Distance learning

Attorneys, Advocates, And The CDTA Vision

Attorneys, Advocates, And The CDTA Vision

“Law school teaches law students the law, but it doesn’t teach law students to be lawyers” is an oft-used well-known criticism of traditional law schools. As these traditional law schools chiefly focused on substantive learning through class discussion based on students’ reading and briefing cases, any desire to gain knowledge of the everyday skills related to the routine practice of law was primarily left to students to pursue solely on their own. Any desire to learn those skills that allow an attorney to advocate and assert the rights of clients was primarily left to students to pursue solely on their...

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Using Zoom To Enhance Your Law School Experience

Using Zoom To Enhance Your Law School Experience

At the California Desert Trial Academy, we are continuously seeking ways to better utilize online resources for the benefit of CDTA’s growing student body. This includes better ways for students and faculty to communicate. Zoom provides a reliable, feature-laden video communications experience for students and professors alike. Its’ value is obvious and importance cannot be overstated during the coronavirus pandemic. For many law students, Zoom will now do more than enhance their law school experience – Zoom will provide their law school experience. As of the beginning of spring, 2020, law students were trying to adjust to the dramatic alteration of...

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The Importance Of Maintaining Routines During Quarantine

The Importance Of Maintaining Routines During Quarantine

Everyday living as we know it has been changed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Social distancing and staying at home have become the norm taking us away from that in which we thrive. In the context of law school, this means that law students must find ways to maintain their routines to avoid falling behind and jeopardizing their graduation as scheduled. Any daily work or school routine has been seriously altered and disrupted by the pandemic. Many people are struggling to adapt and work or study remotely for the first time because of this unprecedented and unforeseen event. Unfortunately, there is no...

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CDTA: Distance Learning During Troubled Times

CDTA: Distance Learning During Troubled Times

As the coronavirus pandemic sweeps across the country affecting every institution without exception, colleges and universities rush to adapt to address the hardships and inconveniences caused by the global shutdown and implement mechanisms for distance learning. While many law schools have been slow to incorporate distance learning into their curriculums, the CDTA has been on the cutting edge from its inception and implemented new, innovative ways of training students to be exceptional attorney-advocates. The pandemic has removed a substantial degree of regularity from the lives of everyone who works or attends school. The CDTA made an early commitment to distance learning...

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CDTA: Making The Difference

CDTA: Making The Difference

When John Patrick Dolan and Irene Garcia Dolan were inspired to start the California Desert Trial Academy (CDTA) they wanted to provide a path to the legal profession that featured a more practical and modern approach to the way that law students were educated. The Dolans were inspired to not only train, educate, and develop students to be exceptional attorneys, but to also train them to be exceptional trial advocates. Simply put, the Dolans wanted the CDTA to provide a law school experience different from that offered by traditional schools. CDTA accepted its first class of students in 2012, focusing on a more...

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CDTA: Do It Online!

CDTA: Do It Online!

There has been a significant increase in the use of various technologies in education generally and the instruction of law in the 21st Century. The California Desert Trial Academy (CDTA) uses all modern forms of technology to help students, especially those who need to utilize the many facets of distance learning and online resources. Since the California Desert Trial Academy opened in September 2012, it has maintained its’ place on the cutting edge of technology and legal instruction. Distance Learning allows students to attend classes in real time, and interact with other students and professors, as they would if they were...

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Learning Through Archived Classes: An Invaluable Tool

Learning Through Archived Classes: An Invaluable Tool

The California Desert Trial Academy (CDTA) embraces modern technology that helps students learn and achieve academic and professional goals. In the past decades, there has been a significant increase in the use of various technologies in education generally and the instruction of law. Technology has allowed educational institutions at all levels to provide more techniques, options, and solutions for their students, including archived classes. The California Desert Trial Academy opened in September 2012, offering a unique approach to legal education in the 21st Century. Co-Founder and Dean John Patrick Dolan, a distinguished legal advocate in his own right, had the vision...

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CDTA: Never Too Far Away For Any Student

CDTA: Never Too Far Away For Any Student

The California Desert Trial Academy (CDTA) is located at 45-290 Fargo Street, Indio, California, in the Inland Empire. Just ten years ago, any resident of the Coachella Valley interested in becoming an attorney-advocate would have to travel quite a distance to attend class and receive a legal education. In 2020, this has changed because of the presence of the CDTA. However, anyone who lives a significant distance from the closest law school can take advantage of CDTA’s distance learning program, as well as those who live closer in Indio and its surrounding areas. The CDTA brings legal education to your home,...

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Law Under An Evening Sky

Law Under An Evening Sky

Just a few decades ago, if working spouses or parents wanted to attend law school, their choices would be limited to attending a school with a traditional morning-afternoon schedule. Also, unless they lived in a large urban area or college town with a law school, commuting was not an option. Thus, many prospective students, especially those in smaller remote locations such as the Inland Empire and Coachella Valley, would have to quit their jobs and travel or temporarily move just to attend law school. But times have changed, and there are now options for prospective law students all over America,...

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CDTA: On The Cutting Edge With Distance Learning

CDTA: On The Cutting Edge With Distance Learning

The California Desert Trial Academy (CDTA) brings legal education home. We’re on the cutting edge of modern, progressive 21st Century legal education. The use of distance learning in legal education is rapidly increasing. While many law schools have been slow to incorporate distance learning into their curriculums, the CDTA has implemented new, innovative ways of teaching students how to be attorney advocates. Not everyone can change their normal routine to attend law school on a regular basis. This is especially true when you consider that traditional law schools require your attendance for most of the day. Distance learning helps those who cannot...

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