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Posts Tagged ‘Legal education’

Twenty Scholars Join Texas A&M Law

Posted by William Byrnes on August 21, 2016


Texas A&M University recently jumped to rank #4 among the U.S. public universities (Money 2016).TAMU-Law-lockup-white

1. Lisa Alexander

Lisa Alexander is an expert in community development law, specializing in urban real estate, low-income housing law and policy, economic development, and urban reform. She has experience at the Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Inc. and was awarded an Equal Justice Works Fellowship. She is also a former Associate Editor of the ABAJournal of Affordable Housing & Community Development Law. She was named an “Emerging Leader” by the National Congress for Community and Economic Development. Coming to us from the University of Wisconsin Law School, Professor Alexander was recently appointed to the Wisconsin State Advisory Committee for the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.

2. William Byrnes

William Byrnes is a leading tax and financial crimes published author and co-author of eight Lexis treatises, a 10-volume Kluwer set, three Tax Facts books, and an 8-volume National Underwriter Wealth Planning treatise.   His weekly financial law and planning article is syndicated by American Legal Media (ALM).  Professor Byrnes pioneered online legal education in the early nineties and created the first online LL.M. offered by an ABA accredited law school.  He served a senior position of international tax for Coopers and Lybrand, specializing in transfer pricing.  He is a J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board (FFSB) and U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs (ECA) appointed specialist for tax law and legal pedagogy.

3. Irene Calboli

Irene Calboli specializes in intellectual property, European Union law, and international trade law. She has published numerous articles in journals such as the Illinois Law Review and Florida Law Review. She is the Co-Chair of the Professor Membership Team of the Academic Committee of the International Trademark Association and a member of the Executive Committee of the Art Law Section of the Association of American Law Schools. Professor Calboli formerly taught at Marquette University Law School.

4. Vanessa Casado Pérez

Vanessa Casado Pérez is a leading scholar on property and natural resources law. In several publications, she explores the role of property rights in water scarcity mitigation. She is affiliated with the Bill Lane Center for the American West, collaborating with the Water in the West program, a joint venture between the Center and the Woods Institute for the Environment. She has served as a research assistant at Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain, and the University of Chicago and New York University law schools. Professor Casado Perez joins us from Stanford University Law School where she was a Teaching Fellow of the LL.M. Program in Environmental Law & Policy and Lecturer in Law and coordinator of the Stanford Law Fellows’ research workshop.

5. Susan Fortney

Susan Fortney is one of the country’s foremost legal ethics and attorney malpractice scholars. She has authored many books and law review articles on these and other topics. She also serves on the editorial board for two American Bar Association journals. During her impressive career, Professor Fortney has also received many awards for outstanding teaching. She comes to Texas A&M from Hofstra University Law School. She also formerly served as Interim Dean of Texas Tech University School of Law.

6. Nuno Garoupa

Nuno Garoupa is a top scholar in comparative law and law & economics. He has published dozens of articles in journals such as the Illinois Law Review and the American Law and Economics Review. He received his Ph.D. in Economics from the University of York and also holds an LL.M. from the University of London. He has a long-established research interest in the economics of law and legal institutions. Professor Garoupa currently serves as President of the Fundação Francisco Manuel dos Santos in Portugal. He formerly taught at the University of Illinois College of Law.

7. Bill Henning

Bill Henning is a preeminent scholar in commercial law. Professor Henning has served as Executive Director of the Uniform Law Commission. He is a member of the Permanent Editorial Board for the Uniform Commercial Code, the American Law Institute, and the State Department’s Advisory Council on Private International Law. He currently serves as a member of the U.S. Delegation to the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law, Working Group VI.  Professor Henning formerly taught at the University of Alabama School of Law.

8. Luz Herrera

Luz Herrera will join us from the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law. She will serve as Associate Dean for Experiential Education. A leader in clinical programs, she also specializes in civil justice and wills and trusts. A former Senior Clinical Fellow at Harvard Law School, she has been recognized by the Daily Journal as among the 100 Top Attorneys in California and by the Mexican American Bar Association with the Cruz Reynoso Community Service Award.

