Master of Business, Law and Technology (MBLT)

14.0 Master of Business, Law and Technology - Program and Registration Procedures

14.1 MBLT - Academic Program
14.2 MBLT - Length of Program
14.3 MBLT - Required Courses
14.4 MBLT - Elective Concentration Courses
14.5 MBLT - Registration Procedures

14.1 MBLT - Academic Program

A. Educational Objectives/Ineligibility for Bar Exam

The goal of the MBLT program is to provide working professionals with a practical knowledge of the law which will enable them to become informed and innovative problem solvers within the workplace. It is specifically designed for individuals who wish to obtain an advanced knowledge of the law and the American legal system, but who do not intend to become lawyers. The Master of Business, Law and Technology (MBLT)  Program is offered entirely online. The Committee of Bar Examiners of the State Bar of California requires that the following language be included in this Catalog:

Except as provided in rule 4.30 of the Admissions Rules (Legal Education in a foreign state or country), completion of a professional law degree program at this law school other than for the Juris Doctor degree does not qualify a student to take the California Bar Examination or satisfy the requirements for admission to practice law in California. It may not qualify a student to take the bar examination or to satisfy requirements for admission to the practice of law in any other jurisdiction. A student intending to seek admission to practice law should contact the admitting authority in the jurisdictions where the student intends to qualify to sit for the bar examination or to be admitted to practice for information regarding their legal education requirements.

The School has established three institution-wide learning competencies, Knowledge of Law, Practical Skills, and Ethical and Professional Values, as detailed in Section 3.5, Educational Objectives. For the Master of Business, Law and Technology program, the following Program Objectives and Student Learning Outcomes have been established:

B. Units/Hours

1. Program Requirements
    
   Students must successfully complete at least 30 units of credit to qualify for the MBLT degree.
    
2. Hours Required per Credit Hour
    
   A credit hour for an online course represents 15 hours of instructional activity (e.g., engagement with web-based instructional materials) based upon a 50-minute hour (“clock hour”) toward achieving specified student learning outcomes, therefore 360 clock hours of instruction are required for the degree. For online courses, the 15 hours of instructional activity may include but are not limited to synchronous or asynchronous lectures or webinars, interactive tutorials, and online discussions. A credit hour also assumes an additional 30 hours of homework, studying, and/or research. A credit hour for practicum, fieldwork, or internship coursework represents 45 hours of applied practice and weekly seminar/supervision. Partial credits are not granted.
    
   Distance Online or Hybrid Course
   
   For distance online or hybrid courses, the total hours of work typically required for any class of work reflects: 1) synchronous and asynchronous components that facilitate faculty-student and student-student interaction (virtual classrooms, discussion boards, and chats) and 2) independent learning components (readings, recorded lectures, written assignments, and quizzes). Each distance online or hybrid course constitutes the following:
   1. 3-unit course: 45 clock hours of synchronous/asynchronous interaction and up to 135 hours of independent learning.
   2. 2-unit course: 30 clock hours of synchronous/asynchronous interaction and up to 90 hours of independent learning.
   3. 1-unit course: 15 clock hours of synchronous/asynchronous interaction and up to 45 hours of independent learning.

For the 30-credit hour MBLT program, up to 1,800 hours of interaction and independent study are expected for the degree.

14.2 MBLT - Length of Program

1. Course and Program Length
    
   The MBLT program is a part-time online program. Courses in the MBLT program can be taught over eight weeks or 15 weeks. For 8-week courses, in week 8, instruction ends on the first Monday. Each class meeting begins on Monday and each class meeting, other than week 8, ends on Sunday. For 15-week courses, in week 15, instruction ends on the first Monday. Each class meeting begins on Monday and each class meeting other than week 15 ends on Sunday, Exceptions may occur and will be announced by e-mail. Students are cautioned not to make discretionary plans that will prevent them from participating in the online class or completing course assignments
    
   Each academic year consists of three semesters, each of which has two terms, so that six terms (Fall 1, Fall 2, Spring 1, Spring 2, Summer 1, and Summer 2) per year are offered. 15 week courses run through an entire semester. Students may begin their studies in the MBLT program three times each year: Fall 1, Spring 1, and Summer 1. See MBLT Academic Calendar.
    
   The program is offered as a 30-unit program. The 30-unit program is designed to be completed in 10 terms; with intersessions, most students will complete the program in about 1 year and eight months.
    
