Fall 2026 Quick Guide
Fall 2026 Schedule of Classes. The latest version of the Fall class schedule, including classroom assignments, is available by clicking here. The add/drop period will continue through the second week of classes (exact date TBA below). Please note revisions to the Fall schedule announced in the last pages of the PDF. An LLM catalog will be available later this summer.
Exam Information. Information about Fall exams (including which courses have exams, what type of exam a course has, and date and time of exam for courses with fixed exam) is available by clicking here.
Add/Drop Period. The add/drop period will continue through the Friday of the second week of classes at 9:00pm. 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 drop a course by the end of the add/drop period. You will not receive a tuition refund, however, if you drop a course after the end of the add/drop period.
Initial Reading Assignments for Fall 2026. Initial reading assignments for upper-level courses will be posted online here. Initial reading assignments for first-year courses will also be posted here.
Application for Graduation. If you will be graduating at the end of the Fall 2026 semester, please complete this form no later than 5pm on the Friday of the first week of classes.
Classrooms for Remote Use. If you are taking an online class this semester (or a class that meets on campus some days and remotely other days), 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. The list will be made available online. Please note: You will each connect to class individually in Zoom and should have earphones or headphones with you.
Consortium Program. Chicago-Kent has a consortium arrangement with DePaul, Loyola, and UIC under which upper-level 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. If consortium classes are available, they will be announced here and in academic affairs announcements.
Book Orders for Fall 2024. As a reminder, the university now uses a virtual bookstore for students to order course materials. Please go to https://iit.edu/bookstore to access the bookstore and for instructions on how to use it (scroll down on the linked page to see the instructions). If any of your courses is missing book ordering information, please check back periodically for updates.
Academic Calendar. The academic calendar for 2026-27 is available here.
Graduating Students: Reduced Loads and Tuition Discounts. J.D. students graduating at the end of the Fall 2026 semester who need fewer than the minimum number of hours to graduate may take fewer credits without special permission. Important note: Financial aid is not available for any courses you take that are not necessary for you to reach the required at least 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. The link for requesting pass/fail is available in Web for Students in the lefthand menu. The deadline for electing pass/fail is 9pm on the Friday of the second week of classes.
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 should be taken in a designated sequence, depending on the student’s division.
Second-year Day students (full-time) should 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) should 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 should 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.
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, Kate Gipe, for an exemption from taking the class.
For more information on upper-level requirements (aimed at students finishing their first year), please see the "Where Do We Go From Here?" document.
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 fill out the TeamDynamix forms 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.