9. Charlotte Ku

Dr. Charlotte Ku is an expert in international law and has published numerous books and articles in the field. She has also served as acting director at the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law at the University of Cambridge, as executive director and executive vice president of the American Society of International Law, and as a chair of the Board of Directors of the Academic Council on the United Nations System. Dr. Ku is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and is a member of the Board of Advisors, Strategic Studies Quarterly. Dr. Ku joins us from the University of Illinois College of Law, where she was a professor of law and assistant dean of graduate and international legal studies.

10. Glynn Lunney

Glynn Lunney is an expert in intellectual property law and also has a Ph.D. in economics. He specializes in patent, copyright and trademark law, unfair competition, and contracts. He has published in prestigious journals such as the Virginia Law Review and the Michigan Law Review. Professor Lunney has a special connection to Texas A&M as he attended the University as an undergraduate and received a degree in engineering. Professor Lunney formerly taught at Tulane University Law School.

11. William Magnuson

William Magnuson is a practicing attorney who focuses on mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance, and private equity. He joins us from the law firm of Graves Dougherty Hearon & Moody in Austin, Texas, and he previously worked in the mergers and acquisitions group at Sullivan and Cromwell. He has represented public and private companies in various industries involving both U.S. and cross-border transactions. He served as a Climenko Fellow and Lecturer on Law at Harvard Law School, and as a clerk to the Honorable Priscilla R. Owen of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. While he was a student at Harvard Law School, he served as Editor-in-Chief of the Harvard International Law Journal and continues to present at the Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance and Financial Regulation.

12. Jack Manhire

Dr. John T. (“Jack”) Manhire, Jr., former Chief of Legal Analysis for the IRS Office of Professional Responsibility and National Program Chair, Executive Education for the U.S. Treasury Executive Institute, is the Director of Program Development at Texas A&M University School of Law.  His prior positions include Director of Technical Analysis & Guidance (Policy and Procedure) for the IRS Taxpayer Advocate Service, Attorney-Advisor (Tax) to the IRS National Taxpayer Advocate and Division Chief, Tax Law for the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary National Office.  Jack’s scholarly interests primarily involve issues relating to tax compliance. His articles and essays appear in journals such as the University of Pennsylvania Law Review, Virginia Tax Review, the Iowa Law Review, and the Florida Tax Review, Journal on Policy and Complex Systems. Jack was a University Fellow (Ph.D. candidate) at Yale University where he was Editor of the Yale Journal of Law & the Humanities.

13. Fatma Marouf

Fatma Marouf, a top scholar in immigration law, refugee law and international human rights law, will create and direct our new Immigration Clinic. Her scholarship has examined issues such as the rights of mentally incompetent noncitizens, the use of restraints in removal proceedings, and the exclusion of DREAMers from the Affordable Care Act. She was also named a Bellow Scholar for her empirical research on the adjudication of immigration appeals in the federal courts. She has extensive experience representing immigrants at all levels of adjudication and has served as a consultant to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Professor Marouf joins us from University of Nevada, Las Vegas William S. Boyd School of Law, where she was co-director of the Immigration Clinic.

14. Thomas W. Mitchell

Thomas W. Mitchell is widely recognized as an expert in property law, land use, remedies and rural community development. He founded and directed the Program in Real Estate, Land Use, and Community Development, a multi-disciplinary program at the University of Wisconsin Law School where he was the Frederick W. and Vi Miller Chair in Law. He served as the primary drafter of the Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act, which was promulgated by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws (commonly known as the Uniform Law Commission), endorsed by the ABA and enacted into law thus far in eight states. The Act was also selected by the Council on State Governments for its 2013 Selected State Legislation publication which characterized it as comprehensive, innovative and a model statute.

