Assistant Dean Sowle’s Announcements, April 19-23
Academic Calendar Reminder. Please note the following dates for the closing period of the semester:
| Monday, April 26 | Monday classes meet (Dr. King's Birthday make-up |
| Tuesday, April 27 | Tuesday classes meet (Study Day make-up) |
| Wednesday, April 28 | Monday classes meet (Study Day make-up) |
| Thursday, April 29 | Thursday classes meet (Study Day make-up) |
| Friday, April 30 | Friday classes meet (Study Day make-up) (last day of classes) |
| Saturday, May 1 - Tuesday, May 4 | Read period |
| Wednesday, May 5 - Friday, May 14 | Final exams |
Teaching Evaluations. Teaching evaluations will be done online through the local Web for Students system for all classes, except for clinical classes (we will contact clinical students separately about submitting evaluations). The forms will be available from Monday, April 19. through the last day of classes, Friday, April 30. The forms can be accessed on the local Web for Students system. Once you log into Web for Students, click on appropriate link(s) in the lefthand menu. (There are specialized forms for Legal Writing 2, 3, and 4; all other classes are under the General Course Evaluations link.)
Teaching evaluations are anonymous and will not be available to professors until grades are turned in. Instructors will review the responses to improve the quality of their instruction and courses. The evaluations are also considered as one important factor in tenure, promotion, and compensation decisions for full-time faculty and are used as a factor in determining the effectiveness of part-time instructors.
Deadline to Revoke Spring 2021 Pass/Fail Elections. Students may revoke pass/fail elections and revert to standard letter grading through Thursday, April 29, 5:00pm. To revoke a pass/fail election, go to your Web for Students account and navigate to the appropriate link in the lefthand menu.
Spring 2021 Final Exams. The exam period will run from Wednesday, May 5, through Friday, May 14. To find your exam schedule, go to your Web for Students account and navigate to the "Spring 2021" link under the "Schedule" heading. Spring exams numbers will be posted at a later date (note: the exam numbers currently showing are for midterm exams, not final exams). In addition to the information provided below, please also see the Exam Quick Guide and, for complete information, General Procedures for Exams. If you have any questions, please contact exams@kentlaw.iit.edu.
•Types of Exams. There are four types of exams:
· Fixed Exams: The date and time are listed on your Exam Schedule in Web for Students.
· Floating Fixed Exams: For most first-year exams, there is a two-day window in which the exam can be taken. Please see the Spring 2021 Schedule of Classes for information regarding the open period for your course.
· Self-Scheduled Exams: Self-Scheduled exams can be taken at any time during the exam period. You will choose the date and time that you wish to take the exam. You do not need to preschedule the exam time.
· Take Home Exams: These are exams that are 24 hours or more. Please contact your professor regarding the exam parameters.
•Exam-Taking Details. This semester, most courses will have self-scheduled or take home exams, and all exams will be taken at home. The following instructions are applicable to all exams:
· You will use the Examsoft student `ram that you like, but all exam answers must be uploaded as a PDF.
· If you are handwriting your exam answers, you can submit a PDF document of your handwritten exams answers.
· Student conduct during examinations is subject to the Chicago-Kent Code of Conduct, which is set forth in Section XIX of the Student Handbook. With respect to communications between students during exam period, please note that, once you have taken the exam, you are not allowed to communicate with anyone about any aspect of the exam.
•Requesting Exam Space in the Law School Building. Students who need a quiet place to take exams or who have poor Internet connectivity at home should complete this form to request use of a room in the building.
•Exam Conflict/Reschedule Requests. The Student Handbook requires that you take your final exams at the times scheduled unless you have an exam conflict (as defined below), or you have a "serious illness or other extraordinary or compelling reason" beyond your control. If you have an exam conflict or believe you have other reasons justifying the rescheduling of an exam, please complete the Final Exam Reschedule form. To complete the form, log into Web for Students and navigate to the Final Exam Reschedule form in the lefthand menu. We will contact you to arrange an alternate date for you to complete your exam.
