Education Meets Web 2.0: PA Professor Transcends Barriers to Bring National Law Practice Management

Online, October 17, 2009 (Newswire.com) - Students studying law firm management at Penn College experienced a rare educational treat on Wednesday, October 7th, as national law firm marketing expert and leading authority on law firm practice management, RJon Robins, taught the Pennsylvania class of 50 students without ever stepping foot outside his South Florida home.

Essentially, Robins was asked to teach the class via live webcast, which is symbolic of the creative new way professors are using technology to bring a richer and more diverse educational experience to the classroom.

"I decided to pursue Web 2.0 avenues in bringing experts into the classroom because our school is remote to all major market law firms, so pulling a speaker from a large law firm would require more time and advance notice than what I had," says Penn College professor of Law Practice Management, George Role.

He continues, "RJon's gracious offer of a web conference was an example to our students of how technology can enhance, improve, and enlarge our ability to provide more effective and cost-efficient legal services."

This "web 2.0" relationship between the two essentially started when Role began utilizing Robin's You Tube videos and blog posts to give his students a break from the traditional, albeit boring, law practice management curriculum. Loving Robins' fresh, fun and reality-style approach to teaching, the students immediately took to his materials and looked forward to Role's use of them in class each week.

"When I was writing the Law Practice Administration course for this semester, I was trying to find a way to add some fun to an otherwise dry set of weekly chapter discussions. It occurred to me that RJon's short video bites would be a great way to present many topics from a real world small/solo firm, and out-of-the-box perspective. My students often laugh with him, always look forward to what he has to say, and appreciate his practical real-world insighst. Our class discussions run down an avenue that we most likely would not have ventured without the stimulation of ideas presented by RJon in his videos," says Role.

From the law practice management side, Robins is thrilled to be reaching more students and professionals than would be traditionally possible under his busy work and boating schedule by participating in webcasts from the comfort of his home.

"The issue of law firm management is so vital and has only recently been touched upon in schools by innovative and outside-the-box thinking professors like George Role," says Robins.

He continues, "Most law schools and paralegal schools merely teach students to think like a lawyer-not how to make a profit from the practice of law. But as any business person knows, if you don't have the skills to get clients, then you don't have any practice. And if you don't make any profit or know how to run the firm as a profitable business, it's not going to allow you to do anyone any good--- because broke lawyers don't do anyone any good, least of all themselves, certainly not their families. That's why it's so exciting to reach these students before they get stuck in a vicious cycle and end up hating the career path they worked so hard for. Being a lawyer or a paralegal really should be fun and profitable if you do it right".

Both Robins and Role hope this is the beginning of a new movement in connecting law students with more national experts and inspirational voices as a part of their overall educational experience.

About RJon Robins

RJon Robins is a formerly-floundering solo lawyer, turned Law Practice Management Advisor with The Florida Bar's world-famous Law Office Management Assistance Service (LOMAS). Today when he's not out on his boat teaching lawyers how to have more FUN at the practice of law RJon runs the website www.HowToMANAGEaSmallLawFirm.com where you can go to get Free Law Practice Management & Law Firm Marketing Samples.