15. Angela Morrison

Angela Morrison is an expert in employment and immigration law. She was previously the Legal Director of the Nevada Immigrant Resource Project, where she conducted outreach on immigration-related issues to community partners, governmental organizations, and immigrant communities. She also worked for the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission as a trial attorney. Professor Morrison formerly taught at UNLV School of Law.

16. Srividhya Ragavan

Srividhya Ragavan is an intellectual property expert, who has published numerous books and articles in the field. Her scholarship focuses on the relationship between international trade law and intellectual property. Professor Ragavan’s work is internationally recognized, particularly in India. Professor Ragavan has been associated with the various departments of the Indian government such as the Ministry of Human Resource Development. Professor Ragavan formerly taught at the University of Oklahoma College of Law.

17. Elizabeth Trujillo

Elizabeth Trujillo is a leading scholar in international economic law, specializing in the North American Free Trade Agreement, contracts, international trade, investment, and development. Her publications, which have appeared in law reviews, books, and peer-reviewed journals such as the Journal of International Economic Law, examine the relationship between international trade and investment with domestic regulatory structures. She is currently writing a book on international trade and sustainable development with Cambridge University Press. At the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law, she founded a J.D., LLB, L.E.D. tri-lateral degree program with universities in Mexico and Canada. Trujillo was a Visiting Scholar at Harvard Law School and at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law in Germany and is an Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Research Fellow. She comes to us from Suffolk University Law School in Boston where she previously served as the director of the international law concentration and was named “Latina Trailblazer in the Law” by the Massachusetts Association of Hispanic Attorneys.

18. Saurabh Vishnubhakat

Saurabh Vishnubhakat is an expert in intellectual property and patent law. He has published articles in journals such as the Florida Law Review and the Yale Journal of Law and Technology. He previously served in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, advising the agency’s chief economist and other leadership on patent policy. Profesor Vishnubhakat was also a faculty fellow at Duke Law School, where he taught patent law and researched bioinformatics innovation as well as economic and tort-theory aspects of patent litigation.

19. Michael K. Young

Michael K. Young, President of Texas A&M University, previously served as President and tenured Professor of Law at the University of Washington and President and Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of Utah. He served as Dean and Lobingier Professor of Comparative Law and Jurisprudence at the George Washington University Law School, and he was a professor at Columbia University for more than 20 years. He also has been a visiting professor and scholar at three universities in Japan. A graduate of Harvard Law School, President Young served as a law clerk to the late Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist of the U.S. Supreme Court, and he has held a number of government positions, including Deputy Under Secretary for Economic and Agricultural Affairs and Ambassador for Trade and Environmental Affairs in the Department of State during the administration of President George H.W. Bush.

20. Peter Yu

Peter Yu is a prolific scholar and an award-winning teacher. He is the author or editor of six books and more than 100 law review articles and book chapters. He has lectured and presented in more than 25 countries on six continents. He serves as the general editor ofThe WIPO Journal published by the World Intellectual Property Organization and chairs the Committee on International Intellectual Property of the American Branch of the International Law Association. Professor Yu formerly taught at Drake University Law School.

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Texas A&M Law Faculty Recruitment for 2017-2018

Posted by William Byrnes on August 1, 2016


TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW seeks to expand its academic program and its strong commitment to scholarship by hiring multiple exceptional faculty candidates for TAMU-Law-lockup-stack-SQUARE (1)contract, tenure-track, or tenured positions, with rank dependent on qualifications and experience.

Preference will be given to those with demonstrated outstanding scholarly achievement and strong classroom teaching skills.  Successful candidates will be expected to teach and engage in research and service.  While the law school welcomes applications in all subject areas, it particularly invites applications from:

  • Candidates who are interested in expanding and building on our innovative Intellectual Property and Technology Law Clinic (with concentrations in both trademarks and patents), or in one of our other acclaimed clinical areas, including Family Law and Benefits Clinic, Employment Mediation Clinic, Wills & Estates Clinic, Innocence Clinic, and Immigration Law Clinic; and
  • Candidates with an oil and gas law and/or energy law background, either domestic U.S. or international, who are interested in interdisciplinary research, teaching, and programmatic activities.