Summer 2021 Schedule and Registration. The Summer 2021 Schedule of Classes is now available on the Summer 2021 Quick Guide page.
•Notice to First-Year Students. Current first-year students are permitted to take Summer 2021 courses if they wish to do so. You may want to review the "Where Do We Go From Here?" document prior to Summer registration (although it will mainly be relevant to registration for Fall 2021, when that takes place).
•Registration Instructions. Registration for Summer classes will take place from Friday, April 16, at 9:00 am through Tuesday, April 20, at 9:00 pm. You may register at any time during that period. For instructions on how to register, go to the Summer 2021 Quick Guide page and click on the link titled Accessing the Online Registration System. Please note: If you do not register during this initial registration period, you will still be able to register for any open class during the add/drop period, which will start on Friday, April 23; see below for details.
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. Evening Division students have priority over Day Division students for Summer classroom courses. Within divisions, registration priority is based on anticipated graduation date, with the earliest graduation date having the highest priority.
To learn what classes you have been admitted into, you must check the Online Registration site on or after Friday, April 23. Registering for a class during the initial registration period is no guarantee that you will be admitted to the class -- you must check the web site on or after Friday, April 23 to learn what classes you have been admitted to.
•Add/Drop Period. The Summer add/drop period begins on Friday, April 23. Starting on that date, you may add open courses or drop courses using the online system. The add/drop period will run through Tuesday, June 1, at 9:00 pm.
•Consortium Arrangement. Chicago-Kent has a consortium arrangement with three other Chicago law schools under which students can take selected courses at the other schools. Under the consortium arrangement, students pay tuition to their home school, and grades transfer (not just the credits) and are counted in your GPA. For Summer 2021, we have received Loyola's course list, but are still awaiting lists from DePaul and UIC/John Marshall. 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.
•Course Fee. A course fee of $350, in addition to regular tuition, will be charged to full-time students for each regular classroom course taken during the Summer term, including any courses taken through our exchange program with DePaul, Loyola, UIC/John Marshall, and including classes taken through other ABA-accredited schools. The fee does not apply to part-time students; it also does not apply (for any student) to clinical courses, externships, or Independent Research credits pursued at Chicago-Kent; and does not apply to courses taken through Chicago-Kent exchange programs with universities abroad. If you qualify for financial aid loans, those can be used to cover the cost of the fee; scholarships, however, cannot be used to cover the cost of the fee. Notice to part-time students: You may see the course fee on your account if you take a regular classroom course; a credit equal to the fee will be applied to offset the charge at the end of the Summer add/drop period.
•Petitioning to Take Summer Classes All-Online. As with the past two semesters, you may petition to take Summer 2021 classes remotely if you have health or other pandemic-related reasons for doing so. Please complete this form if you would like to request taking Summer classes online.
•Intensive Trial Advocacy. We offer two sections of Intensive Trial Advocacy 1 each year -- one in August, the week before Fall classes start, the other in January, the week before Spring classes start. Registration for the August section will take place as part of Fall 2021 registration (not as part of Summer registration).ᐧ
Legal Writing T.A. Applications. The Legal Research and Writing Program is seeking applicants for Teaching Assistant positions for first-year Legal Writing, and for the upper-level T.A. position, for the 2021-2022 academic yer. Click here for more information and for details on how to apply. Applications are due no later than Wednesday, April 21.
Fall 2021 Semester. The university anticipates returning to regular in-person classes for the Fall semester. We expect to issue the Fall schedule of classes during the week of April 26, with registration taking place shortly after the end of the Spring exam period. Information for first-year students on upper-level requirements and course planning is available below.
