Your Legal Education Online Partner
Collaborations to produce Online and Hybrid JD, Master’s, and Certificate programs
The emDigital Difference
Why should you consider emDigital for your online program needs?
Law School Knowledge
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emDigital focuses on law schools because, like you, law school is the world we know best. Our mission is to help law schools present online courses and programs that embody the high quality of our partners’ residential programs, while putting forward a path to a degree that allows to expanded access to those who wouldn’t otherwise be able to attend law school. This commitment is the same whether your online planning is focused on a Certificate, a Master’s program, or the JD degree.
Deep Industry Experience
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All of this means little without the skills needed to get a project from concept to execution as seamlessly as possible. emDigital leadership brought over 20 law school degree programs to successful launch, a valuable testament to what will be accomplished with your school's program.
Customized Work
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emDigital builds through the lens of law school, and especially law student success. There is no cookie-cutter approach with emDigital – our work is customized around your professors’ courses and is designed to have an impact. With emDigital, law school pedagogy is central to course build, not an afterthought.
Financial Support
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Our intimate knowledge of law schools extends to law school finances, where emDigital understands that you’re not always ready for the significant spend that comes with starting a new online degree program. Our approach involves making a major financial investment in the success of your program, allowing you to focus on curriculum and faculty. emDigital’s careful up-front planning also focuses on building the best path for law school revenue generation over multiple years.
Regulatory Expertise
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emDigital also provides expertise in navigating multiple regulatory environments. With experience in helping schools with ABA acquiescence and, if needed, regional and state regulators, we’re well positioned to assist with your applications, site visits, and appearances before regulatory bodies.
Just the Services You Need
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emDigital understands that law schools have evolved, especially during the pandemic. Synchronous and asynchronous are no longer foreign terms to your faculty. Because of this evolution, and the investment you and your university may have spent to build up your distance education knowledge and resources, we will tailor our collaboration to focus just on the services you need. emDigital is not in business to push unwanted services at law schools, but rather to complement the online abilities you already have.
Our Services
emDigital understands that a successful law school online program requires multiple areas to operate like clockwork. We’ll engage with you early on to map out needs and timelines, and set a strategic vision for your program, staying true to your law school’s mission and goals. Our work is built around law school needs in the following areas.
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Assessment of school capabilities to build, launch, and operate online programs, including prospective student surveys and other market feedback.
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Experienced guidance mapping out program deliverables and timelines, ensuring progress is made and goals are met.
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Mapping a curriculum that takes advantage of online teaching modalities, while maintaining fidelity to the law school’s current curriculum and pedagogical needs. Curriculum mapping also looks to maximize the impact of residential periods for hybrid (online + residential) structures.
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Designing and building online courses with experienced instructional designers assigned to work with law school faculty, setting clear learning outcomes and using online education best practices. While the focus in on asynchronous course builds, the design group will also assist with synchronous and residential courses as needed.
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Introducing faculty to the different paths for preparing online courses, especially asynchronous courses, while maintaining ultimate instructor control over content. Work in this area also looks to prepare faculty for their collaboration with an instructional designer.
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Targeted promotion of the law school’s online program, including drafting promotional campaigns, selecting optimal marketing channels, implementing SEO and SEM best practices, and effectively using social media for promotion and messaging. All of the above is done with a focus on expanding access to underserved audiences.
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Securing qualified leads from prospective students, allowing for a funnel of students both interested in the law school and likely to be admitted.
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Working with prospective students from lead generation to application, starting at pre-LSAT/GRE stage. Recruitment work includes personalized attention to each applicant’s needs in order to better understand their fit for the program, while maintaining a steady increase in student affinity for the school and ensuring an overall diverse applicant pool.
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Working to ensure minimal attrition, guiding students from acceptance to matriculation and from matriculation to graduation, including focusing on non-academic needs during students’ law school studies.
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Guidance on the process for approvals from regulatory bodies and the law school’s university/board, including drafting applications and preparation for approval meetings. This work builds on our experience with successful law school approval processes, including ABA acquiescence applications.
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Drafting multi-year revenue and expense budgets for online programs, working closely with law school and university CFOs. Work includes enrollment projections, discount needs, attrition estimates, and recommendations on school spending, including faculty compensation for developing online courses.
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Managing the technical aspects of the law school’s learning management system and online courses, including providing 24/7 student technical support, data and systems reporting to the law school, and exam administration.
Collaboration Models
emDigital recognizes that one size doesn’t fit all, especially as law schools and their universities have added online program resources and support during the pandemic. Therefore, we’re providing two methods of collaborating: Full Collaboration and Select Services. Which one is right for you? Right now we’ll give the lawyerly answer of “it depends”, but please contact us to assess your current capabilities and discuss which model fits best for your law school.
Full Collaboration
All emDigital Services and expertise needed to build, promote, and support your program
Revenue share to keep your up-front costs lower
Significant coordination among all areas supporting your program
A partner who is with you every step of the way to program success
Your needs covered from Day 1 – no additional add-ons necessary
Select Services
Customized solutions based on your needs and capabilities, adding only the emDigital Services you require
Pay for services only as they are provided
Build on the online capabilities and infrastructure you’ve put in place
Add additional services only when they’re needed
Avoid longer-term contracts and commitments
Industry News
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emDigital Partners with Detroit Mercy Law
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ABA Guide to Distance Education
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Online and Hybrid Learning Conference, University of Denver
Who We Are
emDigital is the brainchild of legal education veterans Steven Emanuel and Michael Gregory.
Steve Emanuel, Chairman of the Board
Steve is recognized as the pre-eminent authority in helping generations of students succeed in their law school classes. Steve began his work during his 1L year, when he could not understand Civil Procedure and decided to write up his own outline. He gained a sold grasp of the subject by composing the outline, emboldening him to then sell it to his fellow students. Others were drawn by the concise style and straightforward format of what would become the Emanuel Law Outline series. Working with his father Lazar, Steve founded Emanuel Publishing Corp, developing outlines to over a dozen subjects, and expanding his business to publish the highly regarded CrunchTimes, Law in a Flash, and Strategies & Tactics series. Steve sold his business to Aspen in 2001 but remains the main author for many series titles. Steve is a member of the New York, Connecticut, Maryland, and Virginia bars. He received his JD from Harvard Law School and his BA from Amherst College.
Contact Information:
914-834-1018
Michael Gregory, President & CEO
Mike is a long-time veteran of law school publishing. After a short time in practice, Mike realized that his love of law school was not replicated by a love of practicing law. He joined Little, Brown and Company’s law school division, focusing on casebook adoptions. For almost 20 years at Little, Brown and its successor company Aspen, Mike worked to understand the needs of law school faculty and students and to build and promote author-driven legal education content. He worked in a variety of senior positions, including as Director of Sales & Marketing and Director of Strategic Initiatives. In 2015 Mike joined Ken Randall (former University of Alabama law dean) at iLaw, where as Senior Vice President for Business Development he helped envision and launch over 20 law school online degree programs, including 4 online JDs. Mike is a member of the Massachusetts bar. He received his JD from Suffolk University Law School and his BA from Syracuse University.
Contact Information:
508-868-5032
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Contact Us
We look forward to speaking with you regarding your law school’s online course and program needs. Please complete the fields below and we’ll be in touch shortly.