¹ For example, Lithuania declared the restoration of its independence on March 11, 1990. Its new Civil Code (including of course rules on contract law) came into effect upon June 1, 2001.Google Scholar

² Aviczer, Tucker Reproducing Incompetence: The Constitution of Czech Higher Education, 9 East European Constitutional Review, Nr. 3 94, 95 (2000) .Google Scholar

³ The important disciplines can all be taught on an a-national basis. A high-level course on contracts could be taught using the CISG, PECL, and UNIDROIT as a base. Similarly, the European Union has had a standardizing effect in other fields, such as environmental law and securities regulation, as well as competition law.Google Scholar

⁴ Press Release of November 16, 2001 in the International Bar Association News Bulletin as distributed by email in translated form by the Lithuanian Bar Association (Lietuvos advokatu taryba) on November 26, 2001. This is the only set of courses I have ever seen advertised in Eastern Europe.Google Scholar

⁵ There may be the odd course taught in this way, but there are no degree-bearing programs taught by distance learning. The first law course that I am aware of taught through asynchronous internet technology at VMU was taught by Jurate Vaiciukaite, then of VMU School of Law, in 2001.Google Scholar

⁶ I am not the first to voice such arguments. They can be found in nearly any normal discussion of the evaluation of student performance. For instance, see Keating, Daniel, Ten Law School Grading Myths, 76 Wash. U. L.Q. 171 (1998). Keating uses the term, “non-relative” to mean “criteria-based,” and argues that it is a myth that criteria-based evaluation is non-subjective, whereas it is quite subjective (or relative). “Non-relativity says that there is some absolute meaning that can be attached to an “A” or a “B” or a “C,” wholly apart from where that grade places a student within a particular class. … Perhaps we fall prey to the non-relativity myth because we are thinking back to our third-grade math class, where you either could do your multiplication tables correctly in the allotted time or you couldn't. In that setting there really was an absolute standard, and all the relevant parties could agree on what the appropriate minimum competence level was and how to measure it. Law school is not like that. Even if the faculty could agree on which skills were necessary for minimum competence, we could probably not agree on how to objectively assess them. And even if we could agree on how to assess them, there would be no way to ensure that different graders would be consistent in applying those assessments.” Id. at 173.Google Scholar

⁷ This discussion prior to grading (finally evaluating) is prevalent at Vytautas Magnus University (with the exception of the law school) as well as many others in the area.Google Scholar

⁸ The following is from the official report of the outside evaluating team which recently (2002) evaluated Vilnius University's law program. The team was headed by Carl Monk of the AALS and included Richard DeFriend, director of the Law College of England. “The students also complained about rampant cheating in exams, sometimes by very sophisticated methods. This problem seems to be so widespread that otherwise honest students feel discouraged because their efforts at memorizing the laws lead to lower grades than those obtained by their classmates who use inappropriate means. The students also informed the experts that some professors are apparently taking up the battle against cheating by electronic means, concretely by using devices for the detection of mobile phones and other means of improper communication between students in the examination room and outside helpers. The majority of the professors, however, were allegedly not much interested in the integrity of the examination procedures.” Kokybes siekiniai No. 6, (Vilnius: Studiju kokybes vertinimo centras, 2002, p. 48). The evaluation report is also available online at http://www.skvc.lt/siekiniai/A.3.htm Google Scholar

⁹ These were not law students, but VMU undergraduates.Google Scholar

¹⁰ The policy of VMU has been stated by the Secretary of the University, Assoc. Prof. Klebanskaja, Nina, to whom an article in a student newspaper attributed the explanation that at VMU “A student is not thrown of out the university, but receives a failing grade in the course [if caught].” Lietuvos studentu laikrastis Savas 2003 12 08d. Also available at http://www.savas.lt/savas.php/nr,151;psAkiratis#3.txt Google Scholar

¹¹ Language is increasingly not an issue, since the lingua franca of Europe is English.Google Scholar

¹² See for example the PhD programs via distance-learning at Middlesex University, UK, wherein a doctoral student is required to spend only two weeks in residency. http://www.mdx.ac.uk/research/degrees/index.htm#dislearn visited by Tadas Klimas on 2004 January 17.Google Scholar

¹³ 20 ABA credits equal 30 VMU credits. An ABA credit is a credit as defined by the American Bar Association in regulations pertaining to accreditation of American law schools.Google Scholar