Monday, September 13, 1999

Justice Ginsburg Raises Questions About Internet-Only Law School By KATHERINE S. MANGAN U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said in a speech last week that she was troubled by the existence of a law school that operates only on the Internet, where a student can get a law degree "without ever laying eyes on a fellow student or professor." Legal education "loses something vital when students learn in isolation, even if they can engage in virtual interaction with their peers and teachers." She singled out the Concord University School of Law, which is based in Los Angeles, as an institution that relies too heavily on technology. The school, which opened in the fall of 1998 as a division of Kaplan Educational Centers, promotes itself as a flexible, low-cost way for people who cannot attend a traditional law school to get a legal education. Speaking at a dedication of the new Rutgers University Center for Law and Justice last week, Justice Ginsburg said she was generally pleased with the opportunities the Internet had opened up for law schools. Professors can set up discussions, create class Web sites, and "bring the law to life" with interactive, role-playing simulations, she noted. "But I am uneasy about classes in which students learn entirely from home, in front of a computer screen, with no face-to-face interaction with other students and instructors," said Justice Ginsburg, a former law professor at both Rutgers and Columbia Universities. "So much of legal education and legal practice is a shared enterprise, a genuine interactive endeavor," she said. "The process inevitably loses something vital when students learn in isolation, even if they can engage in virtual interaction with their peers and teachers." Concord's dean, Jack R. Goetz, said Friday that an Internet law school can actually provide more interaction between students and faculty members than a traditional school can. "The reality is that many law schools still have first-year classes of 70 or 80 people in which a student has very little interaction with the professor," he said. Concord students can communicate with their professors via e-mail or telephone, and get to know their classmates through on-line discussions, he added. Cost is another factor. Concord costs $4,200 a year -- about a third of what most traditional law programs charge, Mr. Goetz said. Concord graduates are eligible to take the California bar examination. But since the school is not accredited by the American Bar Association, its graduates can only practice in states that do not require graduation from A.B.A.-accredited schools. Concord is not seeking A.B.A. accreditation. Background stories from The Chronicle: Harvard Law Professor Will Advise For-Profit, On-Line Law Program (2/19/99) Test-Prep Company to Offer Law Degree Electronically (9/25/98) Easy-to-print version E-mail this article