Socratic Zooming

VINCENT BLASI Corliss Lamont Professor of Civil Liberties

I am the antithesis of a techie and in fact was terrified at the prospect of having to teach online. I’m finding teaching via Zoom unexpectedly congenial. My class sessions feel more genuinely Socratic than in a large classroom. By that I mean more like the two-person conversations of the original Socratic dialogues as reported by Plato. Despite the lack of physical presence, the interaction is more personal. I find that the analysis tends to be more open-ended and in that respect more probing. Students seem more relaxed in a productive way. They are not afraid to see where their thought leads. That’s true for me as well.

KELLEN R. FUNK Associate Professor of Law

The biggest difficulty is the range of situations my students are facing. Not all have quality access to the technology needed for synchronous classes, and, of course, some are very burdened by care needs for family members working in health services or otherwise affected by the spread of the virus. One benefit of moving online is the ability to bring up a common text on all students’ screens and walk through it line by line in a way that’s not always possible in a cavernous lecture hall. The drawback is that it is much more difficult to know whether I need to slow down or speed up my explanations and take questions.

OLATUNDE C. JOHNSON Jerome B. Sherman Professor of Law

You have to teach differently to be effective remotely. Some of these changes have been very good. I use more problems and hypotheticals than before. I have students prepare the problems before class and discuss them during our session. We spend less time on lecture and Socratic exchange and more time wrestling with the practical and policy challenges of applying doctrine. We have brought issues related to the pandemic into our study of statutory interpretation and administrative law.

On March 11, when the World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic, Columbia Law School transitioned its entire curriculum—more than 300 courses—into virtual classrooms. Students gathered online, and professors faced down webcams. Four faculty debrief on teaching remotely.

ALEXANDRA CARTER ’03 Clinical Professor of Law

I worked with my Advanced Mediation Clinic students on a presentation for the Mediation Clinic (which we also gave to hundreds of other lawyers, mediators, and judges from the New York City area) on successful virtual conversations. Together, we found through research and experience that shorter sessions work better both in terms of allowing people to manage work-life obligations and also in terms of maintaining stamina. I don’t think Zoom will fully replace in-person mediations, but I expect a significant increase in the number of mediations done on Zoom in the future.

Our Newest Expert

LYNNISE E. PANTIN ’03 Clinical Professor of Law

When Lynnise Pantin ’03, who joined the faculty in 2019, arrived at Columbia Law School as a visiting professor, she inaugurated the Entrepreneurship and Community Development Clinic to provide pro bono legal services to individuals, organizations, and companies that could not otherwise afford a lawyer and to give students hands-on experiences. For example, Pantin’s students develop practiceready transactional lawyering skills by counseling business owners on matters such as trademarking a logo or creating employment contracts. “I have taught students a fundamental skill—how to represent an organizational client—and that skill transfers when they have bigger clients and bigger deals,” says Pantin. “I think I have also opened their eyes to a particular type of client, a particular type of work, and that will stay with them as they move forward with their careers.” In many ways, Pantin’s career has come full circle. As a Law School student, she focused on corporate and transactional law and participated in extracurricular activities around social justice. She then began her career practicing corporate and securities law in the investment management group within the corporate department at Debevoise & Plimpton LLP. Pantin also had a pro bono practice and counseled nonprofits and small businesses on formation issues, governance, and regulatory compliance. Her work focuses on the systemic socio-economic barriers faced by entrepreneurs of color and those of modest means.