Courses offered at Washington University School of Law are open to
matriculated Washington University law students. Some courses may be
open to graduate and upper-level undergraduate students in other
departments and to non-Washington University law students currently in
good standing at an ABA accredited law school, or other non-degree
seeking students who have an undergraduate degree. Openings for non- W.U.
law students will be based on space availability and proper permission.
These students must have the permission of the professor, their school
or department, and the law school Registrar’s Office in order to
secure a place in a course. Any non- W.U. law student registering
without permission will be deleted from the class roster -the permission
form can be found on the web at http://law.wustl.edu/Registrar/index.asp?id=2131.
AUDITING
Students may audit a course if they receive permission from the
professor and the Registrar’s Office. To receive faculty permission,
the student should ask the faculty member to sign an “Audit Approval
Form” which can be found in the Student Forms and Information area
near the student mailboxes or on the Registrar’s Office website. The
student should discuss with the faculty member his or her expectations
in terms of attendance and participation. This completed form should be
turned in to the Registrar’s Office. The Registrar’s Office will let
the student know if there is space in the class for an auditor since a
student cannot audit a class which has a waitlist. At the end of the
semester the professor must sign a grade sheet verifying that the
student, in fact, audited the course. “AUD” will be entered in the
final grade field on the student’s record. It is unlikely that a
student would receive permission to audit a clinic, seminar or applied
skills course. As long as a student receives permission from the faculty
member and Registrar’s Office, he or she can be changed to an auditor
at any point during the semester.
BAD WEATHER HOTLINE
935-6400, Press “7" , then "3"
Call the bad weather hotline to see if a class has been canceled in the
event of severe weather. It is extremely rare for the University or Law
School as a whole to close down due to bad weather (in which case this
would be announced on the usual radio and TV stations, such as KMOX-AM),
but occasionally a professor might cancel a class because of the
weather.
CREDITS PER SEMESTER - MINIMUM AND MAXIMUM
(See “Pass/Fail Limitations” for information on maximum
number of pass/fail courses.)
Law students may take up to 16 units each semester. If a student
wishes to take 17 or 18 units s/he must obtain permission from Dean
Bolin by submitting the “Overload Request” form (available from the
Student Forms & Information area near the student mailboxes or
online at http://law.wustl.edu/Registrar/index.asp?id=2131).
Any student wishing to take 19 or more law units, even joint-degree
students, must petition the law school faculty. To petition the faculty,
the student must send the petition by e-mail to Elizabeth Patton at eapatton@wulaw.wustl.edu.
The full-time J.D. student load is a minimum of 12 units per semester. A
student may not be enrolled for less than 12 units without permission
from Dean Bolin. Students taking fewer than 12 units in a semester do
not earn a full semester’s worth of residency, are not eligible for
Student Health Insurance, and may have complications associated with
financial aid or loans (see JoAnn Eckrich regarding financial aid/loan
questions).
DEGREE REQUIREMENTS
JD Degree (Doctor of Law/Juris Doctoris)
1) Course Requirements—The candidate for the J.D. degree
must complete the following
required courses:
A) All first year courses prescribed for the year in which the
candidate
originally enrolled
B) One course from the Ethics Curriculum
C) One Seminar
2) Academic and Residence Credit and Averages—Candidates
for the J.D. must:
A) Earn a total of 85 or more credit hours [minimum passing
grade=74];
B) Earn a cumulative and a yearly grade point average of at least
79, based
upon all courses taken, whether or not credit is earned; and
C) Complete 6 semesters of residence. In order to obtain residence
credit for
a semester, a candidate must complete a minimum of 12 hours of work
and
must obtain final credit in a minimum of 10 hours of work. Partial
residency
may be given for summer school course work.
LL.M. in US Law (Master of Laws in US Law / Legum Magistri)
1) Earn a total of 20 or more credit hours from the law school
curriculum (special permission
may be required for some courses)
2) Grading scale = HP, P, No Credit
3) Questions? Contact Erin Burress, Graduate Program Coordinator at
burress@wulaw.wustl.edu
or 314-935-5534.
