COVID-19 First-Person Perspective: Dean Luke Bierman, Elon
“Pivot” is a word I use often at Elon Law to describe our strategic approach to legal education — and, as we’ve discovered in 2020, it’s a word that captures our law school’s ability to adapt to the COVID-19 pandemic.
There are three guiding principles to everything we now do:
- Keep our law school community healthy and well.
- Keep our students on track to graduate in 2.5 years.
- Keep our focus on recruitment for the Class of 2023.
To that end, the need to adjust our instructional delivery in March by moving courses and exams online, and then rethink our approach to classroom instruction as we aimed to resume in-person instruction in August, certainly meant a pivot was necessary.
We operationalized our guiding principles in a number of ways, beginning with required training in online instruction for faculty that we were fortuitously able to offer between our Winter and Spring Trimesters as local restrictions and Gov. Roy Cooper’s executive orders impacted our operations. The Spring Trimester commenced with all-online instruction and support services, proceeded with minimal disruption, and we soon received ABA approval for our approach.
Success was met outside the classroom, too, as we advanced our philosophy of learning by doing. Elon Law’s highly experiential curriculum requires all second-year students to complete a full-time residency-in-practice with judges or practicing attorneys. The director of our Residency-in-Practice Program worked this spring with faculty and residency hosts to accommodate students with either adjusted schedules or remote working assignments.
Our record enrollment and continued improvement of credentials for 1L students entering in August buoyed us as we made plans to bring our community members back to our Greensboro campus. In consultation with health and facilities experts, preference for in-person instruction was adopted but with sensitivity for situations of faculty and staff, who were offered a process for accommodations and modifications if in-person instruction and full-time presence on the Elon Law campus were affected by the pandemic.
Similar concerns for students likewise were addressed this fall through an opportunity for modification from the in-person course schedule. Upward of 40 percent of our 2L and 3L students took advantage of this approach, providing significant relief to classroom crowding issues. In-person instruction, however, remains standard for our 1L students, which ensures their introductions to law school and the legal profession are as comprehensive as permissible under all the limitations in place.
In-person instruction was made possible by a number of operational enhancements. Elon University facilities personnel reconfigured all classrooms to ensure a minimum of 6 feet of space between students. We require all students, employees, and visitors to wear masks with exceptions only for personal office space. We installed the highest-rated filters for our HVAC system. We introduced signage, strengthened cleaning protocols with an emphasis on disinfectant sprays, and added hand-sanitizing stations throughout our building.
We have consulted, and will continue to consult, with Elon University, health and facilities experts, and public officials about the best way to proceed to achieve our mission and goals during this pandemic. We also are taking advantage of new opportunities for creativity in teaching, systems, and modes of operation to consider how to adapt Elon Law for the future as we are of the view that this experience is not likely to be “won and done” but rather will be transformative in how higher education generally, and legal education specifically, will organize themselves in the future.
As a law school recognized for its innovative and pioneering spirit, and in line with our early pivot away from the traditional three-year approach to legal education, Elon Law will not ignore the lessons of 2020 as we prepare our students to join the legal profession.
Luke Bierman serves as Dean and Professor of Law at Elon University School of Law.