   Students must complete all requirements for the MBLT degree within three years of beginning the program.
    
2. Units per Term
   1. Traditional Path​:

It is anticipated that a student typically will complete one course per term (3 units), and then complete the 3-unit Capstone course during the last semester of enrollment. Some courses are offered for 1 or 2 units; students are encouraged to meet with their program to ensure they are on track to graduate. Subject to availability of courses, students wishing to enroll in more than one course per term should contact the program administration.

2. Accelerated Path:

Students enrolled in the Master of Business, Law, and Technology (MBLT) program may apply to accelerate their degree after successfully completing their first semester (2 terms of 1 course per term) or by invitation of the program Dean. The accelerated track allows students to complete their degree in 6-7 terms (approximately 14 months) instead of the standard 10 terms (approximately 21 months), by enrolling in 2 courses per term. Degrees for students in the accelerated track will be conferred within one month of meeting all graduation requirements.

Eligibility Criteria 

To qualify for the accelerated track, students must meet the following criteria: 

1. Cumulative GPA Requirement: Achieve a cumulative GPA of 3.7 or higher (on a 4.0 scale, equivalent to an A- or better) by the end of the first term. 
2. GPA Maintenance Requirement: Students must maintain a 3.7 or higher cumulative GPA throughout their accelerated program. 
3. Commit to completing 6 units per term while maintaining satisfactory academic progress, as outlined in Section 15.5. 
4. Faculty for student’s first semester courses must recommend the student for the program. 
5. Apply and obtain approval from the Associate Dean of Graduate Programs. 

Suggested Course Load Plan 

Students will complete their degree in 7 terms by enrolling in 1 course during their 6th term and completing the Capstone course as a stand-alone course in their 7th term.

3. A student’s program may, of necessity, be required to depart from the above norms in special situations, such as when a student is on probation, is a transfer student, or has interrupted the customary sequence of study for any reason.
    
4. Each student is responsible for planning their own program, within the limits of the School’s policies, so as to complete all course and graduation requirements within the time limits stated above. Graduation likely will be delayed for students who do not adhere to the typical sequence of courses. The School has no provisions for partial course credit, so students may find it necessary to complete more than the required units of credit to meet graduation requirements.
    
5. Any deviation from the prescribed program must be approved by the Associate Dean.

14.3 MBLT - Required Courses

1. The curriculum consists of required courses and elective courses.
2. To graduate, students must complete 12 units of required courses, including each of those listed below, and 18 units of elective courses. The Capstone is designed to be taken as the student’s last course, or within six units of graduation.
3. Students who hold a Juris Doctor (JD) degree are ineligible to enroll in MA 506 Foundational Legal Skills. This exemption is automatic and does not require approval. Students who qualify must substitute an elective course in place of MA 506 to meet the program’s required 30 credit unit total.  
4. Students who do not hold a JD but have significant prior experience in legal research, writing, and analysis may request a waiver from the requirement of MA 506 Foundational Legal Skills. To be considered, the student must obtain a written recommendation from the faculty member currently assigned to teach MA 506. Final approval must be granted by the Associate Dean of the MBLT program or their designee. Upon approval, the student must substitute an elective course in place of MA 506 to meet the program’s required 30 credit unit total. All waiver requests must be submitted prior to registration in the replacement course. 
5. All courses are letter-graded unless otherwise specificed at the time of registration or at the discretion of the Dean.  Note: All courses are offered in irregular rotation, depending in part on student enrollment in each concentration and faculty availability.
    

MA 506 Foundational Legal Skills  (3 units)

MA 508 eLawyering  (3 units)

MA 550 Capstone   (3 units)
 

Choose ONE of the following courses:

MA 500 Privacy Dilemmas  (3 units)

MA 510 Regulation and Compliance  (3 units)

MA 512 Data Security and Breach  (3 units)

1. Courses are scheduled in a mixed cycle of required and elective courses. Before enrolling in an elective course, MBLT students must first successfully complete two of the required core courses, Professional Legal Skills and eLawyering. To successfully complete a required course, a student must earn at least a C+. Students seeking an exception to this requirement must petition the Dean or their designee.
2. Courses must be taken during the cycle or postponed until offered again. Advisors will inform students of the planned cycle of courses. Postponement likely will delay graduation.
3. A student must complete Foundational Legal Skills and eLawyering during their first semester of enrollment. Thereafter the student will complete one course in each subsequent term in which the student is enrolled. The student must complete 18 elective units. If the student chooses a concentration or two, then they must complete 9 units in each chosen concentration.

