Fall 2024 Quick Guide Page
Fall 2024 Schedule of Classes. The Fall class schedule is available by clicking here. Registration will take place as follows:
Initial registration opens: Friday, May 31, 9:00am
Initial registration closes: Thursday, June 6, 9:00pm
Add/drop opens: Thursday, June 13, 9:00am
Add/drop closes: Friday, August 30, 9:00pm
Please note the following changes/additions to the Fall schedule since it was first issued:
Changes:
-Commercial Law: Secured Transactions: the listing on the Day Division schedule omitted that this course will be taught online. (There will be an in-person offering of this course next Spring.)
-Emerging Technologies: this course will be taught online
-Futures, Swaps & Other Derivatives: moved from Thurs. 6:00-7:50pm to Tues. 6:00-7:50pm
-Juvenile Law: moved from Tues. 7:35-9:25pm to Wed. 7:35-9:25pm
Addition:
-Emerging Issues in Intellectual & Cultural Property Law (Prof. C. Smith) (3 cr.): Mon/Wed. 12:50-2:15pm. May be taken either as a regular course or for seminar credit.
Please review the information towards the bottom of this page, which includes a graduation checklist and information about the sequence in which you must take certain required courses, minimum and maximum credits, and related information.
Registration Instructions. You may register at any time during the initial registration period. After the end of the initial registration period, the registration requests will be processed according to each student’s registration priority. In other words, registration will not be conducted on a first-come, first-served basis. As long as you register during the designated period, you will have an equal chance of being admitted to a class as other students within your registration priority group.
To learn what classes you have been admitted into, you must check the online registration site when the add/drop period opens on Wednesday, June 12. Registering for a class during the initial registration period is no guarantee that you will be admitted into the class – you must check the web site on or after Wednesday, June 12, to learn what classes you have been admitted into.
Academic Calendar. The academic calendar for 2024-2025 is available here.
Information for 1L Students on Upper-Level Course Selection and Requirements. If you haven't done so already, please review the "Where Do We Go From Here?" guide, which is designed to give students about to enter their second year an overview of remaining requirements and other information. The guide is available by clicking here.
Change of Division Requests. Students wishing to request a change of division for the Fall 2024 semester (e.g., from evening division to full-time or part-time day division, or vice versa) should contact Dean Sowle at ssowle@kentlaw.iit.edu.
Exam Information. Information about exams -- which exams will be fixed, self-scheduled, and take-home, and the dates of fixed exams -- will be provided prior to the start of the Fall semester.
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 for Upper-Level Courses. Certain upper-level electives may be taken pass/fail, subject to the limitations described below; required courses, however, may not be taken pass/fail. 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.
Graduation Checklist. The following courses must be completed to earn the J.D. Students must also earn 87 credit hours, and maintain a cumulative grade point average of 2.300, to earn the J.D.
□ Torts
□ Criminal Law
□ Contracts
□ Property
□ Civil Procedure
□ Legislation
□ Constitutional Law
□ Professional Development & Identity
□ Professional Responsibility
□ Legal Writing 1
□ Legal Writing 2
□ Legal Writing 3
□ Legal Writing 4
□ One seminar
□ Six credits of experiential courses
□ Bar Exam Strategies(final year; mandatory
for students in bottom 25% of class)
Sequence of courses. Certain required courses must be taken in a designated sequence, depending on the student’s division.
Second-year Day students (full-time) must register in the Fall for Constitutional Law and Legal Writing 3 (unless they qualify for a Legal Writing 4 Equivalency Class; see below) and for Legislation, if they did not take it in Spring 2024. You will take Legal Writing 4 in the Spring.
Second-year Day students (part-time) must register in the Fall for Constitutional Law and Legal Writing 3 (unless they qualify for a Legal Writing 4 Equivalency Class; see below), and for a section of Contracts. You will take Legal Writing 4 and Legislation in the Spring.
Second-year Evening students must register for Civil Procedure, Legislation, and Professional Development & Identity in the Fall. You will take Constitutional Law in the Spring. In addition, Upper-level Evening students are required to take Legal Writing 3 and Legal Writing 4 (or a Legal Writing 4 Equivalency Class; see below) during their second and third years. Legal Writing 3 is not a prerequisite for taking Legal Writing 4; the courses may be taken in either order. See the schedule of classes for more information on registering for these classes.
Professional Responsibility: The following courses satisfy the Professional Responsibility graduation requirement: Professional Responsibility (offered Fall and Spring), Ethics and Advocacy (Fall), Practice and Professionalism (Spring), and Professional Responsibility: Business Ethics (Spring). You may satisfy the Professional Responsibility requirement at any time after your first year.
Legal Writing 4 Equivalency Class: Students who are on Law Review in the Fall, or who take Appellate Advocacy (Moot Court Honor Society), Pretrial Litigation, Criminal Litigation 1, or who are doing Judicial Externships, may satisfy the Legal Writing 4 requirement either by taking a regular Legal Writing 4 class next Spring, or by taking Legal Writing 4 Equivalency in the Fall (see page 2 of the Schedule of Classes). If you take Legal Writing 4 Equivalency in the Fall, you may take Legal Writing 3 in either the Fall or the Spring. The Equivalency Class is 0 credits, but must be taken in order to satisfy the Legal Writing 4 requirement, and it must be taken in the same semester as the qualifying course or activity.
Seminar requirement: In order to satisfy the seminar requirement, you must have completed at least 54 hours of credit and Legal Writing 4 prior to beginning the seminar. You may take a seminar before you have earned 54 hours, but it will not satisfy the seminar graduation requirement. Note: You may also satisfy the seminar requirement through Independent Research in Lieu of Seminar; contact Dean Sowle for details.
Bar Exam Strategies course: Students who were in the bottom 25% of their class at the end of their second year (for full-time students) or their third year (for part-time students) are required to take Bar Exam Strategies in their final semester. Other students in their final semester may take it if they wish, but are not required to do so. Students in the bottom 25% of their class may petition our Director of Bar Success, Erin Crist (ecrist@kentlaw.iit.edu), for an exemption from taking the class. The class will be taught asynchronously by Bar-Bri instructors, with oversight by Prof. Crist. It will cover Civil Procedure, Contracts, Evidence, and Property as tested on the bar exam. It will cover both substantive rules and skills instruction for the written and multiple choice portions of the bar exam. The course will be letter-graded.
Credit Hour Limitations. Upper-level Full-time Day Division students must take at least 12 credit hours (unless in one of their last two semesters, in which case the minimum is 10 credit hours), and not more than 16 credit hours. Upper-level Evening Division students and Part-time Day Division students must take at least 8 and not more than 13 credit hours.
Credit hours for intersession classes (including Intensive Trial Advocacy 1) do not count as part of your Fall semester course load for purposes of maximum credit hour limitations. If taking an intersession class will put you over the maximum credit limit for your division, please contact Dean Sowle prior to registering so that your maximum hour limit can be adjusted in the system.
Students enrolled in Law Review and/or Moot Court Honor Society may take one extra credit hour (for a maximum of 17 credits for full-time students, and a maximum of 14 credits for part-time students).
Graduating J.D. students needing fewer than the minimum number of hours to graduate may take fewer credits without special permission.
Registering for Courses Not in Your Division. Students must take at least one-half of their credit hours in the division in which they are enrolled. Courses offered only at 4:00 p.m. are considered Day Division for day students, and Evening Division for evening students.
Making Up Incompletes. If you will be making up an Incomplete grade by attending a class in the Fall semester, do not register for the course. You must submit an Incomplete Course Make-up Notice through your Web for Students account by the end of the second week of classes in order to earn credit for the course.