The Law School will implement only the reasonable academic accommodations that Disability Services enumerates for a student in their accommodation letter, consistent with the requirement that such accommodations do not substantially modify essential requirements of their academic program; fundamentally alter the nature of a service, program, or activity; or result in an undue financial or administrative burden. If a student feels that they are entitled to additional accommodations, they must request those through Disability Services and have them documented in an accommodation letter through the Graduate Disability Liaison.
Below are some examples of common classroom accommodations and how they are generally implemented. This list is not intended to be exhaustive. All accommodations are reviewed and approved by Disability Services on an individual basis. We are sharing these here to give you as much information as possible. If you have any questions about these accommodations or if you have accommodations that are not on this list, please reach out to the Disability Liaison for more information on how your accommodations will be implemented.
Note Taking Services
If you have accommodations to receive notes, you must request a note taker by filling out the form sent to you by the Disability Liaison for each class for which you are requesting a note taker. Please note that some faculty may ban laptops in their classrooms, or only permit their TAs to serve as official notetakers.
Permission to use laptop for note-taking in class
Faculty may prohibit the use of laptops in class, including to effectuate a no AI policy. Many may not. If you have an accommodation to use a laptop in a class where the faculty prohibit its use, please contact the Disability Liaison to determine how best to implement your accommodation. In many cases, faculty members will designate a notetaker and make laptop notes available to all students.
Permission to audio record lectures
Accommodations to receive audio recordings of lectures are managed by the Disability Liaison with the help of the Instructional Technology team. You may not audio or video record any class independently, and such unauthorized recordings may be a violation of Standards & Discipline and the Law School’s AI Policy. You must request recordings for every class for which you need a recording; you will not automatically be provided with access to recordings. You may request recordings using the form emailed to you by the Disability Liaison before the semester begins.
Accessible classroom, preferential seating and furniture
You may have accommodation for either an accessible classroom, preferential seating or accessible classroom furniture, such as a standing desk or ergonomic chair. In these cases, the Disability Liaison will reach out to you to move classes as needed, set up furniture, or reserve seats before the seating chart is opened. Please reach out to the Disability Liaison for questions about putting these accommodations in place.
Sign Language and Speech-to-text
Students eligible for sign-language interpreting or speech to text services for classes work with their Disability case manager and the Disability Liaison to arrange this accommodation.
Assistive technology
Assistive technology is software, hardware, or equipment used to increase, maintain or improve the functional capabilities of people with disabilities, for example screen reader software or accessible e-texts. Once registered with DS, students’ Case Managers will work with them on the accommodations available. These may include different types of software, alternate formats of materials, or devices.
Priority Registration
Priority Registration is an early Pre-Registration process in which students may submit their choices for the lottery, and be assigned courses early. Priority Registration is still subject to the lottery and seats in courses are available on a pro rata basis. If students participate in Priority Registration, they may not also participate in Pre-Registration, but may participate in the Add/Drop process.
All of the rules of Pre-Registration apply to Priority Registration. To learn more about how Pre-Registration works, please read the Pre-Registration handbook in its entirety.
Priority Registration for the Fall semester takes place in late June and early July, and schedules are available in mid-July on a date provided by Disability Services. There is no separate Priority Registration process for Spring semester because all law students receive their pre-Registration lottery results in advance of the deadline for Spring schedules set by Disability Services.
Absences and Extensions
Accommodations for deadline extension or additional excused absences due to student’s intermittent disability needs and unpredictability of condition may be granted from time to time. The accommodation is implemented as follows:
When the student experiences an exacerbation of disability-related symptoms, they will reach out to Disability Services who will confirm that they have the necessary documentation on file verifying the student's condition. Disability Services will ask the Disability Liaison to reach out to faculty and ask that the student is not penalized for the absence. Deadline extensions are managed similarly.
It is important to note that even if a student has an absence accommodation approved by Disability Services, they are still subject to the attendance expectations of the program. The American Bar Association requires law schools to have a policy for "substantial attendance" which they have historically defined as 80%, and Columbia Law School still defines as 80%. See Faculty Resources: Attendance and Accommodations.
Requests for extensions are similarly restricted by the pedagogical requirements of the class.