For now, it's back to brick-and-mortar in the fall for about a third of the nation's law schools, but dramatic changes are afoot.

The universities that have said they plan to reopen for in-person instruction in the fall are home to about 70 of the 200 American Bar Association-accredited law schools. Another 14 law schools are part of universities that have proposed plans for hybrid models that combine in-person and online instruction.

Still, more than half of law schools are awaiting word from their main campuses about plans for the upcoming school year. (The Chronicle of Higher Education has a running list of such announcements.)

While many students may be relieved to return to a physical classroom after months of online instruction, some legal academics are warning that their on-campus experience in the era of COVID-19 will be significantly different than what they are accustomed to. Social distancing, masks and temperature checks are just a few of the measures that law schools are likely to implement in hopes of stopping the spread of the virus.

Some courses may still be entirely or partially online in the fall even at schools that have reopened their campuses for in-person instruction in a bid to reduce the number of students interacting face-to-face. Additionally, there's no guarantee that the universities that intend to reopen in the fall will actually be able to do so—particularly if COVID-19 cases surge—or that classes won't again be quickly moved online if cases spike.

"I think both faculty and students have a bit of nostalgia, and they think [that by] merely being on campus, learning will be easier," said Josh Blackman a professor at the South Texas College of Law—Houston. "I think being on campus helps in some ways, but there are also certain impediments to learning that will be created by social distancing rules."

Blackman wrote a sobering post last week on the Volokh Conspiracy blog that describes just how different he believes the fall semester will be—although he admits to some exaggeration to drive home his point that it won't be business as usual. He envisions temperature checks at the door before faculty and students may enter the building, and arrows on the floors of the hallways to circulate foot traffic in one direction to reduce congestion.

Under Blackman's vision, certain stalls and sinks are taped off in restrooms to create distance, so lines form between classes. Students are forced to use stairwells instead of the elevator due to capacity limits and must carry around all their heavy books because the school has suspended the use of lockers to prevent crowding.

Students are required to wear masks in Blackman's scenario, making it difficult for professors and classmates to hear their questions and answers. (The professors deliver their lectures from behind clear Plexiglass panels so that their words and facial expressions aren't obscured by a mask.) Students are spread out in their class room, sitting six feet apart, rendering pre-class chitchat and socializing virtually impossible.

"All the things that make an on-campus education so warm and welcoming will now be doused with a bottle of bleach," Blackman said.

Reopening campus does not mean everyone will be physically present, he wrote in his blog post. A portion of the class is attending online, present only as thumbnail photos on a screen, and the professor teaches to both those online and present in the classroom. Blackman said law schools should give both students and faculty the option to be on campus or stay online, depending on their personal preferences and risk factors. His blog post has generated plenty of feedback.

"Some professors have said, 'You said exactly what I'm thinking, and I've shared it with my associate dean and we're discussing it,'" Blackman said. "Mostly administrators have looked at this with skepticism and said, 'It wouldn't be that bad. You're exaggerating.' Which I am. I quite deliberately exaggerated. I think the fear with administrators is that students won't show up. And if they don't show up, you lose tuition."

Some of the measures Blackman envisions for the fall are already in the works at law schools. Thomas McHenry, dean of Vermont Law School, said in an interview with Vermont Public Radio that the schools plans to reopen and follow health and safety protocols established by nearby states including New York and Connecticut. (Vermont is among the handful of independent law schools, meaning it does not rely on campuswide decisions made by central university administrators.)

"The simplistic version is: masks, gloves, temperature checks and distancing," McHenry said. "But you can imagine that, you know, there are a host of considerations that we're taking into account because we're only going to do it if we can be sure that people are going to be safe."

Not everyone is as pessimistic about a return to campus as Blackman. Ilya Somin, a professor at the George Mason University Antonin Scalia Law School, wrote his own Volokh Conspiracy post suggesting several ways to mitigate the risks of returning to the classroom without creating an "unbearable dystopian on-campus environment."

One option is to spread larger classes out over two rooms, with the professor in one and a live video feed and camera the other. That would allow for more distance between students, who could rotate between the two rooms. In order to free up classroom space, law schools could shift small classes online, with the idea that it's easier to teach effectively online to smaller groups of students, Somin wrote.

Faculty who are high risk of COVID-19 could teach from their homes to students in a classroom together on campus, though high-risk students would likely be stuck taking all online classes, Somin noted. The majority of law students don't live in dorms, which helps mitigate their risk of contracting the virus, he added.

"Like many other industries, higher education will face difficult choices so long as the coronavirus continues to be a serious threat," Somin wrote. "But, given the severe limitations of online teaching, we should at least consider options for resuming in-person instruction, particularly for those courses that can benefit from it the most."