Law Review Summer Candidacy Program. [Message from the Law Review editors:] The Chicago-Kent Law Review would like to invite any students interested in joining the Law Review to attend one of our Summer Candidacy Program information sessions:
- Tuesday, April 27 at 12:30 PM
- Wednesday, April 28 at 3:30 PM
- Friday, April 30 at 5:30 PM
- Sunday, May 16 at 2:00 PM
- Wednesday, May 19 at 6:00 PM
During these sessions, we will cover Bluebook basics as well as how to approach the summer write-on process. All sessions will be held via Zoom and you do not need to attend more than one session. Please see the attached flyer for the meeting links.
As a reminder, the following students will automatically be invited to join the Chicago-Kent Law Review based on their academic performance:
- Full-time day division students who have completed their first year and rank in the top 7% of the full-time day division class
- Evening division and part-time day division students who have completed their first year and rank in the top 7% of the combined evening division and part-time day division class
- Evening division and part-time day division students who have completed their second year and rank within the top 7% of the combined class of first-year day students and second-year evening and part-time day students
The other method for joining Law Review is through participation in the Summer Candidacy Program. Because the Law Review is no longer requiring applicants to meet a minimum cumulative GPA, the Summer Candidacy Program will begin before Spring 2021 grades are released. This is a change from past years. This means that first-year rankings will not be available prior to the start of the write-on process. For this reason, everyone is encouraged to participate in the Summer Candidacy Program regardless of the potential to fall within the top 7%.
If there are any questions or concerns, please reach out to the incoming Executive Notes & Comments Editor, Elizabeth Jedrasek (ejedrasek@kentlaw.iit.edu), or refer to § 1.12 of the Student Handbook for more information about eligibility requirements.
Moot Court Honor Society: Oral Argument Practices and Tryouts. [Message from Prof. Cherish Keller:] To first-year students: Congratulations on turning in your briefs! Now is a great time to think about Chicago-Kent's Moot Court Honor Society. Below is how you can try out for MCHS and how current MCHS members can potentially help you with oral argument practices. To upper-division students who will be enrolled in 2021-2022: If you aren't on MCHS but are interested, keep reading!
•Tryouts. The Moot Court Honor Society will hold tryouts in April to select about 25 new J.D. members for 2021-22. We need a crew of engaging conversationalists, strong writers, and hard-working team players so that we can hold our place as one of the nation's most consistently successful appellate advocacy programs. The tryout process works as follows:
- If you’re interested in--or just curious about--trying out, check out this document. It outlines the process and gives some background about who we are and what you'd do on MCHS.
- At some point between April 4 (the appellate brief due date for 1Ls) and April 12 (at 5pm), submit a resume and writing sample via this Google form. For the writing sample, we strongly prefer that you submit an appellate brief, since that's most relevant to the writing you'd do in MCHS.
- At some point before April 19, sign up for a 10-minute oral argument slot via this Google calendar. (To access the calendar, make sure you're in your kentlaw account.)
- Present an oral argument during your chosen time slot during tryouts, which will be held via Zoom during the week of April 19.
If you have questions, please reach out to one of us! Our MCHS President Bora Ndregjoni and our VPs, Hayden Dinges, Sakshi Jain, Kristen Merritt, Cait Sinclair, and John Warren, are happy to answer questions (as are any MCHS members, really!). We'll also occasionally post information about tryouts on the CKMoot Facebook page and on our Instagram account.
•Information Session. We're hosting an info session this coming Tuesday (April 6) at 1:00. Come join some current MCHS members and ask questions! Here's the Zoom link, here. (And here's the full Zoom link, for ease:
kentlaw.zoom.us/j/86223777685?pwd=WFBTbEcrUVNNYUZKV3BrY3FYcm9tQT09.)
•Practices. After the deadline for the appellate brief, MCHS members and I (Prof. Keller) will be available to practice with MCHS candidates and anyone preparing for legal writing oral arguments. To sign up for practice sessions, check the practices on this Google Sheet. In this coming week, MCHS members will be adding practice times. So if no practices match your schedule (or if none are listed, like right now), please check again in the future, as we will add more practice opportunities as the dates get closer. And if you have any questions about tryouts or practices, you can always contact me at ckeller@kentlaw.iit.edu. Good luck with your oral argument practices, and we hope to see you at tryouts!
