Welcome back to Ahead of the Curve. I'm Karen Sloan, legal education editor at Law.com, and I'll be your host for this weekly look at innovation and notable developments in legal education.

Quick programming note: Ahead of the Curve will be off next week due to Labor Day and my cross country move to sunny California. (Wish me luck. I'll need it.)

This week, I'm chatting with Vikram Savkar, a law school casebooks guru from Wolters Kluwer, about legal education's steady embrace of digital textbooks. I'm also looking at a new environmental initiative at Pace University's Elizabeth Haub School of Law that has the campus ditching plastics straws and water bottles. And the University of Arkansas School of Law welcomes a reality star to the class.

Not signed up yet to get Ahead of the Curve sent to your inbox each week? Go here.

Please share your thoughts and feedback with me at [email protected] or on Twitter:@KarenSloanNLJ

|

The Casebooks of the Future Have Arrived

Physical casebooks will be a rare sight in law school classrooms in a decade or so.

That prediction comes from Vikram Savkar, who heads up the law and legal education division of casebook publisher Wolters Kluwer, which produces those ubiquitous red and black tomes.

I caught up with Savkar last week to discuss the fledging migration to digital casebooks, and how those online resources are making inroads with tradition-loving law faculties.

But let me back up. Digital law casebooks are still a relatively new phenomenon (despite the fact that it's 2018.) Wolters Kluwer launched its Connected Casebook initiative a mere four years ago and now offers digital, enhanced versions of many of its major casebook offerings. (The digital versions allow users to highlight and annotate, and offer hyperlinks to cases, among other features.) Back in 2014, 99 percent of law students were using only physical casebooks, Savkar said. Today, fully two-thirds of first-year law students use the Connected Casebook platform on a regular basis. The catch is that those digital adopters haven't yet ditched their actual textbooks. They're using both. That's partly because students don't want to be at a disadvantage in the event that their professors ban laptops from the classroom, Savkar said.

Wolter Kluwer spent about a year researching the market for digital casebooks and it learned some interesting things:

➤➤Today's law students are digital natives. Technology has been a part of their entire lives, particularly at the undergraduate level. They are comfortable with technology in the classroom and the transition into law school can seem like entering a tech deadzone.

➤➤They like the personalization that technology offers and the fact that digital educational resources can offer daily feedback and help gauge whether or not they are mastering the material.

➤➤They like the portability of digital resources: No need to lug heavy texts to the library, coffee, shop or other study haunts.

➤➤Today's students learn socially, and tech offers easy ways to connect with other students and share information.

So the students are keen on digital casebooks. What about the professors? Well, they're a mixed bag, Savkar told me. The youngest third of law faculties tend to be enthusiastic, especially since many used digital educational programs as students themselves. And many law faculty who have come on board with digital casebooks did so because of the positive experiences their students were having with them, he said. Area of expertise also plays a part in how open law faculty are to digital casebooks. Professors who study areas pertaining to technology tend to embrace digital casebooks. Constitutional law professors not so much.

Usage also varies by student, though Wolters Kulwer's data show that students generally use the digital ebooks more and more as the semester goes on. And the digital casebooks yield a richer experience for students, Savkar said. Even so, he doesn't expect print casebooks to disappear immediately.

“I don't think [law schools] are going to move from print to digital overnight,” he said. “I think that's a 10-year journey. What's at the heart of the journey is not student preferences. It's the faculty coming to realize the power of the digital tools.”

My take: Here's what I think most law students will want to know: Will it be cheaper for them once schools move to fully digital casebooks? Yes, according to Savkar. Wolters Kluwer offers casebooks in digital-only and digital/print combos, with the vast majority of students opting for the combo. But the digital-only versions are 30 percent cheaper. So it's fair to assume that a future where digital casebook are the norm should put a little money back in students' pockets.

|

The Straw that Broke the Law School's Back

Plastic straws and water bottles are no longer welcome at the Pace University Elizabeth Haub School of Law.

The White Plains, N.Y., school announced last week that it is eliminating plastic from its cafeteria in a bid to become one of the greenest campuses in the area.Plastic straws have been replaced by paper ones and students will dine on china plates instead of paper ones using metal flatware. No paper plates or plastic bottle will be used at any campus events. In lieu of plastic water bottles, the school will provide “water-filled bubblers.” That last one sent me to Google, which informed me that it's just a weird way to say drinking fountain, albeit the ones that are designed to easily refill reusable water bottle.

“Plastic pollution is one of the most urgent environmental issues facing our planet, said environmental law professor Jason Czarnezki. “It is estimated that by 2050, there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish by weight. The law school is taking a first and necessary step to help confront this crisis and enact more sustainable practices.”

It makes sense that Pace would be an early adopter of green initiatives amid the law school crowd. Not only does it have a well known environmental law program, but it was renamed in 2016 to honor philanthropist and environmental advocate Elizabeth Haub.

The no-plastic initiative got a thumbs up from the Wildlife Conservation Society.“WCS applauds the Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University for taking a strong stance against plastic pollution, and setting an excellent example in Westchester as well as the broader New York academic and legal community,” said society vice president John Calvelli.

The takeaway: This is a cool project, and one that should be easy to replicate at other law campuses. I don't want to give the impression that law schools aren't already taking steps to get greener. Most have recycling initiatives and a number of law campuses are LEED certified—a designation bestowed on buildings that are environmentally responsible and energy efficient. But ditching straws and water bottles is a small but meaningful step in the right direction.

The Reality Star on Campus

Sure, Georgetown University Law Center wins by a mile when it comes to student star power, thanks to Tiffany Trump's spot in the 2L class. If you want to read how that's going, check out this Washington Post article. But it turns out the University of Arkansas School of Law also has a television face in the midst of its 1L class, albeit a less recognizable one. Derick Dillard, the husband of 19 Kids and Counting star Jill Dugger just started at the school. I'm a little out of my depth on the Dugger clan's various reality shows, but I do know that the family is, ahem, large. Thanks to In Touch Weekly and other tabloids, I sort of have a handle on this. Apparently Jill Dugger is on a spinoff show called Counting On.

But Derick Dillard was reportedly kicked off Counting On last year for making disparaging comments on social media about Jazz Jennings, a transgender teen who appears on another TLC reality show. (Still with me?) Anyway, Jill Dugger posted photos of her husband all dressed up for his first day of law school. Good luck!

Extra Credit Reading

A number of law schools have seen double-digit growth in the size of their first-year classes, thanks to the 8 percent increase in the number of people applying nationwide.

Are hybrid J.D. programs the wave of the future? The University of Denver Sturm College of Law is the latest to launch a program that combines online courses with weekend classes for part-time students.

New York University's medical school has eliminated tuition for students, but legal education experts don't expect to see law schools follow suit, thanks in part to the fact that law schools are more dependent on tuition than are medical schools.

Thanks for reading Ahead of the Curve.

I'll be back in two weeks with more news and updates on the future of legal education. Until then, keep in touch at [email protected]