Like every other law school in the country, the University of Chicago has transitioned to all-remote teaching for the Spring Quarter. But Chicago’s distinct intellectual culture depends on a lot of things that happen outside the classroom, and that kind of constant intellectual ferment is much harder to maintain when we are physically isolated.

So Adam and I decided to experiment this week with a Zoom “lunch talk” modeled after the many in-person talks with free food that our law school hosts in normal times. We talked about a couple of events and ideas in the news, took questions from students, and had a lot of friendly disagreement and debate. It went remarkably well, and felt remarkably like a “normal” law school event.

I was especially impressed with our students. Despite a complete lack of free food, almost a hundred students showed up, asked very sharp questions, and have already started sending along topics for next week.

We’ve decided to try to keep it up all quarter.