Goddard, J M --- "Building the Cathedral: Sculpting a Part-time Legal Education in a Double-time World" [2008] LegEdDig 10; (2008) 16(1) Legal Education Digest 33

• Building the cathedral: sculpting a part-time legal education in a double-time world

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Building the cathedral: sculpting a part-time legal education in a double-time world

J M Goddard

8 Barry L Rev, 2007, pp 117–149

The idea for this article began with my own decision to become a part-time law student. There is no question that this is the most challenging time of my life. As an adult I have been a college student, an employee, a supervisor, a wife, a stepmother, a volunteer, and a graduate student in a part-time program. When I decided to add ‘part-time law student’ to that list, I never anticipated how thoroughly the challenges of that new role would transcend the purely academic rigours of the law school curriculum and reach into every corner of my physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual life.

The Barry University School of Law in Orlando, Florida, appealed to me because of its proximity to my home town and its four-year part-time evening program, which allows a student to work full- time while pursuing a law degree. Part-time students customarily work full-time during the day and attend classes at night.

The Barry University School of Law offers its evening program classes between approximately 6:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m., Monday through Thursday. Evening students generally take eight to ten credit hours each term. ‘Thus, part-time students enjoy three days off per week,’ whereas full-time students enroll for thirteen to fifteen credit hours each term and attend classes Monday through Friday. This workload typifies schools that offer full-time and part-time programs. During their first year, full-time students generally take five or six courses for fifteen to sixteen credit hours per term, whereas part-time students usually enrol in one to two fewer courses and earn ten to eleven credits per term.

Traditional law students range in age from twenty-three to twenty-seven and commonly enrol in law school immediately following college graduation. Most of them have an Anglo-American heritage. Their social, economic, ethnic and religious status and backgrounds usually differ from the characteristics of society as a whole; instead, traditional law students tend to come from ‘an elite background of higher socioeconomic status than the general population.’ Their families frequently encourage and expect them to pursue graduate education, and provide financial support that allows them to do so without having to work.

Nontraditional students do not fit the traditional full-time student model. Their characteristics often include being older than twenty-seven, having experience in the workforce, needing to remain employed during law school, carrying significant family responsibilities, and coming from a disadvantaged background. They often enrol in law school after pursuing another career. In addition to the readily identified nontraditional students such as women and minorities, nontraditional students may also include ‘non-minority men with tremendous family and financial obligations.’

The idea of part-time law school is not new. Beginning in 1860, part-time evening law school programs were established for full-time government workers. Those schools often appeared in cities with large minority populations, but they did not emphasise a quality education. They were a ‘pale shadow of full-time university schools.’ That stigma remains today. Although ‘the legal profession finally began to realise that “societal demands, appropriate facilities, and simple practicality” prompted the creation of part-time programs and ensured their success,’ law schools that tailor their programs to part-time students or use nontraditional teaching methods remain ‘marginalised in rankings and in perceived prestige.’ Often those law schools cannot obtain ABA accreditation. Nevertheless, because the family, financial, and employment commitments of nontraditional students often preclude any real degree of geographical flexibility, law schools that offer part-time programs continue to attract nontraditional part-time students who would not otherwise have access to a law school education. For part-time students, proximity and access may represent the most important factors in choosing a law school.

Despite the market, part-time programs remain outside the mainstream of law school offerings. Recent data indicates that no more than seventeen per cent of law students have pursued their degrees in part-time programs. Of the top fifty law schools in the United States, as ranked by U.S. News & World Report, only eight schools offer a part-time program, and full-time students continue to comprise the majority of their students. As shown, at the top fifty schools offering part-time study, usually no more than a quarter of the law students enrolled attend the part-time program.

The advantages of part-time programs include the tendency of part-time programs to have slightly less rigorous admissions standards; the chance to test-drive the law school experience without having to disrupt one’s entire life, including the opportunity to drop out or change programs if desired; the ability to continue working and drawing a salary while in school; not having to relocate; the occasion to employ academic knowledge on the job, if working in a law-related job; and the prospect of drawing upon work experience to improve law school performance.

The part-time program also has some clear disadvantages. Part-time programs carry somewhat less prestige than do top full-time programs. Part-time students cannot dedicate themselves to studying and to developing peer relationships in the same ways full-time students can, resulting in the part- time students’ frequent concern that they have not fully grasped the course material. Although welcome to join student journals and other law school organisations, part-time students may find it logistically difficult to participate in co-curricular and extra-curricular activities, especially when meetings take place during working hours that preclude part-time students from attending. The requirements of a full-time job and part-time study may become overwhelming, causing part-time students to feel they can perform neither of these activities well. ‘The possibility of handling both well, plus having a rewarding personal life, is remote.’

