Pencils down, class. Now, fire up your computers as the nation's first online law school begins its inaugural semester.

Kaplan Educational Centers has expanded beyond its roots as a coaching center for standardized tests with Concord University School of Law. The completely online school provides instruction leading to a Juris Doctorate degree. While the school is not approved by the American Bar Association, it has received degree-granting permission from the Bureau of Private Post-Secondary and Vocational Education in California, and students will be allowed to sit for the California bar exam.

Tuition for the four-year program is approximately $17,000 ($23,000 less than one year at Harvard Law School), excluding textbooks, computer, and Internet access. Students receive video lectures on their home computers, attend online chat groups, and take tests and exams online.

The school also provides online links to research materials; advisors; and email, fax, and phone support. Teachers for the first-year classes on torts, contracts, and criminal law include law professors from the University of Arkansas, University of Denver, and Georgetown University.

For more information on Concord University School of Law, call (800) 228-7737 or visit the school online.

After settling in Wisconsin, Glover was arrested in 1854 and imprisoned under the federal Fugitive Slave Law. He was broken out of the Milwaukee jail by a band of abolitionists led by newspaper publisher Sherman Booth, sparking a legal battle that pitted state and federal courts against one another for more than seven years.

The dramatic story is told through interviews (with Wisconsin Supreme Court Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson, Milwaukee attorney Carl Ashley, historians Michael McManus and Ruby West Jackson, and University of Wisconsin professors Zachary Cooper and Richard Ralston), historic documents, and images.

The documentary is available on videocassette after Jan. 15, 1999. To order a copy, mail a check payable to the Wisconsin Supreme Court for $8.50 to: Wisconsin Supreme Court Video, P.O. Box 1688, Madison, WI 53701-1688. For more information, contact Karen Leone de Nie at the supreme court at (608) 266-1298.

The State Historical Society, in cooperation with the supreme court, has produced a poster featuring selected historic county courthouses. Both the video and poster celebrate Wisconsin's sesquicentennial. The poster, which features the Brown, Douglas, Florence, Grant (left), Green, Iowa, Lafayette, Langlade, Milwaukee, Oneida, Pepin, and Racine county courthouses, is available free of charge by calling (608) 266-1298. The posters are limited to one per person on a first-come, first-served basis.

If you've got a humorous, touching, inspirational, or unbelievable story related to the law, share it!

Ron Liebman, an attorney and author in Washington, D.C., is compiling a book of lawyers' stories to be published by Simon & Schuster. The book, which is for a general audience, includes stories and anecdotes from well-known attorneys - and the many unknown and unsung lawyers - each telling a favorite tale.

Mail your story (four pages or less, typewritten) to: Ron Liebman, Patton Boggs LLP, 2550 M Street N.W., Washington, D.C. 20037 or email Liebman. Selected stories will be attributed to their contributors.

And don't forget Wisconsin Lawyer. The magazine is always looking for interesting or humorous stories. Email stories or mail them to Wisconsin Lawyer, P.O. Box 7158, Madison, WI 53707-7158.