Coronavirus has upended the legal education landscape. We know you have questions about how to study online, whether the bar exam will proceed this summer, and the myriad questions about how you’re supposed to function on a daily basis.
We’ve assembled this guide with a variety of information to keep you informed, manage your stress, and maintain your focus on your studies.
If you have any resources we should add, feel free to add them in the comment form below.
So you’re starting law school in a pandemic: How to succeed in a remote or hybrid 1L Year
So, you’re starting law school in the middle of a global pandemic. This wasn’t how you pictured it going. You didn’t intend to be part of this chapter in the history of legal education, but here you are. How can you make the most of it
Your law school went online – now what? Here’s how to adapt to remote learning
With the threat of COVID-19 becoming more and more real, a number of U.S. law schools announced a sudden switch to online classes. In my experience, remote learning can absolutely succeed in law school. In fact, remote learning can have real advantages. Here’s how you, as a law student, can make the change, and maximize your work, in this environment.
I’m a law student. And I have COVID-19.
I’m a first-generation student at Lewis & Clark Law School, a volunteer, and an advocate. I’m a staff member for our criminal justice clinic and law review. I also work as a teaching fellow, a research assistant, and a law clerk. OH, I almost forgot: I just tested positive for COVID-19. This is my story. I’m waiting to see if I take a turn for the better. But I am not doing well right now. And none of this is okay.
How to plan for take-home exams
Whether you are excited by the idea of take-home essay exams or frightened by it, you may have some questions about the best way to prepare. I have compiled a list of tips and suggestions that apply generally to take-home exams. These tips should not take the place of any specific instructions your professor has provided you.
Bar Exam Updates
- COVID-19 Bar Exam and Admissions Changes by State
- Guide to supervising 2020 bar applicants
- National Conference of Bar Examiners Bar Exam Postponement Information
Online Learning Tips
- Preparing for your first online law school exams
- Your new normal: Successfully navigating the legal field in the midst of COVID-19
- How law students can find success in online classes
- 10 teaching tips from a law student to law professors
- Train your brain to be productive at home
- I don’t care what you wear to an online class (but sitting at a desk is a good choice)
- Law school innovators talk about taking legal education online (podcast)
- 7 things to do after an online class session ends
- 4 keys to staying focused and active during online courses
- Remote learning: How to make human connections between teachers and students
Quarantine Diaries
- Tales from two long weeks of law school in Canada, USA
- Law professors, ask your law students what they need now
- Breaking routine: Law school closures present challenges, opportunities for students
- Coronavirus conversion: Will online law school classes become a permanent change?
More from The Law Student Division
- Webinar: Impact of COVID-19 on Recent Law School Graduates and Rising 3Ls
- Who will find a quality job this year? Advice for law grads and 3Ls
- Crafting your coronavirus resume: How to fill the hole left by lost opportunities
- Your new normal: Successfully navigating the legal field in the midst of COVID-19
- Why experienced lawyers should support the ABA’s limited practice rule in response to bar exam postponements
- Why a delayed bar exam is a financial and legal disaster
- Law students, paralegals join to offer pro bono COVID-19 legal support
- Law students can still network during the coronavirus outbreak
- Opinion: Law schools should switch to pass/fail during COVID-19 shift
Online Study and Law School Toolkits
- Resources for Students from Cat Moon of Vanderbilt Law School
- The National Jurist: Coronavirus Survival Guide
- Student Remote Learning Toolkit
Bar Exam/LSAT News
- ABA Board of Governors backs limited practice for recent law school grads as they await bar exam
- A remote LSAT is scheduled for May because of coronavirus
- New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut reschedule July 2020 bar exam
- Decision about releasing July bar exam materials will come in May, NCBE says
- What alternatives to the July bar exam are being considered?
- March LSAT canceled and National Conference of Bar Examiners monitoring July bar exam
ABA Journal Coverage
- ABA Young Lawyers Division establishes national hotline for pandemic-related legal services
- On-campus interviews in January? Top law schools consider delays amid law firm pressure
- Several top law schools adopt pass-fail grading plans
- As COVID-19 mandates virtual law classes, nonprofit creates list of volunteer online speakers
- How do law schools move online?
- More universities shifting to online classes
- Numerous schools canceling in-person classes
- ABA president offers coronavirus response update, programming
- ABA announces all-digital ABA Day
- ABA cancels more April and May meetings amid COVID-19 pandemic
- ABA Journal COVID-19 Coverage
Mental Health
- ABA CoLAP: COVID-19 Mental Health Resources
- ABA Journal: How can you ease COVID-19 Anxiety?
- Law Student Division Mental Health Resources
- Student Lawyer: Mental Health Blog Posts
Finances
- Nonprofit AccessLex Institute sets up emergency fund for law students during pandemic
- Suspension of federal student loan payments available during COVID-19 pandemic
- Student Veterans of America: COVID-19 (Coronavirus) and the GI Bill
- Money.com: Here’s What to Know About Refunds, Work Study and Financial Aid As Campuses Close
- Federal student loan payments suspended with no interest
- Federal Student Aid: Guidance for interruptions of study related to Coronavirus (COVID-19)
- U-Haul: Free 30 Days of Storage for Students
- Comcast Internet Essentials
- Student Relief Fund
ABA Information
- ABA creates task force to help Americans cope with pandemic
- ABA Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar Guidance Memo for Law Schools
- What’s On, What’s Off: Impact of coronavirus (COVID-19) on upcoming ABA meetings
- Trending CLE: COVID-19 Collections
- ABA Committee on Disaster Response and Preparedness
- ABA Legal Fact Check: What can an employer legally require of workers returning to work once COVID-19 restrictions are lifted?
For Law Professors and Law Schools
- Tips for teaching online
- Supporting #RealCollege Students During COVID19
- Higher Ed Connects: Coronavirus COVID-19 Webinar – What higher education leaders need to know right now
- Remote Teaching Resources for Business Continuity
- Blog: Please Do a Bad Job of Putting Your Courses Online
- Mapping Access: Accessible Teaching in the Time of COVID-19
Resource Lists
- Legal Talk Network: COVID-19 podcasts
- Courts COVID-19 Info By State
- The Center for Higher Education Leadership
- Colleges Closed or Migrating Online in Response to COVID-19
- The Chronicle of Higher Education
- Inside Higher Ed: Live Updates