Are any law schools launching mid-1L transfer opportunities?

“Wow, what a terrible idea,” I’m sure many readers immediately think. But let’s face it, the coronavirus pandemic has “disrupted” (to use an overused term) higher education in a number of aspects. Why not transfers?

I can think of a number of reasons students might want to transfer in the middle of their first year as opposed to the end of it. Students may have expected a particular educational experience (online or in-person, among other expectations), and that experience might have been changed very late in the process—or it might be that the students experienced the option and dislike it, preferring an alternative. Students who want to be in-person, for instance, might want to move to an institution where that’s an option and a university administrative commitment (coupled with state and local authorities permitting such an option). Students who are studying remotely anyway wouldn’t have to move mid-year, as they could stay at home and take online classes (if that’s the option) at an institution in the Spring 2021 term.

Some might note that students haven’t received any 1L grades yet. True, but schools have already been recruiting transferring students before they’ve received their fall 1L grades (a dirty secret of legal education!). Early hints at a student’s grades exist in 1L legal writing assignments. LSAT/UGPA profiles are imperfect, but they’re still useful—and, indeed, the overwhelming focus of admissions remains on these factors. And many schools might say these factors are good enough.

Maybe there’s some ABA rule against this. But it struck me that, in the middle of a pandemic, we might see traditional rules go out the window, at least in some places.