Published in the Rockland County Times, March 28, 2002.

While other internet companies soared, then crashed and burned, two Rockland men created with their own web business which has flourished from day one. Almost three years ago, local attorney Michael A. Koplen and software engineering consultant Kenneth Herndon formed The Washington Online Learning Institute, an entirely online school which features a Paralegal Certificate Program and courses in various other subjects ranging from English literature to computer programming to gingerbread baking.

The school currently has a student body of several hundred, with students logging on from every State in the Union, and several foreign countries, including Korea and the Turks Cacaos islands in the South Pacific. With its global reach, the school continues to expand. The Washington Online Institute is fully accredited and has been featured in national education journals as a leader of the online education revolution.

Building an online school was not an easy task. "There is a lot of sweat equity in our school," says Herndon. "We spent a great deal of time and energy combining Mike's extensive legal background with my engineering experience to develop a comprehensive curriculum and a technically sound online classroom. Together, we were able to direct the course development, website design, and deployment of the online course materials. This process is ongoing, of course - we continue to this day to develop enhancements to our course offerings and to think of ways to utilize new technology as it becomes available to us."

Herndon and Koplen did their own homework before opening the doors of their new business to the public. The paralegal profession is one of the top-10 growing careers in the country. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that more than 150,000 new paralegal jobs will be created in the next 10 years. To the partners' delight, the school was an immediate success. Except for a slight dip after September 11, the school has enjoyed steady growth. Koplen directs a small team of instructors, and still teaches many of the legal courses. Herndon administers the day-to-day operations, and makes certain that the online classroom and website are functioning properly.

In May 2001, the school formed a partnership with the New York Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES), the official New York State education services bureau. "Partnering with BOCES was a real boost for us and for BOCES," said Koplen. "They wanted to offer a paralegal program to their students, so they came to us. Our partnership also allows us to offer all of the BOCES online courses to our students around the world."

Legal Assistant Today magazine profiled WOLI in its January 2002 edition as an outstanding online paralegal program along with the University of Maryland. As the school gained accreditation and then national recognition, law firms, corporations and other groups have sent their employees WOLI for an education. This month the Choctaw Indian nation from Wyoming has sent a student who wants to become a tribal judge.

Paralegal students pay tuition of $3,250. For this they get a ten month program of legal studies in such subjects as real estate, family law, bankruptcy, civil litigation, criminal law, legal research and writing, trusts, wills and estates, and other legal subjects. They get a full set of textbooks and a password for access to the Lexis-Nexis computerized legal database.

WOLI also offers individual four week courses from the paralegal curriculum to people who want to gain specific knowledge in just one legal subject. "We find that even business people like real estate professionals, insurance agents and entrepreneurs benefit greatly from our individual courses. In a short time, they gain a detailed understanding of the law in a particular area that is relevant to their business," Koplen explained.

As in traditional paralegal schools, Washington Online students are required to read extensively from textbooks and to participate in classroom discussion. However, the online format means that there are no scheduled class meetings that students must attend. All of the course materials, including lectures, assignments, quizzes and tests, are available online 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Students also are able to draft legal documents on their own computers then submit them online for review by the instructors and other students.

"One of the great things about our school," says Koplen, "is the interactive community that we have created. Unlike correspondence schools which merely mail material to students, Washington Online is a living, breathing academic community." Koplen says the students who want to be active get to know each other through the discussion forums and chat rooms, even though they may live thousands of miles apart. Each and every day, the instructors log on and answer student's questions. "And unlike traditional classrooms, you never need to miss a lecture. Just log on at your convenience, and the material is there for you to study."

Nearly 90% of the paralegal students are women, and many are moms who find it convenient to study from home. Koplen says the students by and large love the program because it is so convenient and easy to fit into a busy schedule. "The most satisfying aspect of all this," says Herndon, "is when our students pass the Final Examination and receive their Certification. We love to hear about their careers at law firms and corporations all over the country and the world."