Can Lawyers survive the Internet revolution?

I'm definitely coming around to the idea that the Internet revolution (we're only at the beginning) is as big or bigger than the Industrial revolution. The world will be as different as a result.

I've started taking an online graduate course at www.capella.edu It's a fascinating process. We all have a textbook, receive homework, must post comments and respond to our classmates, and submit a term paper. The flexibility is tremendous and with profiles and pictures of my classmates, I have begun to identify with some of them. It costs $1630 per 4 credit course, so it isn't cheap, but there's value and the fact that the class conforms to my schedule-not the other way around-is of tremendous value.

I've heard a lot recently about law firms becoming more and more open, shall we say, about the fact that they are a business and the need for associates who wish to become partner to really show their value-add to the firm. It seems that if you are managing a business, you want to minimize the costs associated with the internal processes. One of these, for a law firm, is the document related work that junior associates perform.

So, it seems like there is a market opportunity for an ABA accredited law school to start offering online courses and degrees to foreign, English speaking students (India, Ireland, or Ghana, for example) as a way to generate additional revenue. Since, I'm told, you don't need to be an American citizen in order to be a member of the Bar, those students could take a course (either online or in person-perhaps a law firm would fund the trip) and get certified for the Bar. Then, instead of the $110k or whatever a 1st year associate gets paid, the firm could pay a foreign-born, foreign-living, American law school-educated, Bar member associate 1/3rd or 1/2 of that. Some of the savings would be passed on to clients, the rest goes into the partners' pockets.

It may not happen overnight, but why not?