Dean Matthew Diller shares insights on the rise in applicants, changes to legal education, and return-to-campus plans with Law.com.
With the delta variant of COVID-19 spreading across the U.S., law schools have had to navigate a highly fluid situation while also thinking about how to prepare students for a changing legal landscape.
This week, we sat down for a phone call with Fordham Law School Dean Matthew Diller to talk about the process of managing fall return-to-campus plans, in addition to the school’s surprising increase in applicants and changes in legal education moved forward by the pandemic.
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“As we went through the applications, it was clear that people were returning to law school because they want to make a difference in the world,” he said. “And they are absorbing everything going on in our society and our country and the world and want to make change, and that’s super exciting and energizing for me as a law school dean for our faculty.”
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“We have to focus on educating students to function in a world where much more will be done remotely,” he said. “Teaching students how to advocate effectively online is I think now going to be important for us because … a lot will go back in person, but some of it will stay online.”
Hybrid instruction also is gaining interest, Diller said, after professors and students alike went through a “crash course in online learning” during the pandemic. Diller says the school is looking to flesh out its hybrid options for students.