While the law school is primarily interested in entry-level candidates for the above positions, more experienced candidates may be considered to the extent that their qualifications respond to the law school’s needs and interests.

In addition, the law school welcomes lateral and highly experienced professionals for the following positions:

  • Candidates with experience in IP licensing and technology transfers, with relevant academic and/or professional science background, and who are interested in working and building synergies with the Texas A&M University’s College of Agricultural and Life Sciences
  • Candidates in the field of Alternative Dispute Resolution with a national or international reputation and stellar credentials in scholarship, teaching, and service, and with an interest in building our nationally ranked dispute resolution program;
  • Candidates in any field with a national or international reputation and stellar credentials in scholarship, teaching, and service;

Texas A&M University is a tier one research institution and American Association of Universities member.  The university consists of 16 colleges and schools that collectively rank among the top 20 higher education institutions nationwide in terms of research and development expenditures.

Over the past two years, Texas A&M University  has embarked on a program of investment for its School of Law that increased its entering class credentials and financial aid budgets, while shrinking the class size; attracted 19 new faculty members, including 12 prominent lateral hires; and substantially increased its career services, admissions, and student services staff.   The School of Law has also hired a senior U.S. Treasury expert.  The Texas A&M Law faculty is highly published,  already ranking #41 for article downloads among the top published 350 US and foreign  law faculties (SSRN 2016).

Texas A&M School of Law is located in the heart of downtown Fort Worth, one of the largest and fastest growing cities in the country.  The Fort Worth/Dallas area, with a total population in excess of six million people, offers a low cost of living, a strong economy, and access to world-class museums, restaurants, entertainment, and outdoor activities.

As an Equal Opportunity Employer, Texas A&M welcomes applications from a broad spectrum of qualified individuals who will enhance the rich diversity of the university’s academic community. Applicants should email a résumé and cover letter indicating research and teaching interests to Professor Gabriel Eckstein, Chair of the Faculty Appointments Committee, at appointments@law.tamu.edu.  Alternatively, résumés can be mailed to Professor Eckstein at Texas A&M University School of Law, 1515 Commerce Street, Fort Worth, Texas 76102-6509.

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Educational Teaching Methodologies to Reverse Declining Law School Enrollment

Posted by William Byrnes on July 28, 2015


read the CNN Report about the White Paper “Alternative Methods of Teaching and The Effectiveness of Distance Learning For Legal Education”.

The 26 page White Paper is available on SSRN

“legal education today has to be recalibrated so that it is innovative, cross-disciplinary, simultaneously accessible across global borders, and able to expand without millions of dollars for brick and mortar…”

“law schools are experiencing 40% less enrollment today than in years past and new standards are needed to reverse that decline. These new standards address the three missing elements in legal education today: …”

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Distance Education Workgroup September 18 – 20 Workshop and Best Practices Finalization

Posted by William Byrnes on August 11, 2014


Distance Education Workgroup September 18 – 20 Workshop and Best Practices Finalization

The Distance Education Work Group will meet at William Mitchell September 18 – 20 to complete a four year task consisting on hundreds of hours and input by more than 50 law schools from all tiers, and law publishers, of the Recommended Best Practices for Legal Education Leveraging Distance Learning Technologies.  There will as year before some show and tell by law professors of newest legal education integrated technologies being leveraged for courses, some social time to build relationships across schools, and … completion of the Best Practices Recommendations.

The Work Group has been meeting thrice annually, AALS plus a Fall and Spring report drafting and discussion workshop, supplemented by best practice subgroups’ online discussions.  About half the law schools have attended through a professor or Dean / Associate Dean, and approximately 50 from all tiers have provided continuous input for the drafting process.

