Fall 2023 Quick Guide

Fall 2023 Semester.

•Schedule of Classes with Classroom Assignments and Exam Information. The current version of the Fall 202​3 class schedule, including class room assignments and exam information, is available by clicking here. 

•Initial Reading Assignments. Initial reading assignments for upper-level courses are available here.  Initial assignments for first-year courses are available here.

•Add-Drop Period. The add/drop period will continue through Friday, September 1, 5:00pm. You may withdraw from any course except a required course, a clinical course, Law Review, Moot Court, or an intersession class at any time prior to the date of the final exam or final paper (see section 3.10(c) of the Student Handbook). There is no tuition penalty if you dropa course during the first two weeks of classes. You will not receive a tuition refund, however, if you drop a course after Friday, September 1, 5:00pm.

•Academic Calendar. The academic calendar for 2023-2024 is available here.

•Building and Library Hours. The building and library hours for the Fall 2023 semester are available here.

•Classrooms for Remote Use. If you are taking an online class this semester (or a class that meets on campus some weeks and remotely other weeks), we have reserved rooms at the Law School for you to use if you won't have sufficient time to travel from home to school (or vice versa) in between your online class and an on-site class you have the same day. These rooms will remain the same throughout the semester. Click here for the list. Please note: You will each connect to class individually in Zoom and should have earphones or headphones with you.

•Applications for Graduation. If you are graduating this semester, please submit an Application for Graduation (click here) no later than Friday, September 1, 5:00pm.

•COVID-19 Policies. The university urges that everyone be vaccinated against COVID-19 but is no longer requiring vaccination. However, it remains important that you stay home if you don't feel well and that you isolate and mask according to CDC guidelines if you test positive for COVID-19. 

•Consortium Program. Chicago-Kent has a consortium arrangement with DePaul, Loyola, and UIC under which students can take designated courses at the other schools. Under the consortium arrangement, students pay tuition to their home school, and grades transfer back to the home school (not just the credits) and are counted in student GPAs. See below for the lists from the other participating schools. Please contact me as soon as possible if you are interested in taking a class through the consortium. Requests for available spaces will be considered on a first-come, first-served basis. Please note: Consortium courses may count toward a Chicago-Kent certificate program only with permission of Dean Sowle and the director of the relevant certificate program. 
Loyola course list 
DePaul course list
UIC course list

•Graduating Students: Reduced Loads and Tuition Discounts. J.D. students graduating at the end of the Fall 2023 semester who need fewer than the minimum number of hours to graduate may take fewer credits without special permission. In addition, if you will be graduating at the end of the Fall 2023 semester and will be taking more than the 87 credits required to graduate, you may receive a 50% discount on each credit you take over the required 87 credits. If this affects you, please contact me by email no later than ​Friday, September 1. Important note: Financial aid is not available for any courses you take that are not necessary for you to reach the required 87 credits.

•Pass/Fail Elections and Limitations for Upper-Level Courses. Pass/fail elections for Fall 2023 course must be made online no later than Friday, September 1. To request pass/fail for a course, log into Web for Students and click on "Take Class Pas/Fail." The Registrar's office will review your request and will inform you if there is any problem with your request..

Although there is no overall limit on pass/fail credits, there are two types of limits to the pass/fail credits you can take:

Pass/fail election: Students may elect up to 6 credits pass/fail during their entire time at Chicago-Kent. This pass/fail election applies to upper-level elective courses that normally are letter-graded; classes that are only offered pass/fail do not count toward this 6-credit limit. The following classes may not be elected pass/fail: (1) required courses, including any course taken to satisfy the Professional Responsibility graduation requirement; (2) seminars, whether or not being taken to fulfill the graduation seminar requirement; (3) courses that have been designated by instructors as ineligible for the pass/fail election (these courses are indicated on each semester’s schedule of classes); (4) Trial Advocacy and Appellate Advocacy courses; and (5) courses taken to fulfill the requirements of any certificate program. Fall pass/fail registration will open shortly before the start of the Fall semester (keep your eye on my section of the Record). A student taking a course on a pass/fail basis must earn at least a C to receive a P (Pass). If you pass the course but fail to earn at least a C, you will receive a grade of LP (Low Pass).

Clinic limitation: You may take no more than 24 credit hours toward graduation for the following courses combined: in-house clinical courses, externships, and Business Entity Formation & Transactions. (Students in the Litigation and Alternative Dispute Resolution Program (LADR) and the Criminal Litigation Program are exempt from this limitation.)

•Experiential Course Requirement. Students must complete a total of six credits from an approved list of experiential courses (click here for the list). Most students will already satisfy four of these credits through the required sequence of Legal Writing 3 and Legal Writing 4. However, students who opt for the Legal Writing 4 Equivalency Class (see below) should consult the list of approved courses to determine whether the qualifying activity counts toward the experiential requirement. Law Review does not count toward the requirement.

•64-Credit Classroom Course Requirement. At least 64 of the 87 credits required for graduation must be in courses that require attendance in regularly scheduled classroom sessions or direct faculty instruction. Clinical coursework counts toward the 64-credit requirement, but externships, extracurricular activities (including credits earned for participation in a law journal, moot court competitions, trial advocacy competitions, or as a Teaching Assistant), and courses taken in another academic unit (e.g., the Stuart School of Business) do not count toward the 64 credits. 

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