The College of Law has had to make the following adjustments, incorporating central University of Iowa rules.

     • Masks and/or face shields must be worn by students and instructors in the classrooms and all common areas at all times, regardless of social distancing space or plastic barriers. The University of Iowa will provide both to all students, staff, and faculty.

     • Traffic flow guidance in the entries/exits, hallways, and classrooms will be forthcoming.

     • Most classes have been moved to larger rooms to accommodate social distancing needs, as required by University policy.

     • Those courses with enrollments of 50 and up are required to be 100% online. For the College of Law a few exceptions have been granted, which will be noted later in this FAQ.

     • We had to build in longer passing times between classes, as well as stagger starting/ending times to reduce the numbers of people in the hallways and provide enough time for instructional areas and equipment to be cleaned. This unfortunately has resulted in slight changes to the meeting times of most courses. These new times are noted on the attached Fall 2020 Course Schedule.

     • A very few courses had to be completely rescheduled. These will be noted later in this FAQ.

     • Per University of Iowa rules, all classes will finish remotely after Thanksgiving, and all final exams will be remote.

     • The College of Law will utilize a rotating system between first year and upper level courses. This permits more courses to be taught at least partially in person in the limited large classrooms we have and reduces the number of people in BLB.

          o First year courses (Torts, Contracts, Property, and LAWR) will meet in person during “odd” weeks and online during “even” weeks. This will also include two specific upper level courses, noted further in the FAQ.

          o Upper level courses (i.e. all those other than what is mentioned above) will meet in person during “even” weeks and online during “odd” weeks.

There will be a period when the schedule information showing in MyUI is not yet updated, as it is dependent upon the central University updating the College of Law courses while updating thousands of other course schedules across campus. This is beyond our control, and we do not have an estimate for when this may be completed. It could take at least a week or two, or more, for MyUI to be updated.

For this reason, the documentation available on the College of Law Courses and Curriculum website should be viewed as the current, up-to-date Fall 2020 course information. This is what you should look at to determine if you want or need to make any adjustments to your schedule. On this page you will find the following documents:

     • Fall 2020 Course Schedule – Updated and color-coded to show which courses will be 100% online, and which courses will be a hybrid of online/in person. Please note that two different schedules are now posted: a version for first year courses and a version for upper level courses.

     • Fall 2020 Course Offerings – The list of courses, credit hours, and designations for experiential or writing units has been updated and color-coded to show online vs. hybrid courses. This includes August 2020 Intersession Courses.

     • Fall 2020 Final Exam Schedule – This document has not been updated. One of our next steps is to reevaluate the exam schedule to see if any changes need to be made give all final exams must be conducted online. Any updates to the Final Exam schedule will be announced later.

     • Online Overflow Classroom – We will attempt to reserve classroom space for those students who are taking an in-person course in Boyd Law Building immediately preceded or followed by an online course, who do not have enough time to travel. More information and a schedule, as well as a process to sign up, will be shared soon. Students who have breaks of at least 60 minutes between an online and in person class are expected to leave Boyd Law Building to attend the online class except when circumstances prohibit doing so (ex. living outside the Iowa City/Coralville/North Liberty area).

All courses that are first year (Torts, Contracts, Property, and LAWR) will meet in person during “odd” weeks of the semester (week 1, week 3, etc.). In addition, two specific upper-level courses will follow this pattern: LAW:9871 Privacy Law and Technology (Halabi) and LAW:9708 International & Comparative Labor & Employment Law (Rosado). One section of first year classes (section 4) is designated as 100% online. All other upper level classes that are not 100% online will meet in person during “even” weeks (week 2, week 4, etc.) of the semester and online during “odd” weeks.

     • Constitutional Law II, LAW:8280 – The course is being divided into a large group lecture/small group section format so that in person instruction can occur during even weeks. One large group section of 80 students will be held online during odd weeks, and two small sections of 40 each will meet in person during even weeks.

          o Students currently enrolled will be contacted by the Registrar. Since no more than 80 students may be enrolled, some students will have to be switched to the Spring 2021 Con Law II course. Students who are currently enrolled in Con Law II, please watch your email within the next week for more information from the Registrar about how we will determine enrollment. New registrations for Con Law II are not currently being accepted.

     • Elder Law, LAW: 9681 – The course has been moved to a new day/time of Th/F 3:00-4:15, meeting in person during even weeks. Students currently enrolled have been notified. Additional seats are also now open in the course.

     • Technology in Law Practice, LAW:8938 – The course has been moved later in the day on Mondays/Wednesdays to 2:00-2:50 p.m., meeting in person during even weeks. Students currently enrolled have been notified.

     • Privacy Law and Technology (LAW:9871, Halabi) and International & Comparative Labor & Employment Law (LAW:9708, Rosado) will meet in person during odd weeks, and online during even weeks (i.e. opposite the schedule for all other upper level courses).

     • Two courses have been cancelled: InsideOut (LAW:9860, Fisher Page) and Tax Policy (LAW:9545, Grewal). Enrolled students have been notified.

     • Trial Advocacy, LAW:9060 –

          o Professor Guernsey’s section, 0001, will be held primarily in person during August Intersession.

          o A second section, 0002, is in the process of being added for August Intersession, instructor to be announced. The second section is expected to be 100% online. Any students currently enrolled in Professor Guernsey’s section who need to take the course 100% online and wish to switch to section 0002 should contact lee-seedorff@uiowa.edu by noon Monday, July 6.

          o A third, semester-long Trial Advocacy section, 0003, has been added to Wednesday nights, 5:30-7:10 p.m., instructor Persaud. The course will meet in person during even weeks.

          o Trial Advocacy has a long waitlist of students from the lottery earlier this spring, who will be given first choice to enroll in either 0002, the second section added to August Intersession; in 0003, the semester-long section; or to fill any spots that may open in Professor Guernsey’s August Intersession section 0001. Waitlisted students will be contacted by the Registrar next week. Once all waitlisted students have had a chance to enroll, any open seats will be made available on a first-come basis.

We are working on reserving space specifically set aside for students in this situation. A schedule and guidelines will be forthcoming.

Journals processes will be reviewed by the faculty supervisors, who will communicate with students later.

Most competition teams should show as “ARR” for arranged on the schedule, with processes to be worked out between instructors and students later.

Students who will participate in Clinic this fall should wait for more guidance from Clinic faculty and staff.

Please contact Associate Dean Carin Crain regarding any accommodation requests you need to make as soon as possible.

Phone: 

319-335-9080

Email: 

lee-seedorff@uiowa.edu

Address: 

282 Boyd Law Building