The reasons for taking a course are:
Our mission is to increase the opportunities for practical learning for law students and recent law graduates. Today's legal market puts a premium on practical knowledge and experience. Our courses cover real world topics. They allow participants to apply what they learn to solve real world problems.
LawMeets® is an educational program founded by Professor Karl Okamoto. The program is funded by grants from the National Science Foundation.
Each course leverages the expertise of experienced senior practitioners to enhance a participant's learning. On each course's web page, you will find links to each expert's biography.
Experts volunteer their time because of their commitment to the development of the profession, a love of teaching and a sense of obligation to give back by helping to educate the next generation of practitioners.
Courses will vary in length depending on the topic but will consist of modules that generally have three components: video lectures, online LawMeets® exercises and online discussions. Often courses will also offer live Q&A panels.
The course is divided into modules that will cover specific topics. For each topic, participants will be given access to a 30-45 minute video lecture. These lectures are prepared by an expert in the field and are designed to provide an overview of the topic sufficient to enable the participants to complete the associated online LawMeets® exercise.
Click here for a short video description of an online LawMeets® exercise.
Throughout the platform participants are provided the opportunity to make and reply to comments, creating discussion threads. The faculty and experts will be monitoring and participating in these discussions. These discussion threads provide the entire community of participants, faculty and experts the chance to explore in depth the issues raised in the course.
In courses that offer a Q&A panel, we will gather a group of experts into a room to answer questions from the course participants. All participants are invited to attend these panel discussions in person. Participants may also participate “live” by watching the panel via streaming webcast and submitting questions electronically. Recordings of these discussions will also be posted.
The courses are open for the dates specified. The video lectures and online LawMeets® exercises are made available for the entire period (and usually for a few days before and after). They may be accessed any time, day or night, 24 hours a day.
While participants may view the video lectures at any time during the course, we encourage participants to follow the suggested timeline. In order to coordinate the peer and expert review processes, we may ask participants to complete their submissions by specified deadlines. If a participant does not meet the deadline for a specific LawMeet®, such participant will not be able to partake in either the peer review process or in interacting with the experts with respect to that specific LawMeet®. However, such participant will still be able to view all of the video lectures, participate in subsequent online LawMeets® exercises and participate in the Q&A Panel. In courses where no deadline is specified, participants may make their submissions and provide peer reviews whenever they chose.
No, there are no exams or grades. Your online LawMeets® submissions may receive feedback from other participants and/or experts. But this feedback is qualitative and not expressed in terms of a score or grade.
Unless otherwise noted, participation in a course is free.
To complete a course, a participant must:
Yes. In 2012, our company was awarded Accredited Provider status by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania Continuing Legal Education Board (PA CLE Provider #8578). We will provide certification of completion to participants who would like to apply on their own for credit in jurisdictions where we have not applied for approval.
LawMeets® is an approved provider for both its live and online courses. If you are interested in receiving credit for our online courses, check with your State CLE Board for rules pertaining to online learning. Rules on credit differ from state to state. For example, Pennsylvania attorneys may earn up to 4 CLE credit per compliance period via online courses (or 4 out of 12 credits per year); New Jersey and Delaware attorneys may earn up to 12 CLE credits per compliance period via online learning (or 12 out of 24 credits per two years).
If you are interested in receiving CLE credit for your participation in a LawMeets® course, please see the CLE information page for more information. Participants who would like to receive CLE credit will be asked to pay a fee of $40 for each hour of credit. If you have a financial hardship and would like to apply for a LawMeets® scholarship, please read our financial hardship policy.
No. Everything you will need to complete a course will be provided. There may be optional online resources we suggest that you consult. Some of these may require that you have an account or that you pay a fee in order to access them. We will endeavor to include resources that can be accessed without charge.
You will need a computer with access to the internet and a webcam or other means (such as a camcorder) to make video recordings of yourself and upload them onto the platform.
Yes, if you subscribe to our LawMeets Portfolio BuilderTM, you will have access to your submissions and can share them with others, including your professors, employers and anyone else you want to see your work.
ll participants in the course who make a submission to a particular online LawMeets® exercise will have access to all other submissions in order to participate in the peer review process. Once the peer review process is completed, the submissions that were selected to receive expert feedback will continue to be accessible by all participants. Please visit our Privacy Policy for a fuller description of how we protect your submissions and other information.