Online learning and work during the pandemic: update on the legal sector

Drawing on recent literature and a series of conversations with law firm associates, members of barristers chambers, in-house counsel, and law school staff, on how the pandemic has changed their roles or affected their work conditions, this Policy and Education Developments comment piece provides an update on the state of the legal sector during the pandemic focusing on online learning and work during Covid. The primary impression is of both loss because of loosening of the traditional connections that bind the sectors as well as gain through the use of innovative approaches and thinking on core values and practices. Online teaching and learning have undoubtedly become an integral part of the law student experience because of the pandemic and the associated incorporation of remote learning in the law school curriculum. Whether or not this has been warmly embraced, or simply seen as a means to stay afloat, it has facilitated ongoing critical functions while also not curing some loss of personal contact and inability to participate in the usual in-person manner. Face-to-face in-person interactions are more fluid and spontaneous as there are easy interpersonal cues for discussions while online this is more orchestrated and managed through the system of hand raising icons or (sometimes distracting) chats. Thus, peer-to-peer learning as well as group work is easier when everyone is present in the room. Yet law educators have found ways to innovate to replicate some of the responsive and inclusive mechanisms while teaching online, in some instances, going beyond what is possible in in-person scenarios. The innovations are not technologically complex but are generally effective uses of simple tools such as quizzes, polls, and comments boards. An example is that of Professor Imogen Moore (finalist for Teaching Law with Technology prize 2020), who used Padlet as a tool to enhance small group work. She found it an effective way to gather immediate anonymous questions. Students, on their part, found it less stressful to submit queries and it increased their engagement and responsiveness to what was being taught. Students informed her that they found it