Speak Forcefully

Internet Law School in 1926

I know, I know. There WAS no Internet in 1926, but there was a magazine called "Business" and I own a copy of the November 1926 edition - and the contents are downright amazing to me. The Blackstone Institute was an online, er, I mean - correspondance school for earning a law degree. Until the ABA took over circa 1952, the majority of practicing lawyers in the country were trained using what I often call the "Abe Lincoln" method i.e. they were self-taught.

You'll need to click on the picture and save it or magnify it to read the ad. Funny thing is - it's not the only ad in the magazine for earning a law degree (or business or accounting degree for that matter). It was not unusual or out of the norm to sit for the bar after completing an online, oops, correspondance course in law. In some cases it was a side-income for judges who would either teach law at night out of their home or in a church, or even create their own courses and sell them by mail.

Can you imagine? "Hey, Jones - done with studying law yet? Only two months into it eh, but you're planning to sit for the bar next month? Excellent. When you pass the bar we'll raise your salary."

posted by majqa @ 9:59 PM