Opening Doors The Case for a Law Degree Program

at Athabasca University

Dale Dewhurst, Athabasca UniversityArchie Zariski, Athabasca UniversityPaul F Wood Q.C.

Access to Justice Denied

• The access to justice conundrum does not begin and end with the marginalized – rural Canadians are finding it increasingly difficult to access legal assistance because lawyers are congregating in the big cities, where big-firm paycheques are seen as necessary to new calls with huge debts. (Canadian Bar Association)

• “How can there be public confidence in a system of justice that shuts people out; that does not give them access? That’s a very dangerous road to follow.”(Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin, Supreme Court of Canada)

The problem• Decline in numbers of rural lawyers

– aging practitioners– few articling students– lack of professional succession planning

• Rural and remote residents increasingly denied practical access to justice through the assistance of lawyers– too few lawyers in rural communities –

Fort Mc Murray 50– “brain drain” of rural law students

The Major Challenge

• FLSC academic program requirements regarding methods of delivery for an approved common law degree program:

– 1.2 The course of study consists primarily of in-person instruction and learning and/or instruction and learning that involves direct interaction between instructor and students.

Obstacles to obtaining a legal education

• High (and rising) tuition fees• High cost of living in urban areas –

accommodation and transportation• Residential requirement entails displacement

and detachment from home communities• Unfamiliarity with urban environments,

amenities, and lifestyle• No part-time law schools and semester

requirements.

Law school for the 21st century• Law students are digitally literate and online

natives• Law practice now requires online interaction

with clients, courts, and others• Law students attempt to satisfy their desire for

online learning in the face of traditional delivery (eg. computers in class)

• Law schools are not serving students well by failing to provide online delivery

The baby and the bathwater• Residential experiences of learning law are

valuable (eg. clinical, mooting, interviewing)• “Hybrid”, or mixed delivery of legal education

can combine the best of both residential and online methods

• Mixed forms of delivery can occur within courses (eg. “flipped classroom”) and within programs (eg. online + intensive courses)

• Many technologies are available to deliver high quality interactive online learning experiences

Competency & Standards

• The same courses can be taught in a hybrid model.

• In-person can be accomplished in intensive courses and need not be defined as “in the same physical space.

• Direct interaction is now available in many different ways.

Next Steps

• Demonstration video production.

• Proof of efficacy of distance education in law.

Opening Doors The Case for a Law Degree

Program at Athabasca University

Dale Dewhurst, daled@athabascau.caArchie Zariski, archiez@athabascau.ca