Register to attend the workshop (there is no cost) at Event Brite: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/working-group-for-distance-learning-in-legal-education-fall-2014-meeting-registration-12051364957 or contact William Byrnes (williambyrnes@gmail.com)

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Videos of Prof. William Byrnes’ Presentations on Distance Education

Posted by William Byrnes on March 27, 2014


1st vimeo video: Associate Dean William Byrnes’ 15 minute presentation about distance learning to the 500 policy makers of India’s National Board of Accreditation http://vimeo.com/39260008#t=3549  (starts from 1:00:00 until 1:15.00)

2nd vimeo video: William Byrnes’ second 6 minute response presentation delivered in the afternoon to India’s National Board of Accreditation policy congress in response of questions of the plenary about his approach to distance learning http://vimeo.com/39264336#t=4959  (starts from 1:22.30 until 1.28.30)

TJSL’s Associate Dean for Graduate & Distance Education Programs William Byrnes was honored with the 2012 Education Leadership Award by the World Education Congress of India’s National Board of Accreditation that brought together 500 policy makers from many countries on all the continents to examine and develop best practice policies for higher (university and graduate) education.

Professor William Byrnes’ leadership and contribution to the field of education is well known,” said Chairman of Awards & Academic Committee Edward Smith. “The position that you occupy in the fraternity is strategic and iconic. As a thinker and doer you are a role model and a believer in change. I am pleased that the Jury and Council of Board members would like to confer the Education Leadership Award to you.”

Professor Byrnes pioneered online legal education in 1994, thereafter creating the first online LL.M. program offered by an ABA accredited law school. He is a key founding member of the Work Group for Distance Education in Legal Education that in 2013 published Distance Learning in Legal Education: A Summary of Delivery Models, Regulatory Issues and Recommended Practices (http://www.law.harvard.edu/programs/plp/pdf/Distance_Learning_in_Legal_Ed.pdf). The second edition of this Best Practices Report will be released shortly (see Working Group for Distance Learning in Legal Education on Harvard’s Program on the Legal Profession website: http://www.law.harvard.edu/programs/plp/pages/distance_learning_working_group.php)

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Best Practices for Distance Learning in Legal Education

Posted by William Byrnes on January 10, 2014


The American Association of Law Schools (AALS) President reported at the Sunday morning Section Officers’ breakfast on January 4, attended by Associate Dean William Byrnes of Thomas Jefferson School of Law, that this year’s conference had the second highest registration in AALS history.
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During the AALS annual conference in New York City, LexisNexis sponsored the breakfast held at the Hilton Midtown for the Workgroup on Distance Education for Legal Education. The sit down breakfast, filled at room capacity of stakeholders from among law schools, is the third annual breakfast during AALS and seventh meeting of the workgroup.

The Lexis sponsored breakfast provided Professor Rebecca Purdom (pictured left), renown environmental law academic and leader of Vermont Law School’s Environmental online program, the opportunity to lead a stakeholder discussion on the Workgroup’s Report of Best Practices before the second edition publication in March. Professor Purdom also presented the agenda of the March 2014 three-day Workgroup meeting sponsored by Washington University School of Law (St. Louis). Professor Purdom stated, “The Workgroup evolved from a 2011 project presented at the Harvard Law School – New York Law School initiative of conferences ‘The Future of Legal Education 2.0’. Over the past two years, law schools’ interest has substantially grown in the workgroup’s best practices and case examples output as the schools leap forward into providing online courses and programs for their JD and LLM students.”

William Byrnes, as chair of the Report subgroup (Best Practices for Distance Learning in Legal Education:  A “Blue Paper” Summary of Delivery Models, Regulatory Issues, and Recommended Practices), has been coordinating input from academics from a representation of backgrounds, law school rankings, and regions, discussing and organizing contributions from workgroup members. Replying to the question: “What were some of highlights of the AALS conference this year?” Professor Byrnes answered, “The most significant “wake up” call of the AALS conference was the presentation about the ABA variance granted William Mitchell College of Law for a flexible hybrid, distance delivered JD degree. The newly announced hybrid short residence – online JD degree combines intensive, one week on-campus seminars once a semester with online course work during the semester.  This variance is a game changer regarding thinking about delivery of U.S. legal education and I expect distance hybrid programs to be wildly popular.”

