In contrast, electronic dialogues can be posted to the entire class so that others can benefit from the exchange. The on-line dialogues also help to replicate the law firm dynamic, where members can walk into each other's offices and work through legal problems together. Students are also required to submit weekly reaction papers discussing the readings. The students post the papers on the net and all students are required to read each other's papers before class. This makes for livelier class room discussions because students typically think things through more carefully if they write about them before hand and because they are familiar with each other's views before the discussions start.
Students behave as law firm colleagues with the computer literate helping the less sophisticated.
This helps convey the need for teamwork in working as lawyers. Students can also post their major written assignments on the law school network, and I can return edited versions to them over the net. The lessons learned in the course on civil rights and police reform through the use of the network and the electronic book can be used to expand electronic offerings at other law schools. We intend to use the lessons learned from producing the electronic book in order to build an electronic Legal Defense Fund. The Legal Defense Fund has offices in New York, Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles, California.