LL.M. in Taxation (Master of Laws in Taxation / Legum Magistri)
1) Earn a total of 24 or more credit hours taking courses that
are part of the Tax curriculum
The minimum passing grade is 79. Note that there is a separate
course directory for the Graduate Tax Program.
2) Required courses: Federal Income Tax, Corporate Tax, Partnership
Tax, and Estate and Gift Tax. (Candidates who have completed course
work in these subjects may apply to waive required courses and to
substitute another approved tax course. )
3) Students may enroll full-time and complete the program in one
year or enroll part-time and complete the program in no more than
four years.
4) Questions? Contact Kelly Moore, Graduate Tax Coordinator/Lecturer
in Law at
kamoore@wulaw.wustl.edu
or (314) 935-8768.
LL.M. in Intellectual Property & Technology Law (Master of
Laws in IP & Tech Law / Legum Magistri)
1) Earn a total of 24 or more credit hours taking courses that
are part of the Intellectual Property Program Curriculum (see list
near back of law school course directory or on the web - go to this
website: http://ls.wustl.edu/Registrar/courseinfo.html,
then link to the correct semester or school year http://ls.wustl.edu/Registrar/courseinfo.html,
then link to the IP Curriculum list (you might have to scroll down
the page a bit). The minimum passing grade is a 79 (75, prior to
2002-2003).
2) Required course: one seminar (off the list of approved IP seminar
courses)
3) Questions? Contact Erin Burress, Graduate Program Coordinator at burress@wulaw.wustl.edu
or 314-935-5534.
J.S.D. (Doctor of the Science of Law / Juris Scientiae Doctoris)
1) See Faculty Rule (H) 1. at http://law.wustl.edu/studentserv/index.asp?ID=1165
for degree requirements
2) Questions? Contact Erin Burress, Graduate Program Coordinator at burress@wulaw.wustl.edu
or 314-935-5534.
EMAILS AND STUDENT MAILBOXES
Students are responsible for checking their email and Law School
mailboxes daily for communications from faculty, staff and other
students. WebSTAC automatically sends emails to students when they get
off computerized waitlists. If a Law School student has questions
about their Law School email account, they should see someone in the
Computer Support Department (in the Computer lab offices). If a
student has a question about their Law School mailbox, they should the
Registrar’s Office, Room 303.
FORMS
Registar’s Office forms can be found at http://ls.wustl.edu/Registrar/Forms
or by the student mailboxes.
GRADE OPTIONS
The “grade option” for each course is pre-set. Law students
are not given the option of taking a course for either numerical
credit (grade option=C) or pass/fail (grade option=P). If a course is
graded pass/fail or modified pass/fail (HP94, P, LP78, F70), this will
be stated in the course description, otherwise it can be assumed that
the grade will be numeric. For additional information on grades go to
the Registrar’s Office website.
HOLDS
Check in WebSTAC (by clicking on “Holds”) to see if you have a
HOLD on your record. If you do you will need to clear it before
on-line registration or the system will not allow you to register (or
order official transcripts). For financial questions, contact Student
Financial Services (935-5900) or JoAnn Eckrich, Associate Director of
Financial Aid, eckrich@wustl.edu,
314-935-4605. The University usually notifies students with HOLDs by
mail, but to be sure, check your record on-line well before the first
day of online registration to make sure that you have no HOLDs that
will cause a problem for you at registration. Students may have HOLDs
on their registration for various reasons other than financial, such
as failing to enter an updated Home and Local address and phone number
in WebSTAC or for not complying with requests from Health Services.
Whatever the reason, the student is responsible for contacting the
office placing the HOLD and getting it resolved well before the date
that online registration begins.
HONORS, AWARDS & PRIZES
See http://ls.wustl.edu/Registrar/honorsawardsprizes.html.
