Law Schools

Law School Pulls Plug On In-Person Exams This Morning

Students left wondering what to do with the exams that they expected to have finished this morning.

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Chalkboard closed blackboardThere was a dream that was “the end of COVID.” Alas, that day hasn’t come yet.

This reality hit NYU School of Law students abruptly this morning as the university shut down all plans for in-person exams, leaving the law school scrambling. Those who showed up for this morning’s exams were turned away and told that their exams would now be take-home exams. An email sent at 9:34 a.m. informed the rest of the Violets that the school would be developing a whole new exam period gameplan on the fly:

We write to ensure you received and read this morning’s urgent message from University leadership regarding our community’s response to the recent spike in COVID cases on campus. Effectively immediately and including examinations scheduled for today, Wednesday, December 15, all Fall 2021 Law School final examinations will be administered remotely. All students should refer to forthcoming communications from our Office of Academic Services for further details on how this shift to remote examinations impacts their scheduled exams.

There are two types of law professors in this world, the ones who are freaking out in a coffee-driven frenzy to figure out a fair procedure to remotely administer their painstakingly constructed closed-book issue-spotters in a 24-hour turnaround, and the ones who always give open-book take-homes. Congratulations, your habits have finally paid off!

As a tipster put it:

No one knows if exams will be later today…tomorrow….whenever.

[UPDATE: The school has since determined that today’s exams will move to December 22.]

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This is the second story TODAY of a legal institution forced to make a major last-minute adjustment, after Kirkland canceled tomorrow’s planned NYC holiday party. No matter how on top of precautions lawyers aim to be, the virus seems hellbent on thwarting those plans.

Good luck making it through this difficult exam period, NYU.

And for the rest of you law students out there: if your school plans on having in-person exams, take a second or two to prepare yourself mentally for the possibility that it might change. Because it probably will.

Full email on the next page.

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HeadshotJoe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.

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