Amongst the plethora of online courses available for legal domain today, Lex Witness interacts with Ken Randall, President/CEO, iLaw Global to understand the niche and specialized courses that are on offer today and how they could benefit the fraternity at large.
iLaw Global was founded to make high quality law courses from US law schools available globally. We create partnerships in countries around the world to deliver these courses created by renowned professors from the US. For example, we were the first to deliver an online degree that allows foreign-educated lawyers to apply for a bar exam in the US. Hundreds of lawyers have taken this masters degree all over the world. We also offer diploma programs, in specialised subject areas, to lawyers in other nations. We have been successfully running various courses in China, Japan, Africa, and parts of Europe. These courses in US and International Law have become quite sought after in countries that have a lot of cross-border transactions with the US, as they serve as an impressive credential for prospective clients.
We have just introduced two online certification courses with our partners Rainmaker, on their knowledge platform myLaw.net. One is on International Intellectual Property, offered by the Arizona Summit Law School, and the other is on International Taxation, offered by the Charlotte School of Law. The International Intellectual Property course has been created by Professor Christine Haight Farley who is a professor at the American University Washington College of Law. She serves on an INTA Presidential Task Force on Brands and Innovation and has been selected as a Fulbright specialist for intellectual property law. Professor Steven Arsenault from the Charlotte School of Law teaches the course on International Taxation. An expert in accounting, taxation and international law, he has taught in both business schools and law schools and his scholarly articles have been published in some of the leading US law journals. As you can see, these professors are extremely renowned and highly regarded in their fields.
First of all, as I mentioned in my previous answer, these courses will give students the ability to learn and interact with renowned professors from leading US law schools at a fraction of the cost of taking these courses in the US. The content is perhaps some of the best available in the world. Secondly, we are planning to launch a third course in International Commercial Law and Arbitration and an opportunity for students to earn a Diploma from the Charlotte and Arizona Summit law schools. Both schools have fully accredited Juris Doctorate programs in the United States. Charlotte is the second most significant banking city in the United States after New York, and Charlotte Law School is known for offering valuable instruction in transborder corporate, taxation, and banking matters, under US and international law. The Arizona Summit Law School has a distinguished reputation in intellectual property law, a field of constantly growing importance globally. Its courses in US and International Intellectual Property Law are on the cutting edge of the law. Certification from these colleges will be truly impressive credentials for a lawyer. Thirdly, students of these courses could also stand a chance to be a part of the Charlotte School of Law’s International Student Program, which would give them a tremendous amount of exposure.
This is a program run by the Charlotte School of Law under which select students from all over the world get to spend a month in Charlotte, take courses in the law school and work as an intern with a US attorney or a research assistant with a professor. From India, two students will be chosen – one from each course offered by us, i.e. International Intellectual Property and International Taxation. We will take care of all major expenses for the study trip. The students will be mentored by a professor at the Charlotte School of Law. They will also be able to take credit courses during the month with the JD students. They will be able to get the American college experience and observe the US legal system first-hand. It is an amazing opportunity and the students will have to bear virtually no cost. This year, we will be selecting candidates for the International Student Program from among students who enrol before March 31.
That is perhaps the best part. The courses will be delivered on Rainmaker’s online learning platform, myLaw.net, through a state-of-the-art, user-friendly virtual classroom. Students will get access to reading material, video lectures, supplementary material and practice exercises. If students have any questions for the professors, they can post them on a discussion forum and they will get answers promptly. The great thing about online learning is that it is extremely convenient. You can access the course content from anywhere at any time that is convenient to you. As long as you have an internet connection, you can learn. This is great for law students and legal professionals who might find it difficult to attend classes at a fixed place and time. These courses give you the flexibility to work around your schedule. We also have been conducting webinars with Rainmaker, in which students get to interact live in real time with the professors. We have already conducted four, and we have many more coming up. The response has been quite amazing.
It has been wonderful. India has a rich history of legal practice, and now with increasing cross-border commercial activity, all Indian lawyers have developed a global outlook. I travelled around India, visiting law schools, and I was impressed by how informed and ambitious the students were. We have been getting a lot of applications since we launched the courses, and I am delighted to see the sheer diversity of the applicants’ profiles. I wish we could enroll everyone, but we have to be selective as there are limited seats for the courses.
Yes. We want to see how well these courses do in India, get a sense of which other courses lawyers and law students might be interested in, and figure out some other details, but we are definitely going to bring more courses from American universities to India.
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