Sunbelt Blog

Online Courses and Lectures for the Legal Profession

Though you were done with law school? Not so fast! We all know how important it is to stay informed, and the Internet is loaded with online lectures, videos, and courses just for you. For example, did you know you can take a free video course covering copyright law from MIT? Or a course titled Climate Change: Law and Policy from UC Berkeley?

Finding Law Courses Online

One of your first stops as you search for online legal training is your own law school. For example, you'll find dozens of "webcast" courses as well as live and on-demand lectures at UC Berkeley's Web site. Many of these courses are freely offered regardless of whether or not you went to school there. Check your alma mater's Web site for online courses and you may be surprised at what's available.

But don't stop there, especially if your law school doesn't offer courses of interest to you. Try a site such as AcademicEarth.org where you'll find courses and lectures from prominent scholars, law professors, and universities. Participating universities include: Yale, Berkeley, UCLA, Stanford, Columbia, Harvard, Princeton, NYU, Michigan, and MIT. While several law courses are offered, AcademicEarth also offers courses covering other topics such as architecture, biology, history, medicine, international relations, computer science, economics, media studies, political science, and more.

In fact, taking a course in a different field such as computer science could help you prepare for a case involving technology or give you a better understanding of the technologies that you must use in your practice. Courses on the AcademicEarth.org site vary in length with each course consisting of a series of online lectures that you watch on your computer. Each course is also self-paced and available on demand. You do not need to register or sign in to a course interface. Simply browse the course list and click the video lectures that you want to watch.

JURIST: The Legal Education Network, which is headed by Professor Bernard J. Hibbitts of the University of Pittsburg School of Law, is yet another terrific source of legal videos. The law school video lectures available on the JURIST site appear to be older, dating back to the early 2000s. However, when taken in historical context, these videos may provide you with insight into laws of the time. In addition, many of the lectures remain relevant today, despite their older recording dates. Among the speakers featured on this site are: Hillary Clinton speaking about Supreme Court appointments in 2000, Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor speaking about growing up in the southwest in 2002, and Dean Anthony Kronman speaking about great moments in law in the 20th century in 2001.

Law Lectures Online

Another terrific source of legal lectures is the Ted.com Web site. The lectures are commonly known as "Ted Talks." Where the AcademicEarth.org site is neatly categorized, Ted.com isn't quite as intuitive when looking for talks (lectures) specific to a certain category. Instead, it lists "riveting talks by remarkable people" categorized by popularity, release date, and other characteristics such as "persuasive," "courageous," and "fascinating."

While fine for casual browsing, you're looking for specific legal talks. Use the search box to find talks covering law or legal issues. For example, a simple search for the term "law" listed 133 results including: Larry Lessig talking about laws that choke creativity, Philip K. Howard discussing four ways to fix a broken legal system, and Sunitha Krishnan answering questions about the sex trade.

There's a wealth of legal information in video form out there. Have you accessed any of it? Do you have any favorite sources not covered in this post? Feel free to share with the rest of us!