Non-Trad, Online Law Students Win Moot Court Competition

Online schools are still striving to be respected. They gained a good deal of ground last weekend at the Regional Competition Rounds of the American Constitution Society’s (ACS) Constance Baker Motley Moot Court. Concord Law School students Marjorie Daily and Tom Fleming won the competition and will go on to compete in the nationals this summer in Washington D.C. Barry Currier wrote yesterday about this remarkable first for rethinkinghighereducation.com.

Daily and Fleming are both non-traditional, online law students at Concord. They beat competitors from schools like the University of Michigan, Duke, Berkeley, and Wayne State, teams of students that had practiced together in person, in the courtroom, with lots of mentors. How did they do it?

Currier asks a paragraph full of rhetorical questions, one of which was, "Could it be that the cyber hallways of Concord have the interactivity, collegiality, and professionalism that is in the air in the brick/mortar hallways of traditional law schools?"

He closes with this wish:

"As online programs, such as the one we offer at Concord, demonstrate through the successes of students and graduates that they deliver effective courses of study, then maybe the doors will open wider to solid programs like ours that expand educational access and opportunity."

Big congratulations to Daily and Fleming. We all gain from your win in court, moot or not. Thank you!