Law Schools coming around to distance learing

Nice article on law schools and distance learning. Thought members might be interested in this:

Can Technology Save Legal Education? - Wired Campus - The Chronicle of Higher Education

 

Two things it talks about is availability and cost. I think improving either of those for the consumer would be catastrophic. I would love to have the option but for the sake of the job field I think they are already too readily available.

 

That's a really good point. It amazes me that more people don't do their due diligence regarding law school. The odds are stacked against you of even landing a job sufficient to allow you to service your student loan debt. Lowering costs or making a law education more readily available would exasperate the problem. I had never thought of that.

 

Lowering costs might also make it viable for careers outside of legal practice.

For instance, a legal education could be helpful for working in human resources or as a director of a non-profit or as a small business owner. It is not currently cost-effective for these purposes, however.

 

Since the price tag is already up there, I don't see how it will ever come down.

 

If law school tuition was more affordable I would be in line to attend! The price needs to come down drastically but I am not sure that would ever happen.

 

This consortium of schools just strikes me as all show and no go. There will never be an ABA accredited distance law school. The ABA and all ABA law schools just have too much to lose. With that said, I use the knowledge from my distance law education every day in my small business. And I have an added bonus....no debt.

 

That is article is interesting. I am interested in Law School once I complete my Ph.D; however, attending full-time on campus is not an option for me. If the program is blended both online and on campus is considerable. As many others have mentioned, I don't intend to practice law. But the knowledge I can gain from the program can enhance the career in corporate practices.

About the tuition price tag, I just afraid that most of schools use this opportunity for cash-cows.

 

My 2 cents (just in case anyone wants them). If you can't afford law school without taking huge student loans, I recommend not going. At least not on a fulltime basis. It's crazy expensive and I don't see it going down anytime soon. The market is pretty saturated and if you like firm work then you will have a hard time finding a job. With all that said though, it does happen. I know of a few classmates that have graduated and received jobs starting at 120k but they are breathing rare air.

 

The price of a legal education will come down when no-one can afford it anymore.

 

Peacefulchaos2001, I noticed you attend Cooley. My uncle went there his first year then transferred to Washington University in St. Louis, which I think is a pretty common practice (attending Cooley first year then transferring). I've heard the work load there is just brutal. Are you looking to practice law once you're done?

 

I do attend Cooley. That really is a common practice. Some do it for a host of reasons. Most do it due to law school rankings, some to be closer to home or where they want to practice. Recently though there has been a trend toward transferring because of cost. Not the actual cost of Cooley, but the cost of the school they are transferring into. Disclaimer...that was my personal observations. If you have a certain GPA and LSAT score then Cooley basically waives tuition. This seems to have caused a lot of students to use Cooley to get their first year of schooling for free and significantly cut cost of attendance.

The work load is pretty brutal. The amount of work and the grading scale is in two totally different realms when compared to Cooley's rankings. Which I think also leads to a bunch of transfers. Without question, you will learn. As students we like to say, "They may let you in, but they won't let you out." I'm in my last year there and about 1/3 (rough guess) of my classmates that I started with are still here. Some have transferred, some couldn't handle the work load and left, some have just "failed out." A "C-" average equals failed out.

I am looking to practice law when I graduate. My first year after the bar I'm heading overseas to do a little government contracting. It pays well but it's not the type of law I want to do. Afterwards, I plan on practicing in Georgia and South Carolina.

 

Cool. I'm from South Carolina originally, what area are you looking to live in?

 

I'm from Georgia but lived in Charleston for almost 4 years. I would be living in Augusta, GA. The Georgia side, not that "North Augusta" place that I hear of in South Carolina lol.