Part-time students pursue their law school careers against the difficult background of keeping work and home life in balance with the curriculum’s heavy academic demands, and often from a starting point of academic disadvantage. Because the typical culture and method of law school instruction are ill-suited to their learning style, ‘exam results do not necessarily reflect actual ability.’ Social activities form a major component of law school life and culture. However, many part-time students do not devote any of their limited time to such activities. Instead of spending time on extracurricular activities, part-time students choose to spend any free time left over after work and school with family. Part-time students may also commute from other cities, where their families’ roots are located, and be unable or unwilling to add additional travel time by participating in extracurricular activities.

Because part-time students generally share characteristics that set them apart — age, obligations and responsibilities, and life experience — they must meet certain unique challenges to succeed in law school. Law schools, however, tend to treat all students ‘as if they have the same priorities, values, and experiences.’ The residual mindset remains that a law student is someone who ‘jettisons all other pre-existing responsibilities and interests and surrenders’ to the law school experience.

Part-time students bring a wealth of practical knowledge with them into the classroom, simply by virtue of their real-life experiences; however, ‘many of them have been out of the educational world for years (even decades), and discover that the transition back into academia is not a smooth one.’

The other important and unique challenge to part-time law students is the Langdellian teaching method itself, often inaccurately described as the Socratic method. The Langdellian method intends to impart legal knowledge and training in legal analysis simultaneously through a question-and- answer format initiated and guided by the professor. In practice, however, the Langdellian method has serious limitations that may operate especially harshly on part-time students. Critics charge that it ‘reflects white male values, [having been] created for those who are assertive, argumentative, confrontational, controlling, impersonal, logical and abstract.’ In the modern, diversified law school environment, students who do not embrace those traditionally Anglo-Saxon male values may be unable to embrace ‘this ‘whitemale’ way of thinking.’ The Langdellian classroom — in which ‘students experience fear upon being called on in class and shame and humiliation when they get an answer wrong or are inadequately prepared’ — leaves little room for the kind of learning that proves most meaningful and productive for part-time students.

Even taking into account the serious drawbacks of the Langdellian system, this effect is not necessarily apparent in the classroom with part-time students. Evening classes in general may, in fact, be preferable to day classes because ‘the students are more relaxed and more serious about their studies, and many tend to be better prepared than day students.’ The professors pontificate less, informal exchanges occur more often, and the ‘strict Socratic approach’ occurs less often. As early as 1939, educators examining the night school phenomenon recognised that in traditional teaching environments with students much younger than the teacher, the ‘learned teacher-ignorant pupil relationship is almost inevitable,’ but a different dynamic prevails in night school.

The more collaborative, less confrontational approach to learning that prevails in the part-time classroom challenges the basic assumption that some scholars have seen in the traditional Langdellian model: ‘socialising lawyers to the primacy of the ... one-size-fits-all gladiator model of lawyering.’ In contrast to the gladiator model, research in the field of adult learning indicates that adults learn best when the teacher or facilitator demonstrates the benefits of the need to know the material to be covered and the negative consequences of failing to learn it, and then reinforces the individual’s self- directed responsibility to acquire the knowledge.

Adult learning theory increasingly recognises that the cognitive structures and mental models created ‘as learning and experiences accumulate and are packaged in memory’ tend to act as a filter for the acquisition of new knowledge, and thus prior experience can have ‘a major effect on how information is retained and stored.’

Seeing experience as a gatekeeper for the acquisition of new knowledge helps to explain the difficulties that part-time students experience in the classroom, even when they are diligent in preparation. ‘The unlearning process becomes as important as the learning process when new learning significantly challenges’ existing knowledge and beliefs.

For full-time students, law school presents the equivalent of a sixty-hour-per-week full-time job, based on a fifteen-hour course load and the classic formula of three hours of preparation for every hour of class time. This may in fact represent a lighter workload than law students can expect when they become lawyers.

Part-time students face a much different situation. Even with the reduced semester load of ten hours, applying the three-to-one ratio reveals that part-time law school attendance constitutes nearly the equivalent of a full-time job — thirty hours per week — in addition to the forty hours per week the part-time student already works. Family and study soak up any extra time the part-time student has beyond that commitment; the part-time student never enjoys ‘idle time.’ Although part-time students need to stay healthy to maintain the pace and manage stress, the very things that promote health can prove time-consuming: a consistent exercise program, a healthy diet, and a ‘reasonable amount of sleep.’ Part-time students may find stress controls them, instead of the other way around, because they hold stress inside instead of ‘expelling it in a constructive manner like exercise or meditation.’

