By Bill Wichert

Law360 (April 27, 2020, 9:26 PM EDT ) Students at Rutgers University and Seton Hall University law schools will be able to get another semester of letter grades under their belts before seeking associate positions, as the institutions announced plans Monday to delay on-campus interviews by a few months due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

After the outbreak led them to adopt pass-fail grading for the current spring semester, the schools said interviews of second-year students for summer associate jobs, which typically occur during the fall semester, would be postponed until at least January. Other law schools around the country have similarly delayed on-campus interviewing.

The move will enable students to earn another semester of letter grades before sending their resumes to prospective employers, according to officials at Rutgers Law School and Seton Hall University School of Law. Otherwise, due to the pass-fail grading change, existing first-year students would only have one semester of letter grades as they approach the traditional fall interviewing season, school officials said.

School officials also said they hoped that in-person interviews would be possible next year.

"Our decision to postpone interviews ensures our students are provided with the best opportunity to compete for their ideal summer opportunities," according to a statement from the deans of the schools' three campuses, Kathleen Boozang of Seton Hall, David Lopez of Rutgers-Newark and Kimberly Mutcherson of Rutgers-Camden.

Calling the decision "a win-win," legal consultant Peter Zeughauser told Law360 on Monday, "As a practical matter, postponing the interviews until January/February 2021 makes a lot of sense."

"Firms will know more about their hiring needs. [On-campus interviews] have often been inconveniently early for firms in terms of assessing their hiring needs. If the icing on the cake is that there will be an additional semester of grades because of the COVID-19 pass/fail semester, then still better. Law students should find it reassuring that the firms will be more certain in their needs," Zeughauser said, adding: "Kudos to Rutgers and Seton Hall."

But attorney Jordan I. Rothman of The Rothman Law Firm LLC said Monday that moving on-campus recruiting to January or February may be unfair to students, "since second-year law students typically take different classes unlike in their first year."

Some students might want to take "notoriously easy classes" in the fall to boost their GPAs for the recruiting season, and "moving back the recruiting season may put students at a disadvantage if other schools allow recruiting earlier," noted Rothman, whose offices are in New Jersey and New York.

"All told, so long as students are not at a disadvantage in the job market, moving on-campus recruiting to January or February of 2021 is the most fair option, since all students have plenty of notice that the next semester of grades will be important in the job search," Rothman said.

"And all students have an equal opportunity to earn top grades and compete for jobs during the on-campus recruiting process," he added.

The latest move by the two law schools comes three weeks after the New Jersey Supreme Court said law school graduates in the Garden State can start practicing law despite postponement of the July bar exam due to the pandemic.

The April 6 order signed by Chief Justice Stuart J. Rabner applies to 2020 graduates, who must first earn a certification from the Supreme Court Committee on Character and agree to apply to take the next available exam. Graduates must have attended an American Bar Association-accredited law school, and must then practice under the supervision of attorneys in good standing.

The bar exam has been rescheduled for September, but the new dates aren't set in stone given the uncertainty surrounding when COVID-19 social distancing protocols will be relaxed.

--Additional reporting by Jeannie O'Sullivan. Editing by Haylee Pearl.

For a reprint of this article, please contact reprints@law360.com.