A Case for Grandfathering of Law Students Amidst the Pandemic

In 2019, eight young women entered Mississippi College's School of Law. They were eager and ambitious, ready to pursue careers in lawyet unaware of the surprises that lay ahead. The biggest surprise, of course, was the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced them into a wholly virtual learning environmentsomething none of them anticipate or wanted. But they persevered in their studies and finished their law courses in 2022. Their resilience and optimism despite the daunting situation was admirable to say the least; they considered themselves successful in the face of such unprecedented challenges.

Yet, while these students were braving the new frontier of a pandemic-stricken world, and forced into online learning, the Mississippi Supreme Court, in November 2021, decided to cap the number of attempts to pass the Mississippi bar at four, a sharp decrease from the previous unlimited attempts. This monumental change was not widely discussed or recognized at the time, perhaps due to the pandemic and the focus that situation as well as on students adapting to online learning.

Despite these new regulations and the challenges of virtual learning, these eight women remained optimistic. As graduation loomed in May 2023, they undertook the hefty task of preparing for the bar exam. Some opted to take a course offered by their university at an additional cost of $1000, adding to their already significant student debt. The institution, on its part, assured them that they were ready for the examination.

However, they were shocked upon receiving their results: all eight of them had failed. Next to COVID and the forced switch in learning venue from campus-based to virtual, this was the third biggest shock of these students lives. How could this happen? Had their learning been insufficient the whole time? Had the university failed them in not preparing them adequately for the bar? Who was to blame? The students were thunderstruck. It was not that one or two of them had failed. Rather, all eight of them had failed the exam. All eight of them had received more or less the same educative experience, had gone through the same process; all eight of them had obtained the same final result: failure.

The stark reality of failure now bore down heavily on the eight students. This was not a simple class test that they had failed and from which they could hopefully bounce back in the future; it was the bar exam - the culmination of their years-long pursuit of a legal career. The failure was an enormous disappointment,...…decided to pass a law that had very little concern or empathy with the plight of students who tried to learn during COVID lockdowns?

This situation is especially concerning prompts us to reconsider the fairness of the changes implemented by the Mississippi Supreme Court. The goalpost was moved mid-game; students who entered law school under one set of conditions suddenly found themselves operating under drastically different rules.

The concept of a 'grandfather clause,' which allows previously established conditions to continue for current students despite new rules, is aptly applicable here. A grandfather clause could have prevented the stress, fear, anxiety, and gross injustice that these students now face, a circumstance not of their making but resulting from a global crisis and institutional decisions.

Moreover, this situation brings to light other systemic issues: the lack of adequate support and preparation for the bar exam, the high cost of legal education, the crushing burden of student loans, and the inadequate support system for students grappling with failure. These are all considerations that merit further exploration in order to ensure that aspiring law students, especially in times of crisis, are given a fair shot at success. What the experience of these eight students shows, however, is that a grandfather clause should be establishedat minimumfor them and those who were already enrolled…