Non-Law Students

Registration

The registration form will require the following signatures:

  1. Student’s home department Dean or Graduate Advisor
  2. Professor
  3. Law School Assistant Dean for Student Affairs

It is recommended the student secure permission from the professor prior to initiating the form. Once all approvals are received, the student will be registered for the course.

Rules for Enrollment

  • Non-law graduate students may request approval to take a course after the registration period has begun and may only enroll in law school courses when space is available.
  • A non-degree seeking student who wishes to enroll in a law school course must meet all prerequisites for the course and must receive written approval from the course instructor and the Assistant Dean for Student Affairs. 
  • Either the instructor, the Assistant Dean for Student Affairs, the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, or the Dean may refuse any request to enroll in a law school course. 
  • A first-year law course may be taken by a non-law graduate or a non-degree seeking student with the approval of the Associate Dean.
  • Undergraduate students are not permitted to take law school courses.

Grades

The grade from a law course may not be available until several weeks after the term’s end. A non-law graduate student graduating in the same semester will need to make sure the professor is aware of their pending graduation upon obtaining their approval on the registration form. If the professor does not agree to provide a grade early for graduation purposes, graduate students who take a law course in their final semester may not be certified for graduation until the following semester via In Absentia registration.

Law school grades are often C’s and D’s, even though a student may have worked hard and, under law school standards, been successful. Graduate students should have a clear understanding with their own schools on how the grade will be recorded. The Law School does not offer a pass-fail option; however, non-law graduate students may request special permission to take a law school course on a pass-fail basis by obtaining approval from their Dean or Advisor.