Our friends at CALI (Center for Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction) are offering a free, nine-week online course in Digital Law Practice. The course begins next week, Friday Feb 10.

Registration's required but is free. Each class has a half-hour webcast lecture followed by questions and answers and an online exercise. There are no exams!

Why, you ask, would I want to take another course during law school? Aside from the chance you don't have enough to do (ahem), you'll get a chance to learn about the digital realities of the profession and practice of law. You'll see how real-life legal practice has rapidly evolved and how lawyers have to adapt.

Here's a blurb from the course page:

This course is designed to provide an overview of the changes that are occurring in the practice of law today, especially with respect to technology. It will introduce law students for real-world situations that they will encounter in the job market and point law professors to new avenues to cover in their courses.

Like much of CALI's content, the focus is US-based but much of it is not jurisdiction-specific. All the lessons are pertinent to discussions happening in the field in Canada as well, or, in the case of weeks 7 (legal research) and 9 (social media), are otherwise useful.

Folks familiar with digital practice topics have marvelled that the instructors are top in their fields and otherwise would command high course fees.

So, if you were looking for something to do Fridays from 11-noon PT...