Blackstone Career Institute

The Blackstone Career Institute is a distance education school offering home study programs (correspondence school) based in Allentown, Pennsylvania. It specializes in courses students can use to study at home or take online to advance their careers. It was founded in 1890.[1] Training includes courses that prepare a student for a career as a paralegal/legal Assistant, pharmacy technician, medical transcription, medical billing and coding, medical office assistant, dental office assistant, physical therapy aide, veterinary assistant and child care provider.

The Institute was preceded by the Blackstone College of Law (or Blackstone School of Law), an unaccredited correspondence law school. In 1948, the Federal Trade Commission ordered Blackstone to cease misrepresenting its qualifications as a law school, and characterized the institution as a "diploma mill".[2] It operated until the 1970s when it was reorganized.

History

In 1890, Blackstone College of Law was founded by William C. Sprague in Chicago.[3] The first correspondence law school,[4] students with a desire to study law were confronted with many difficulties. Most textbooks were written in a technical style which was difficult to understand. The texts dealt primarily with practice and procedure, while the branches of the law that pertain to business transactions, such as private corporations and partnerships, were not readily accessible for student use.

Around 1912, a group of prominent educators identified with the Chicago-based Blackstone Institute decided to prepare an up-to-date commentary dealing with the modern rules of law and their origin, nature, and growth. Eugene A. Gilmore, at the time Professor of Law at the University of Wisconsin and a member of the Educational Committee of the American Bar Association, was appointed Editor-in-Chief of the new series. The field of law was divided into sixty branches. The best authors for each subject were selected, and the decision was made to leave out as many of the Latin phrases, unnecessary technical matters, and useless citations as possible.

Reprganization

In the late 1970s, the educational component of the Blackstone Institute changed from a School of Law to a legal assistant/paralegal program of study. The Institute moved from Chicago to Dallas and assumed operations under the name Blackstone Paralegal Studies, Inc. Additional study units on legal research, ethics, and employment skills were added so that graduating students could sit for the prestigious Certified Legal Assistant (CLA) exam.

Direct Learning Systems, Inc., a distance education school, purchased the legal assistant/paralegal school from the retiring owner in September 2001. In December of that year, the school was moved to Emmaus, PA, and later relocated in the summer of 2007 to Allentown, PA.

Accreditation and licensing

The Blackstone Career Institute is privately licensed by the Pennsylvania Department of Education[5] and accredited by the Accrediting Commission of the Distance Education and Training Council (DETC), Washington, D.C., and the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools. The Blackstone Career Institute is recognized as an accredited school by the U.S. Department of Education.

Academic offerings

Blackstone Career Institute offers students the opportunity to learn at their own pace in effective, technology-driven programs and services focusing on course quality and student satisfaction. They offer career Diploma Courses, Continuing Education courses and Certificate courses.

Alumni
  • Nellie Brighton[6]
  • E. T. Behrens[7]

References
  1. Steve Sheppard, The History of Legal Education in the United States (1999), p. 70.
  2. In re Blackstone College of Law, Inc., Federal Trade Commission Decisions, Volume 44 (1948), p. 756-772.
  3. https://www.jstor.org/stable/42890562?read-now=1&seq=4#page_scan_tab_contents page 163
  4. https://digitalcommons.law.uidaho.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1576&context=faculty_scholarship
  5. blackstone.edu
  6. "Women's Legal History | Biographical Search". Women's Legal History.
  7. https://files.shsmo.org/manuscripts/columbia/C2413.pdf
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