NON-LAW COURSES
An upper-level student may apply to receive up to three hours
credit towards their J.D. for course work offered by another school of
the University. The course: 1) must be listed as a graduate-level
course, 2) must not duplicate a law school course, and 3) must be
logically related to the particular educational program or career
plans of the student. In order to receive law credit for the course,
the student must receive a “C” or better; the course cannot be
taken on a Pass/Fail or Credit/No Credit basis. The student must
submit a “Request to take a Non-law Course for Credit” form
(available from the Student Forms & Information area near the
student mailboxes or online at http://ls.wustl.edu/Registrar/Forms/index.html)
to Dean Keating’s mailbox in 301. The student should attach to this
form a course description, syllabus, reading list, and course
requirements, if available. If Dean Keating approves the course, he
will forward it to Dean Bolin. If Dean Bolin approves the course, she
will place a copy of the signed form in the student’s mailbox and
give a copy to the Registrar’s Office. The student is responsible
for registering on-line for the course and for attaining any special
approval needed by the other department. Note that each department
(including Law) reserves the right to drop students from other
departments from their courses if deemed necessary for any reason.
Course listings for all University departments, including Law, can be
found through WebSTAC (https://acadinfo.wustl.edu)
by clicking on the menu option “Course listings”
PASS/FAIL LIMITATIONS FOR J.D. STUDENTS
A) FOR ALL J.D. STUDENTS. J.D. students may not take more than a
grand total of 23 units in courses that do not provide attendance in
regularly scheduled class sessions. This includes: competitions,
supervised research, practicum or moot court, Moot Court Teams,
Trial Advocacy Competition, Judicial Clerkship Clinic, Lawyering
Practice Externship (summer), and Law Reviews. (This is a relatively
new ABA rule.)
B) FOR J.D. STUDENTS IN TOP 10% - ORDER OF THE COIF PASS/FAIL
COURSE LIMITATION. The Order of the Coif is an honorary scholastic
society (www.orderofthecoif.org)
the purpose of which is to encourage excellence in legal education
by fostering a spirit of careful study, recognizing those who as law
students attained a high grade of scholarship, and honoring those
who as lawyers, judges and teachers attained high distinction for
their scholarly or professional accomplishments. Members are
selected by the faculty from the graduating J.D. students who rank
in the top ten per cent of their class. Based on Order of the Coif
rules, in order to be eligible a student must have taken 75% of
his/her credits "graded." If a student plans to graduate
with the 85 minimum credits required for the J.D, this means s/he
must take at least 64 credits graded, and no more than 21 credits
nongraded. According to the Order of the Coif, "'Graded
courses' are those for which academic accomplishment is recorded on
the basis of educational measurement involving four or more
discriminators." WUSL's modified pass/fail courses (HP94, P,
LP78, F70) such as Pretrial and Trial count as graded courses, per
this definition. Courses such as law review, moot court, supervised
research, Judicial Clerkship Clinic, and non-law courses do not
count as graded courses under the “Coif definition” because
there are only two grade discriminators - pass or fail. In most
cases, it would be difficult for a Wash. U. Law Student to take more
than 21 credits non-graded; however, it's information students vying
for the top 10% may wish to keep in mind - especially if considering
applying for a semester abroad (which would involve at least 12
non-graded credits ) or doing the D.C. Clinic (which would involve 8
non-graded credits). Eligible students must also be approved by the
faculty.
REGISTRATION PROCEDURES
Upper-level law students pre-register for seminars and clinics in
March/April for the upcoming school year (instructions are provided in
the Law School Course Directory and on the web). If a student gets
into one of these types of courses, the Registrar’s Office will
enroll them accordingly; they will not need to enter these courses
on-line. Both Fall and Spring semester Seminar and Clinic placements
are determined before online registration in April. Students will be
notified of their placements in these courses prior to WebSTAC
registration. If, at any time, a student wishes to drop a Seminar or
Clinic, they must immediately notify the Law School Registrar’s
Office. Students may submit a email to the Registrar’s Office to be
enrolled in or waitlisted for a Seminar or Clinic after the
pre-registration deadline. The Registrar’s Office will notify the
student of whether they are enrolled in or waitlisted for the course.
Following the pre-registration process for seminars and clinics (for
both fall and spring), students register for their other courses (one
semester at a time) via WebSTAC (https://acadinfo.wustl.edu).
Online registration for fall courses occurs in April; online
registration for spring courses occurs in November. Note early drop
deadlines for some courses such as clinics (see course descriptions
for exact dates); Pretrial, Trial, Advanced Trial, Alternative Dispute
Resolution, and Negotiation Theory & Practice (usually one week
before the first day of classes each semester (see course descriptions
for exact dates).
