The Washington Online Learning Institute
Originally published on LegalAssistantToday.com, May 2, 2007
By Lyndsey Schaefer
The Washington Online Learning Institute, an online school with offices in New Hampshire and New York, provides a unique twist to its paralegal education program: customized paralegal training for law firms, businesses and government agencies. The training courses are customized according to client needs and give paralegals specific skills applicable to their jobs.
Founded by Kenneth Herndon and Michael Koplen in 1999, WOLI is accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools, and is licensed by the New Hampshire Postsecondary Education Commission. Students not only include people in the United States, but also people from overseas, the military and U.S. companies in foreign countries.
WOLI began offering customized paralegal training in 2003 when its course catalog was expanded to include specialty courses, such as intellectual property law, immigration law, contracts, e-discovery and alternative dispute resolution. Herndon said that the idea for the customized training came from talking to law firms about their needs. He found that many people working as paralegals needed more education in certain areas of their job.
“They might be working in a different project area and need more training,” Herndon said. “Companies come to us to develop a customized training plan for an employee or a group of employees to achieve these goals. Our whole philosophy is to be accommodating in terms of scheduling, adjusting curriculum, providing performance reports to supervisors and so forth. It’s a natural fit for us to work with a company that wants to design a specific curriculum that meets their precise training needs.”
According to Herndon, some companies and firms desire training plans for valued employees who might not be fully trained as paralegals yet show promise. Companies and firms are interested in retaining these individuals and helping them advance in the company by providing training. WOLI also offers cross-training for underutilized paralegals. By training paralegals and legal assistants in other areas and specialties, they can be assigned to work with other attorneys as needed, providing more flexibility in a company or firm’s workforce, which translates into lower costs and higher profits.
For more information about WOLI’s customized paralegal training, go to www.woli.com.