Part-time students and their families know that law school requires a team effort in which ‘they all

... work toward that goal together as a family.’ Students must consciously decide when, and whether, they can ignore their families; ‘every week is a balancing act trying to meet all the demands out there

— and they keep changing.’

However, the lack of available study time may be offset by the ‘practical business and legal experience’ of some part-time students. Although some suggest that the need for part-time students to balance family, job, and law school responsibilities seriously handicaps their legal education, others consider the part-time student in the context of the perspective, diversity and experience they add to the classroom and to the profession in a way their full-time counterparts cannot match.

Participation in study groups often proves impossible for part-time students. Their tightly packed schedules prevent them from agreeing on a convenient time to meet. Although sharing work and ideas can produce benefits, some students find they work better alone, and frequently ‘time is the issue.’

Because part-time students ‘are not spending all of their time in school ... the first year is not so overwhelming and their social lives tend not to revolve around school.’ This can give part-time students a welcome break, even as they adjust to the demands of their new schedule. Work experience can provide invaluable ‘introspection and self-understanding’ that can help part-time students cope. Life experience can also help: part-time students can look back on other events in their lives, such as college, graduate school, military service, or marriage, where they found the experience ‘different than anything [they had] ever done before.’ In light of those milestones, part-time students can reflect that they ‘survived those other transitions in life, and ... can survive this one.’

Because part-time students have sacrificed so much of their time to the law school experience, they take their responsibilities as students very seriously. Their study time may be limited by work and family commitments, and may be subject to change on short notice, but they are diligent about class preparation to the extent that time allows. Better organisation seems to produce greater productivity. Because they maximise their study time, some part-time students may actually do better in class; they are ‘more dedicated and focused[,]... have gained discipline and organisational ability, and are able to tackle school work more efficiently and well.’

Part-time students also find it easy to stay motivated even as they cope with the stress and fatigue produced by their daily routines. They have entered law school with definite goals of career advancement and personal fulfilment, and at no slight degree of risk. Their strong sense of purpose better equips them to endure the pressure integral to the law school experience.

Having a supportive spouse or significant other can make a significant difference for part-time students.

Part-time students may have difficulty relating to their younger peers in the classroom, feeling dismissed by younger students on occasion, although students in general seem to recognise the benefits and contributions that diverse students of all ages can make to the learning experience. Part-time students may feel disappointed by the competitiveness that the law school experience fosters between students, and wish for an environment that encourages students to assist each other. At the same time, peer rapport can also be compromised by the realisation that part-time students in classes that also include full-time students are forced to compete for top grades with students who are able to devote themselves to law school full time.

On the other hand, ‘predictability is not destiny.’ This final obstacle can be faced with the skills that part-time students have developed while studying the law: dedication, focus, organisation, and prioritisation. Part-time students can attempt to settle their economic and emotional commitments and concentrate fully on bar preparation. Bar preparation courses are essential and students should not work during the months between graduation and the examination. Defraying the economic burdens of this approach through loans, if budgeting cannot cover the cost, makes sense in the context of the amount students have already borrowed and the need to ensure success on the examination.

When entering the workforce after graduation, part-time students face different circumstances than their more traditional full-time peers. Because they have actual work experience, part-time students may enjoy an advantage in their job search. They may have formed connections in the business or legal world that give them an inside track in a job search. Some part-time students, because they are already self-employed or involved in a family business, will not face a traditional job search after graduation.

However, prior career achievements can also create problems. Students with extensive experience in a particular field may find that law firms will only consider hiring them as first-year associates, a position not entirely suited to the experience and qualifications obtained in that field before or during law school. Law firms defend this position on the grounds that new lawyers, even those with extensive backgrounds, have many things to learn about practicing law and learn best by starting at the bottom, where they have the benefit of first-year training and orientation.

Doubts about a part-time student’s qualifications, held over from the traditionally less prestigious reputations of part-time programs, may cause employers to be reluctant to hire part-time graduates. Part-time graduates must sell their abilities and accomplishments by capitalising on their well- developed attributes of ‘communication skills, persistence, dependability, and life experience,’ just as a full-time graduate must. As a practical matter, the significance of grades will fade as the graduate begins to practice and ‘work experience and reputation’ will increase in importance. Areas of ability, such as ‘practical judgement, passion, engagement, interviewing skills, and stress management’ factor favourably into good and effective practice, and matter more to many employers than pure academic ability or past academic success. A test now in development, designed as a supplement to the LSAT to predict post-graduate legal success, evaluates twenty-six ‘Effectiveness Factors,’ including Creativity/ Innovation, Passion and Engagement, Questioning and Interviewing, Integrity/Honesty, Self- Development, Organising and Managing Others (Staff/Colleagues), Diligence, Listening, and Problem Solving. Part-time students will bring their wealth of practical life experience to bear on this evaluation tool, not only to obtain admission to law school but to confirm their likelihood of success in practicing law after graduation.

