Law school in cyberspace
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.
Celebrate Wisconsin's sesquicentennial with historic video and
courthouse poster
"Stand the Storm," a half-hour documentary on the fugitive slave case
involving Joshua Glover (right), who escaped from a Missouri farm in
1852 and found freedom in Racine, airs on Wisconsin Public Television
Dec. 16 at 9:30 p.m. and is available for purchase in January.
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.
Have an interesting lawyer story?
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.
Wisconsin Lawyer
