the first year of the pandemic.  So how did that go?
Law Schools' Forced Shift Online Offers Insights for Future (gallup.com)

[newdegree]

I think Syracuse has a hybrid law program

[Kab]

Specially in law I do not see the problem to study it online. Many countries have law degrees online. The difference is that the type of law is different.
Maybe for the US a hybrid system will be good to combine theory and practice for the presentations and social interactions. In my opinion, in the theory aspect of the study,the online method is good.

[eLearner]

I remember a school called Mid-Atlantic School of Law. You paid $100 per class, 15 classes, all sent and received by email. It used Gilbert's Outlines for textbooks.

The school was clowned heavily online, but one graduated student went on to petition the state of New Jersey through a documented legal battle (the very interesting case notes used to be available online), he won, got the shot to sit for the bar, passed on the first try, and went on to be a licensed and practicing Attorney.

The owner of the one-man school, Baxter Paschal, died and the school disappeared. Someone bought the school name and domain and advertised that the school was coming back but that appears to have fallen off.

[ss20ts]

I really wonder with the ABA's issue is. It's 2021 and even without the pandemic online learning has become HUGE and is continuing to grow not decrease. There are paralegal programs available online taking the same law courses and using the exact same textbooks. It's ok for paralegals but not lawyers? Why?

[eLearner]

I really wonder with the ABA's issue is. It's 2021 and even without the pandemic online learning has become HUGE and is continuing to grow not decrease. There are paralegal programs available online taking the same law courses and using the exact same textbooks. It's ok for paralegals but not lawyers? Why?

With there still being a stigma in that field against online learning, they figure since Paralegals don't try cases and their work has to be to reviewed by licensed Attorneys, the level of risk clients would be exposed to is controlled and contained by checks and balances. Personally, I feel that thinking is flawed because if an online law student is allowed to take and pass the bar, he/she will have proven the necessary competence to be a licensed Attorney the same way their offline counterparts have.

[ss20ts]

Just because one attends law school and passes the Bar certainly doesn't make them a competent attorney. Just look at how many are brought up on ethical violations and disbarred and sanctioned. I wonder how much of the anti-online ideology has to do with this is the way it has always been done and it was good enough for me....blah blah blah....mentality we see in many things in life. I'd also be curious to see the age, sex, and race of those in the ABA who determine these policies. Is this another wealthy old white man group running the show or is there diversity? I'd also be curious to see what their law firms are like. Do they still have a room full of file cabinets or have they embraced technology?

[eLearner]

Just because one attends law school and passes the Bar certainly doesn't make them a competent attorney. Just look at how many are brought up on ethical violations and disbarred and sanctioned. I wonder how much of the anti-online ideology has to do with this is the way it has always been done and it was good enough for me....blah blah blah....mentality we see in many things in life. I'd also be curious to see the age, sex, and race of those in the ABA who determine these policies. Is this another wealthy old white man group running the show or is there diversity? I'd also be curious to see what their law firms are like. Do they still have a room full of file cabinets or have they embraced technology?

That's not quite what I said. I said that they have proven the necessary competence to become a licensed Attorney, not that they have proven to be a competent Attorney. Those two things are very different. Possessing the necessary competence to become a licensed anything is proven during the learning and testing phase. Proving competence during practice can only be done during the post-licensing and practice phase.

As for ethics and such, that's a separate issue. You can be a brilliant Attorney who is very unethical. Many have been and continue to be, and many people would argue that Lawyers are unethical by the nature of the job they do and there is some credence to that position. After all, Lawyers are there to prove and defend what's legal which often times shows that what's legal isn't always ethical.

[sanantone]

ABA still believes in the Socratic method, which can only be done online through live courses. For now, we're only going to see hybrid programs, and they're not all that convenient due to the live online class requirements and campus visits.

If ABA were to look at the correspondence and online law schools approved for the Bar in California, and they probably have, they would see abysmal Bar pass rates.

[newdegree]

http://law.syr.edu/admissions/online-jd-program/