Syracuse Law Review Call for Papers: Online Learning and the Future of Legal Education April 2019 Symposium

Around the country, law schools and law professors are exploring online teaching. Law schools are making specialty courses available online, and many have created online master’s degree programs. A handful, including Syracuse University, are even bringing their JD programs online. This new reality raises important questions and theoretical challenges for the legal education and the broader practice of law.

A key question is how online education will—or should—change the way law is taught. Some describe online education as an opportunity to reimagine legal education. Others caution online education could undermine the rigor of traditional legal education, potentially to the disadvantage of both new lawyers and those they serve.

Another key question is how online education will affect the practice of law. To what extent will online education affect the ability of the legal profession to meet client needs? Will it change the demographic composition, skill set, or ethos of the legal profession?

Complicating matters is that the move toward online education is occurring during a period in which legal academy is confronting significant instability, with many schools struggling to maintain enrollments, and a handful shuttering their doors. This conference will explore the theoretical and practical challenges online education poses. Conference invitees are encouraged to address a variety topics at the intersection of legal education and teaching technology including:

• Whether law schools should embrace online education and, if so, in what form?
• How online education can improve or undermine effective legal education?
• What risks are associated with the move toward online education? How can these risks best be addressed?
• How does online education affect interpersonal dynamics in legal education (e.g., student-professor, student-student) and what are the implications for legal practice?
• What are the implications of online education for the composition, including the diversity, of the legal profession?
• What are the implications of online education for prospective clients and access to justice? Will the development particularly advantage or disadvantage some client groups?
• Does moving legal education online change what it means to be a lawyer? A legal academic? A law student?
• How should online legal education be regulated? Should it be subject to different standards or oversight than residential legal education?
• What can be learned from parallel developments in other academic fields or professions?

The Syracuse Law Review is organizing the conference. Syracuse University College of Law will provide accommodations for papers presented and will reimburse reasonable travel expenses.

One-page proposals addressing any aspect of the above themes and questions are welcome. Accepted articles will be published, after review, in a symposium issue of the Syracuse Law Review scheduled for Fall/Winter 2019. Articles are expected to be in the 7,500 to 15,000 word range.

Schedule:

• Proposals, in the form of a one-page abstract accompanied by a C.V., should be sent to Liz Lehmann at ellehman@syr.edu by Monday, October 8, 2018.
• Draft articles will be due by Monday, February 18, 2019.
• The conference will take place in Syracuse, NY on April 26, 2019.
• Final drafts for review and editing will be due August 1, 2019.
• After review and editing, the symposium issue will be published in Fall/Winter 2019.