Dean's Certification Form for Illinois Bar. We will mail a Dean's Certification form to the Illinois bar examiners for every graduating student after final grades for the Spring semester are received and processed and we can confirm completion of all graduation requirements. We compile the list of graduating students from the list of those who submitted Applications for Graduation listing Spring 2021 as their final semester. Important note: University policy does not allow the certification of any student to the bar examiners if the student has an outstanding balance owed to the school.
Bar Forms for Other States. If you plan to take a bar exam outside of Illinois, you should provide me (at ssowle@kentlaw.iit.edu) with the appropriate form(s) for the Law School to complete as soon as possible.
Trial Team Tryouts. [Message from the Trial Team:] Are you interested in receiving individual instruction on trial skills, making invaluable career connections with practicing attorneys, and having tons of FUN? Join Chicago-Kent's nationally ranked Trial Team!
Who: Tryouts are open to any student not graduating this year.
When: Tryouts will be April 21 & 22, 4pm-9pm. Callbacks will be held Friday, April 23, time TBD.
How: Online via Zoom! Sign up for a time slot here: Trial Team Tryout Schedule 4/21 & 4/22 (Note: You must sign up by April 14. Once you have signed up, a Zoom invitation will be sent to you after April 14.)
What: Just prepare (for either side of the case): a 3-5 minute Opening Statement AND a 7-8 minute Closing Argument. If you would like to meet with a trial team member for some help before tryouts, please sign up on the attached sheet (trial team members will be adding times they are available in the next few days). Sign Up for Meeting with Trial Team Member
Informational packets with everything you need to know and the problem State of Lone Star v. Peter Paul Seger. Contact Ana Montelongo (amontelo@kentlaw.iit.edu or 708-289-8988) or Breana Brill (bbrill@kentlaw.iit.edu or 224-565-3089) with any questions.
Classrooms for Remote Classes. As previously announced, we are making classrooms available on-site for remote classes in situations where students do not have sufficient time to travel from home to school (or vice versa) in between the remote class and an on-site class they have the same day. A list of classrooms for the week of April 19 is available by clicking here. Please note: These rooms should only be used by students who requested a room (we have notified all such students by email). Given classroom capacity limitations, students not already approved may cause the room to exceed the available capacity.
If you wish to request rooms for the week of April 26, the form is available by clicking here. We will notify you by email of your room assignment prior to your class. Please submit this form no later than this Thursday, April 15. If you wish to request a room for the same class, but on multiple days next week, you can indicate that on a single form. If, however, you are requesting rooms for different classes during the week, please submit separate forms.
Please note: If you previously submitted a form and clicked the box to make your submission a standing request, you do not need to submit a new form. If at any point you wish to cancel a standing request, please email me at ssowle@kentlaw.iit.edu.
Counseling Services. This is a reminder that the university provides counseling services free of charge for students. Click here for details on the available resources, including individual counseling through Skylight Counseling Services.
In addition to resources available through the university, the Lawyers Assistance Program also provides assistance to law students. LAP provides free and confidential assistance to members of the Illinois legal community, including students, and can help you with issues of addiction, stress, anxiety, depression, focusing, worries about the character and fitness process, and having a successful first-year transition. Click here for more information about LAP and the services it provides.
Information for 1L Students on Upper-Level Course Selection and Requirements. In response to inquiries and comments recently, we are providing (somewhat earlier than usual) a guide we publish annually that provides detailed information on graduation requirements, upper-level course selection, and related subjects. The guide, entitled "Where Do We Go From Here? Information for Students Entering Their Second Year," is available by clicking here.
In addition, we will announce shortly the process for requesting a Faculty Advisor, who will be available to help by discussing with you your approach to studying, career options, course selection for upcoming semesters, and other law school matters that may interest or concern you.
The Return of the Joke of the Week! What did Zero say to Eight? Nice belt!