Resources for CALI Representatives

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CALI TURNS 25
Since its inception, the nonprofit Center for Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction (CALI) has been a leader in using computers and technology for legal education purposes.

Chicago, Ill., August 28, 2007 - When CALI was founded in 1982, computers barely existed in law schools; a stark contrast to today when a majority of law school classrooms are wired for internet and nearly every student takes notes with a laptop. This year marks the 25th birthday of the nonprofit Center for Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction, or CALI (www.cali.org). And for those 25 years CALI has been an innovator, infusing technology into the very traditional world of law school and legal education.

WHAT IS CALI?
CALI is a non-profit consortium of law schools. “We’ve grown from a side project at Harvard Law School and The University of Minnesota Law School in 1982 to having nearly every US law school participate as a CALI member,” says John Mayer, CALI’s Executive Director. CALI welcomes membership from all law schools (including those outside of the US), paralegal programs, undergraduate programs, and law firms. CALI charges no membership dues for legal aid organizations, state/county libraries, and library schools that sign on as CALI members. For a list of CALI member organizations, visit cali.org/members.

CALI is best known for its Library of CALI Lessons, The Conference for Law School Computing, and CALI Excellence for the Future Awards. And with ground-breaking new projects in the works, CALI continues to advance its mission to better legal education through technology and innovation.

WHAT CALI DOES
CALI Lessons (www.cali.org/lessons) are interactive, computer-based tutorials written by law professors and librarians. Each lesson focuses on a certain aspect of a legal subject to help the user learn the law. CALI’s Library of Lessons has grown from a handful of rarely used lessons to over 675 tutorials in 33 different legal subject areas. CALI lessons were run over 925,000 times by students during the 2006-2007 school year. “Students today grew up on technology and demand to learn interactively. We meet that demand with our CALI Lessons,” says Mr. Mayer.

The CALI Conference for Law School Computing (CALI Conference), hosted by CALI at a chosen CALI member law school each year, has been advancing technology in legal education since 1991. For 15+ years, it has been the preeminent conference for law school IT professionals, librarians, and faculty. At the CALI Conference, these law school professionals collaborate and learn about innovation as it applies to legal education. The University of Maryland in Baltimore hosts the 2008 conference this summer.

Legal professionals will also find CALI’s influence listed on a number of recent law school graduates’ resumes. CALI Excellence for the Future Awards are given to the top performer in each law school course at many member schools and, thus, the awards carry a certain prestige. The awards made CALI a verb. “You’ll hear law students say ‘she CALI’ed Torts,’ or ‘he CALI’ed Property,’” says Mr. Mayer.

One of CALI’s newer projects in line with its nonprofit mission, CALI recently developed the authoring software used for the Access to Justice (A2J) Project. A2J Author software assists self-represented litigants by enabling non-technical authors to build and implement user-friendly, web-based interfaces for pro se document assembly. Several court systems throughout the US have implemented A2J to assist pro se litigants. See www.a2jauthor.org for more information.

THE FUTURE OF CALI
Moving forward, CALI hopes to expand current offerings while introducing a handful of new projects:

• Classcaster Podcasting and Blog Network (www.classcaster.org) is currently available. It offers free class blogs, podcasting, and support of such for law professors.
• MediaNotes (www.medianotes-app.com), created by Brigham Young University Law Professor Larry Farmer, is a video/audio tagging application which allows analysis and annotation of video/audio performances for use with courses like negotiations, trial advocacy, and more. CALI will work with BYU and Prof. Farmer in the distribution of MediaNotes to CALI member schools.
• ELangdell, currently in the planning stages, will be a web-based course pack and casebook assembly system for law professors.
• CALI Spaces is a personal legal education social community space for law students, faculty, and staff. CALI Spaces will be open to the public soon.
• Legal Education Commons will allow law school personnel to share legal education materials including syllabi, podcasts, presentations, and more. Faculty and librarians from CALI member schools can upload materials to the commons under a Creative Commons license that allows colleaues and students to find and use the materials.

CALI is very excited about these new projects. “We think projects like ELangdell, Legal Education Commons, and MediaNotes have a chance to fundamentally change the way law professors teach and the way law students learn for the better,” says Mr. Mayer. “It’s our job to help usher in innovation with projects like these so that schools can help students learn the law through technology.”

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ABOUT JOHN MAYER
John Mayer is an expert in the use of technology in legal education. He became the Executive Director of The Center for Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction (CALI) in 1994. Prior to CALI, John was the Director of Computing Services at Chicago-Kent College of Law for 7 years. Mr. Mayer has a BS in Computer Science from Northwestern University and an MS in Networks and Telecommunications from the Illinois Institute of Technology. Mr. Mayer is available for comments and questions related to legal education and technology. He can be reached at jmayer@cali.org.

ABOUT CALI
CALI is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit consortium of U.S. law schools. CALI’s mission is to research and develop computer-mediated legal instruction and support institutions and individuals using technology and distance learning in legal education. CALI was incorporated in 1982 and welcomes membership from law schools, paralegal programs, law firms, and individuals wishing to learn more about the law. Over 200 US law schools are a part of CALI. More information is available at www.cali.org.