14.4 MBLT - Elective Concentration Courses

1. In addition to 12 units of required coursework, students must complete an additional 18 units (6 courses) of elective coursework to graduate. Students who complete 9 units (3 courses) under a particular concentration will, upon graduation, have that concentration designated on their transcript.  If a required course is listed under a concentration, it may be counted toward that concentration.  A course may be counted only once toward a concentration. 
2. MBLT Residency Program (optional)During the student’s enrollment, several weekend Innovation Skills Residency courses will be offered during which students will have the opportunity to engage in discussions with faculty and leaders in the legal profession, government, or other fields. Each student may participate in Innovation Skills Residency Weekends while enrolled by choosing to enroll in the Innovation Skills Residency course when it is offered. Students may take Innovation Skills Residency courses in concentrations outside of their chosen concentrations.
3. Elective Concentration Courses
   1. Each student may elect up to two concentrations (Business Operations, Entrepreneurship, Emerging Law, or Technology) and, prior to graduation, complete all required courses and sufficient elective “concentration” courses as needed to fulfill program unit requirements.

Business Operations Concentration Courses

MA 510 Regulation and Compliance  (3 units)

MA 512 Data Security and Breach  (3 units)

MA 514 Litigation Operations  (3 units)

MA 517 Litigation and Its Alternatives  (3 units)

MA 518 Law Practice Management  (3 units)

MA 519 Project Management  (3 units)

MA 521 Building Legal AI Chatbots  (3 units)

MA 523 Cyber Threats: Legal Preparation and Response  (3 units)

MA 525 Agency Petitioning and Advocacy  (3 units) 

MA 535 Data Science in Law and Policy  (3 units)
 

Entrepreneurship Concentration Courses

MA 500 Privacy Dilemmas  (3 units)

MA 512 Data Security and Breach  (3 units)

MA 520 Introduction to Start-up Law  (3 units)

MA 522 Building Legal Applications: Document Automations and Expert Systems  (3 units)

MA 525 Agency Petitioning and Advocacy  (3 units)

MA 531 Emerging Technology and the Law  (3 units)
 

Emerging Law Concentration Courses

MA 510 Regulation and Compliance  (3 units)

MA 517 Litigation and Its Alternatives  (3 units)

MA 520 Introduction to Start-up Law  (3 units)

MA 523 Cyber Threats: Legal Preparation and Response  (3 units)

MA 524 Blockchain, Smart Contracts, and Computational Law  (3 units)

MA 525 Agency Petitioning and Advocacy  (3 units)

MA 530 AI and the Law  (3 units)

MA 531 Emerging Technology and the Law  (3 units)

MA 537 eDiscovery  (3 units)

MA 535 Data Science in Law and Policy  (3 units)
 

Technology Concentration Courses

MA 500 Privacy Dilemmas  (3 units) 

MA 512 Data Security and Breach  (3 units)

MA 521 Building Legal AI Chatbots  (3 units) 

MA 522 Building Legal Applications: Document Automations and Expert Systems  (3 units)

MA 523 Cyber Threats: Legal Preparation and Response  (3 units) 

MA 524 Blockchain, Smart Contracts, and Computational Law  (3 units) 

MA 530 AI and the Law  (3 units)

MA 535 Data Science in Law and Policy  (3 units)

MA 537 eDiscovery  (3 units) 

MA 540 Technology for Legal Professionals  (3 units)

14.5 MBLT - Registration Procedures

1. Prior to the start of each session, continuing students will be notified by JURIS e-mail of information about tuition, fees, class schedules, academic calendar, registration deadlines, and required books by COL Student Services. Students are responsible to purchase or otherwise obtain the required books through outside vendors. The Academic Catalog will be available on the Gateway. Syllabi and other course information is found in Canvas, the online Learning Management System.
    
2. Students registering for the first time will be contacted by COL Student Services with information about registration, the Orientation webinar, and passwords for access to Westlaw, the Gateway, and Canvas.
    
3. New students will be provided with a JURIS e-mail account and log-in credentials to the School’s e-learning platform shortly after acceptance to the program and upon payment of the required tuition deposit.
    
4. See Sections 6.2 and 6.3 for policies on adding and dropping courses and the requirement for continuous enrollment.
    
5. Students who do not register for the upcoming session are administratively withdrawn for non-registration and/or non-attendance; procedures for arranging a leave of absence are described in Section 6.2, Leave of Absence.
    
