Harvard Law School late Wednesday announced that fall classes will be fully online in light of the COVID-19 pandemic—making it the first top law school to confirm that it won't be returning to campus next semester.

"This is not the announcement we'd hoped to make," wrote Dean John Manning in a message to students. "But our first priority is, and must continue to be, the health and safety of our community, and we cannot reliably conclude at this time that we can safely provide an effective on-campus program this fall."

The move was not entirely unexpected. Several other graduate programs at Harvard announced similar moves earlier in the day. But it remains to be seen whether other law campuses follow suit—as Harvard Law is arguably the country's most prominent law school.

At California's top-ranked law schools, Stanford Law School and the University of California, Berkeley School of Law, plans are underway for a mix of online and in-person instruction in the fall.

Stanford Law School Dean Jenny Martinez announced Wednesday that the school's priority will be keeping students, faculty and staff safe. The school is planning for a hybrid model of in-person classes and activities depending on public health conditions. The fall quarter for Stanford Law's 2Ls and 3Ls will begin Sept. 14, while the school is still reviewing start date options for 1Ls and LL.M.s. Martinez also announced that all classes will end before Thanksgiving and finals will be administered online.

On Thursday, Berkeley Law Dean Erwin Chemerinsky sent a message to the law school community saying that the university's chancellor and provost had indicated that they were planning to finalize plans for the fall by mid-June. Chemerinsky said the officials had told the school's deans that although most instruction would remain online, they had expressed a "strong desire for some degree of in-person classes in the Fall."

"Under their proposed approach, some classes under 25 students will be able to meet in person if there is classroom space that can be safely used, but large classes will be taught online or with in-person groups of 25 or less," Chemerinsky wrote.

Chemerinsky indicated that students and faculty would be required to maintain social distancing and wear masks while in school buildings and that facilities would undergo frequent cleanings, including between classes.

"We have submitted to campus a plan that would prioritize in-person instruction for first year students and for upper-level classes that have under 25 students or that will meet with under 25 students in the room at a time with others participating remotely," the dean wrote. "Our plan would try to provide all first-year students the option for some in-person instruction, though most would need to be done remotely."

The dean indicated that most upper-level classes would need to be provided remotely, because of a lack of classroom space to accommodate social distancing. Chemerinsky also indicated that all faculty and students will have the option of participating remotely for in-person classes if they choose. "We will do all we can to ensure that no one feels pressure to come in person and that no one is disadvantaged by not being here in person," he wrote.

In his Wednesday note, Harvard's Manning wrote that while the public health situation could improve to allow for more in-person interaction next semester, the school needed to reach a decision so that students and incoming students can plan accordingly. With classes held online, it's unnecessary for students to relocate to Cambridge, Massachusetts, for instance. (A reduced number of law school dorm rooms will be available for students whose home environment is not conducive to learning for technology or other reasons.) And the law school is allowing current students to take a leave of absence if they so choose, and for admitted students to defer their start in light of the change. Incoming J.D. and LL.M. students have until June 19 to make deferral decisions.

"The Harvard Law School faculty is already hard at work adapting their teaching plans in order to offer the best online courses and clinics possible," Manning wrote. "In order to be prepared in the event it proved necessary again to teach and learn online, we have been busy, in recent weeks, studying and absorbing the latest research about how students best learn online and identifying the range of tools, techniques, and approaches that create excellent, engaging online courses."

Harvard Law is looking for avenues to foster student connections and keep extracurricular activities going while remote, Manning added. Incoming students and foreign students will meet in small groups prior to the start of classes, according to the message.

The law school also posted a list of frequently asked questions, clarifying that it has set aside $1 million to help students with internet access and technology issues. Tuition for next year will remain at the 2019 rate: $65,875.

Harvard was among the many law schools that abandoned its usual grading system in favor of pass/fail grading during the spring semester, but the upcoming fall semester will see a return to the normal grading scheme. And most clinics will be able to operate in a remote capacity.

"While we will keep you apprised as we learn more, we must now turn our focus fully to developing the best, most robust, highest-quality online academic, clinical, and extracurricular programming we can for the coming term," Manning wrote.