School of e-Discovery: Online Course Aims to Help Lawyers Bone Up
A 2010 study by Socha Consulting found an expanding, maturing e-discovery market, and the Socha-Gelbmann Electronic Discovery Survey says there’s money to be made by those who know how to work in that market. Trouble is, not many lawyers do.
Ralph Losey is trying to change that with a new online course. A partner in Jackson Lewis’ Orlando, Fla., office, Losey is the firm’s national e-discovery counsel; he also writes and teaches about e-discovery.
Losey says that lawyers have had limited opportunities to learn about the field, though some law schools do offer e-discovery courses, and many popular CLE programs address the legal and ethical issues surrounding electronically stored data.
Losey began offering his online course in late December. It has four levels, each divided into 15 modules covering different practical and theoretical aspects of electronic discovery, with some taught by Losey and others by guest lecturers.
The first module, covering why e-discovery is such a headache, what judges make of e-discovery, and other foundational topics, is free. After that, students pay to register. For $500, a student can sit in on all four levels of the class but can’t interact with instructors; $500 more entitles a student to interact with instructors. Another $500 allows students to take exams, leading to a certification of course completion.
“You’ve got to come up with some way to help people stay abreast of technology,” Losey says. “I’ve been working for over two years now to put this program together. I think this is the way we can make that leap.”