6. Subject to availability of courses, students wishing to enroll in more than one course per term should contact the Student Services Coordinator or Program Manager.

15.0 MBLT - Grading and Grades

15.1 MBLT - Letter Grades and Status Designations

1. A letter grading system is used for most courses. Grades are assigned from “A” to “F”, with numerical point equivalents on the School’s 4-point scale:

2. Grade designations denote the following:

3. Pass/Fail grade scale will be used as follows:

Grades in Pass/Fail courses are not computed in the cumulative GPA but will appear on the student’s transcript. To pass and receive credit, a student’s performance must equal or exceed that which would earn a “C+” in a letter-graded course unless the syllabus identifies an alternative grading system. No credit will be awarded for the grade of “Fail”, which denotes performance that would earn a grade of “C” or below in letter-graded courses. The following grades may be assigned: 

4. Other grade/status designations used to indicate a student’s grade or status at the School, and which may appear on the student’s transcript and/or other records, are:

15.2 MBLT - Calculation of Cumulative GPA

1. The cumulative grade point average (cGPA) is calculated based on course grades.
    
2. To calculate the cGPA, multiply the final grade in each letter-graded course by its unit value, total the sum of the products for all such courses, and divide that sum by the total number of letter-graded units. The cGPA is expressed on the transcript as a number, truncated at the second decimal. For example, the cGPA for a student who had course grades of “B” (3.0 points) in Professional Legal Skills, “A” (4.0) in eLawyering, and “B” (3.0) in Regulation and Compliance is calculated in this manner:

GPA (30.0 points divided by 9 units) = 3.33

Grades earned in subsequent sessions would then be added to the prior grades to determine the student’s cGPA.

15.3 MBLT - Notification of Grades

Grades are generally not available until very shortly before the start of the next semester/session. Grades will be available online through the password-protected Portal.  Grades will not be released by telephone.

15.4 MBLT - Petition for Change of Grade

1. Except as otherwise provided in this Catalog, grades will not be changed after approval by the Associate Dean of the MBLT Program except to correct an arithmetic error or other material mistake by the instructor, such as incorrect calculation of points noted in the margin. An allegation that an instructor has not fairly graded an examination or other paper of the student, or has departed from established policy, is treated as an allegation of material mistake.
    
2. Authority to decide student petitions for change of grade is held by the faculty’s Academic Standards Committee (ASC). The ASC will not authorize a change in any grade without a showing of material mistake by the instructor by clear, convincing, and objectively verifiable evidence; the ASC will not permit or require a change of any grading decision by an instructor which represents qualitative judgment concerning a student’s performance. Objectively verifiable evidence is not shown by a student’s belief that the analysis deserved a higher grade.
    
3. A student is not permitted to lobby an instructor for a change of grade. A student who has identified a potential material mistake may ask the instructor to review the claimed error. At the instructor’s election, the instructor may require the student to submit a written analysis of the claimed error or to present the analysis to the instructor.
    
4. A student who wishes to appeal a grade must do so by timely filing a written petition for grade change to the ASC. All such petitions must: 1) be filed with the Registrar within 14 calendar days of the date the original grade was posted; 2) state clearly, specifically, and fully the basis for the claim of material mistake; 3) provide clear, convincing, and objectively verifiable evidence of the claimed mistake; and 4) include a copy of any written analysis submitted to the instructor.
    
5. Decisions on petitions to the ASC are made pursuant to the procedures and standards set forth in the Charter for the Academic Standards Committee of The Santa Barbara & Ventura Colleges of Law (“the Charter”), a copy of which is available on the Gateway (My.CollegesofLaw.edu/).

15.5 MBLT - Repetition of Courses

1. Students must make satisfactory academic progress toward the MBLT degree by maintaining a grade point average of 2.7 on a scale of 4.0. Course grades below C+ do not count toward graduation requirements. A student who receives a course grade below C+ in a required course must retake the course.  If a student receives a grade below C+ in an elective course, the student will not receive credit towards the degree and must retake the same or another elective course.
    
2. In addition:
   1. When a course is successfully retaken, the more recent of the two grades will be computed in the cumulative grade point average; the points for the less recent grade will not be computed in the student’s GPA.
   2. The original grade will remain on the student’s transcript, along with the grade received for the retaken course.

16.0 MBLT - Graduation