ABA Journal, 4 Online Law Programs Join Forces to Let Students Swap Courses:
Students at four law schools [Lincoln Memorial, Southwestern, St. Mary’s, Suffolk] will be able to take high-level, specialized courses at the other three ABA-accredited schools for no cost and little paperwork hassle starting in spring 2026. [Each of these schools have] well-established online programs [and] will put forward a few seats in some of their synchronous distance learning classes for students from the other schools. …
In October 2022, Suffolk Law Dean Andrew Perlman reached out to deans at schools with established online programs, asking who might be interested in exploring an exchange of online courses, says Patricia Roberts, dean at St. Mary’s Law. After an initial meeting at the Association of American Law Schools in early 2024, discussions among Perlman and the other three deans continued via Zoom meetings until an agreement was reached, she adds. …
“Early on, we decided that no funds would be paid by the student partaking of a consortium course to the partner school, only to the home school,” St. Mary’s Law’s Roberts says. “That took a lot of the complications out.”
Each school determines how many seats will be available to outside students on a semester-by-semester basis, says Darby Dickerson, dean of Southwestern Law, “with the idea that each school will offer a similar number of seats over a period of years.” …
The agreement aims to balance the inflows and outflows over time, Suffolk’s Teninbaum says. “If we accept 10 student seats across a number of classes over the next two years, we want and expect 10 of our students to be able to go out elsewhere.” …
Eventually, more schools could join the consortium, Roberts says. “This initial group of leaders was collegial, determined and thoughtful in designing a framework that would be effective not only for the original partner schools, but also for those who may join moving forward.”
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