The American Bar Association general restrictions for earning distance education credits (Standard 306) are being relaxed as well.  Under current ABA accreditation standards, a JD student may not earn any distance education during the first year of law school, and after the first year the student is restricted to no more than four distance education credit hours in any one semester, and a maximum 12 credits total may apply to the juris doctorate degree.  The new accreditation standard (Standard 311) will remove the maximum distance education credits per semester restriction, and increase the allowance  to 15 credits toward the degree.  However, in light of the newly announced variance, it is expected that several schools will also seek to expand the curriculum and practice-oriented opportunities afforded by distance education, especially schools in low population density regions.

William Byrnes said “As the pioneer of distance learning delivered law degrees by ABA institutions, I am glad to see other law schools finally understanding the strengths offered by technology. At Thomas Jefferson, my understanding of distance education pedagogy has deepened, and is frequently called upon by other schools, promoting Thomas Jefferson an academic leader among the ABA schools.”  

“How will this impact students?”  William Byrnes continued “For students, it opens the possibility, by example, of combining 15 hours of distance credits for electives with externship credits and independent study credits to complete a full academic year while perhaps undertaking a practical externship in a foreign country.  The student could begin the overseas, practical experience in January of the second year and return December the third year, allowing a full  12 months immersion, and not be penalized with a late graduation.  The last semester at the home school is a good idea to allow the student to engage in the necessary local state bar procedure courses and other bar preparation common for impending graduate, as well as reintegrate with  student organizations and friends.  Of course, technology like video/web conference applications such as Skype, Google Chat, and Polycom allow students off campus to remain engaged with home school students organizations and the like.  Still, technology doesn’t replicate throwing frisbee on Pacific Beach with friends or replace the unexpected meeting at the Starbucks down the street from the law school.”

“Quality of education was a concern on many minds which I think will in turn increase interest in the workgroup’s best practices project and report. I also expect several more variances and online programs to be applied for in 2014”. Professor Byrnes concluded “The March 2014 distance education workgroup meeting has opened a third day to address requests from law schools to provide practical online course examples of tools and techniques.”

The first edition of the workgroup’s best practices report may be downloaded from the Harvard website.  The vastly expanded, and refined, second edition of Best Practices for Distance Learning in Legal Education:  A “Blue Paper” Summary of Delivery Models, Regulatory Issues, and Recommended Practices will be published at the March 6 – 8, 2014 workshop.  Contact William Byrnes for more details (https://profwilliambyrnes.com/about-2/).

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Interview with William H. Byrnes, IV, Associate Dean at Thomas Jefferson School of Law

Posted by William Byrnes on September 5, 2013


Professor William H. Byrnes was a pioneer of online legal education, creating the first LL.M. offered online through a law school accredited by the American Bar Association. Now as Associate Dean for Graduate & Distance Education Programs at Thomas Jefferson School of Law, Professor Byrnes teaches courses including Federal Tax, International Tax, and International Business Transactions. Professor Byrnes has an impressive record in academics and research, and was kind enough to set aside time to speak with MastersinAccounting.info

Read the full interview at > William Byrnes Interview <

How did your professional experiences shape your approach to the classroom?

As a Senior Manager then Associate Director of Coopers & Lybrand, a three year associate to a renowned senior figure in the international tax industry, and undertaking a three year fellowship at the International Bureau of Fiscal Documentation on the topic of transfer pricing. I advised clients in many countries. Large diverse multinational groups required a robust sensitivity for intercultural business practices and social differences.

In the nineties, I was a tax professor in South Africa during the time of its change to a full democracy with the corresponding upheavals. During those years, I experienced the challenges of classroom integration of cultures, languages, and economic backgrounds. Moreover, being a pioneer of online education in the field of tax during those years, I developed a pedagogical understanding of knowledge and expertise acquisition, and of mapping education processes to learning outcomes. …. .