Part-time students may enjoy an advantage in seeking employment because of the dedication and desire they demonstrated by obtaining their law school education while balancing the demands of work and family. However, the advanced life status of part-time graduates may also work against them in an employer’s eyes. Although many employers apply the philosophy of ‘Work first, God second — and family if there is any time left,’ former part-time students — unlike many of their younger full-time counterparts — may not rush to embrace that philosophy themselves. Having spent four or more years juggling work and family with the requirements of law school, part-time students may be disinclined to throw themselves with equal fervour into their new careers. However, given the part-time student’s minimum seventy-hours-per-week schedule during law school, employer and student alike should realise that even a sixty-hour work week will be a respite from the part-time student’s customary time commitment.

To maximise their participation in law school programs, part-time students can: (1) seek out information on programs such as panels, seminars, and presentations they cannot attend; (2) ask for classes, programs, or events outside of class to be recorded for later access by part-time students unable to attend the live presentation; (3) judiciously use personal leave or vacation time from work as a wise investment for a particularly interesting program or event; (4) contact speakers individually concerning programs of particular interest. E-mail and the Internet can facilitate this option at a time convenient for both parties; (5) take the initiative in asking for class assignments in advance, to avoid last-minute changes; (6) make a determined effort to participate more fully in law school social activities and service organisations. Such efforts add to an already busy schedule, but pay off in terms of friendships, networking, and emotional health.

Law schools can also seek out innovations that support part-time students, ease some of their challenges, and increase their involvement in the law school experience beyond mere class attendance. Such approaches could include: (1) revise grades and the advantages that flow from top grades (such as law review membership and access to better employment opportunities) to accommodate the different learning approaches among part-time law students; (2) develop programs and schedules that consider the time constraints of part-time students to foster ‘more meaningful participation and ... better and more successful academic programs.’; (3) include part-time students, along with students of colour, older students, and other nontraditional students, in formal academic support programs, not just students with marginal UGPA and LSAT scores; (4) encourage the treatment of part-time students as internally motivated adult learners. Incorporating role playing and teaching in context would allow part-time students to relate to the material, particularly in legal writing courses; (5) encourage professors and administrative staff to consider part-time students when scheduling office hours and other activities that require presence on campus; (6) allow students to bring children to class occasionally, on an emergency basis. Alternatively, the law school could establish a separate childcare facility on campus; (7) maintain the presence and visibility of security guards on campus day and night, with good parking lot lighting to make the campus more accessible; (8) recognise the unique accomplishments of part- time students with an annual award presented to an outstanding part-time student who has overcome exceptional obstacles to succeed in law school or who has enjoyed exceptional success; (9) connect part-time students with attorney mentors who have graduated from part-time programs and successfully navigated the transition from law student to lawyer; (10) ‘Offer some classes online.’; (11) ‘Charge tuition by the hour instead of in blocks.’; (12) consider implementing a schedule that allows for a regular time period during which career services programs would be held, professors would hold office hours, and administrative offices would stay open.

After examining the challenges part-time students face, one must wonder: if attending law school part-time is so difficult, why do so many students do it? The answer, as usual, is provided by the part- time student’s constant companion, the cost-benefit analysis. As adults with established careers and families that predate law school, part-time students face academic, time management, social, and work-related challenges unique to their circumstances. Meeting these challenges exacts a cost that every part-time student must pay. But while the part-time student’s sacrifices are great, the rewards are great as well. Achievement for achievement’s sake enhances self-esteem. Being part of a profession creates prestige and satisfaction, and allows meaningful participation in the operation of the justice system. Future economic benefits also help justify the sacrifices made during the law school years. Ultimately, the answer must be that the benefits outweigh the costs. By working twice as hard, by accomplishing thousands of major and minor tasks, and by evaluating and re-evaluating their needs and options, part-time students chip away at the larger goal they have set for themselves, sculpting their law school education from the raw materials of time, talent, desire, and diligence. One case at a time, one class at a time, one day at a time, one term at a time, one year at a time, part-time students are building the cathedral.