I bring all of these experiences holistically to a “flipped” classroom, learner-centered approach.  ….

Read the full interview at > William Byrnes Interview <

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A Review of the Development of an Internet Delivered LL.M Program in the United States

Posted by William Byrnes on August 27, 2013


This entire article may be downloaded at > William Byrnes’ SSRN academic page <

This article reviews the development of the first Internet delivered LL.M program (i.e. LL.M. of International Tax and Offshore Financial Centers, the ‘Program’) in the United States.

The paper comprises four sections: In Part 1 the economics reasons for, and logistics considerations of, the Internet delivered Program are addressed. Part 2 reviews the pedagogical approach to legal education employed in the United States, criticisms thereof, and finally examines an emerging pedagogical trend in the United Kingdom. Part 3 reviews the teaching tools employed in the Program International Tax and Offshore Financial Centers, and Part 4 reviews the practical aspects of developing the Program, obtaining ABA acquiescence, and reviews the Internet delivered law courses that came before it. Finally, the article concludes with some personal observations.

In Part 1 the economics reasons for, and logistics considerations of, the Internet delivered Program are addressed.

Part 2 reviews the pedagogical approach to legal education employed in the United States, criticisms thereof, and finally examines an emerging pedagogical trend in the United Kingdom. In particular, this part concludes that the grounding of a LL.M (Masters) level legal education program exclusively using the Socratic method (case study) roots of traditional Juris Doctorate (graduate) legal education may neither meet the goals, nor produce the skills sought by this Program. By example, some legal education writers have negatively critiqued the primary use of the Socratic method in even graduate legal education’s pedagogy. The scope of the negative critiques are presented from the perspective of economic efficiency over educational quality, as well as the perspective of professional development, and also from the perspective of a feministic approach.  These critiques are followed by a review of suggested alternatives. This part ends with an examination of the emerging United Kingdom literature supporting a pedagogy based upon ‘student-centered learning’.

Part 3 reviews the teaching tools employed in the International Tax Program. Part 4 reviews the practical aspects of developing the Program, obtaining ABA acquiescence, and it reviews the Internet delivered law courses that came before it. Finally, the article concludes with some personal observations.

Keywords: LL.M Program, Legal Education in the US, Legal Education in the UK, Internet Delivered Law Courses, C&IT in Legal Education, CAL, CBL, Socratic Teaching Method, Alternatives to Socratic Teaching.

This entire article may be downloaded at > William Byrnes’ SSRN academic page <

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video interview with William Byrnes

Posted by William Byrnes on August 16, 2013


When William Byrnes returned to the United States in 1998 to establish the International Finance and Taxation program leveraging online communication technologies, both international tax programs and distance learning programs were in their infancy. Through engaging a renown and talented faculty of industry professionals, and the support of an immensely engaged student body from professional and financial service firms, the international tax program blossomed over the past 15 years to become a cutting edge industry leader that it is today.

Just recently, National Law Journal wrote “Perhaps no one in legal academia has more experience with online master’s degrees than William Byrnes, Associate Dean for Graduate and Distance Education Programs at Thomas Jefferson School of Law.” (May 20, 2013)

His article that reviews the development of the first Internet delivered LL.M program in the United States may be downloaded at > William Byrnes’ SSRN academic page <

The article comprises four sections: In Part 1 the economics reasons for, and logistics considerations of, the Internet delivered Program are addressed. Part 2 reviews the pedagogical approach to legal education employed in the United States, criticisms thereof, and finally examines an emerging pedagogical trend in the United Kingdom. Part 3 reviews the teaching tools employed in the LL.M. Program, and Part 4 reviews the practical aspects of developing the LL.M. Program, obtaining ABA acquiescence, and reviews the Internet delivered law courses that came before it. Finally, the article concludes with some personal observations.

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