Associate Dean Sowle's Announcements, November 30, 2022 - Spring Schedule

Spring 2023 Schedule of Classes. The Spring 2023 class schedule is available here.

Course Descriptions: available here

Academic Calendar for 2022–2023: available here

Registration Instructions. The registration and add/drop dates appear below. Important Note: Initial registration for classes at Chicago-Kent is not conducted on a first-come, first-served basis. You may register at any time during the initial registration period and still have an equal chance of being admitted into a class as other students within your registration priority group (which is based on your division and your anticipated graduation date). At the end of the initial registration period, we will close down the system and, for any classes that are oversubscribed, determine who will be admitted to the class based on registration priorities.

Initial registration opens: Friday, December 16, 9:00am
Initial registration closes: Wednesday, December 21, 5:00pm
Add/drop period opens: Wednesday, December 28, 9:00am
Add/drop period closes: Tuesday, January 31, 5:00pm

To learn what classes you have been admitted into, you must check the online registration site on or after Wednesday, December 28, at 9:00am. 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, December 28, to learn what classes you have been admitted into.

Intersession classes. Please note that we will have several January intersession classes offered in the week prior to the start of the Spring semester; see pages 12-13 of the class schedule for a list of intersession classes. Please note: First-year students may not take intersession classes.

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 Spring semester. (Under our current procedures, we need enrollment information for elective courses before determining which category they fall into.)

Class Recordings. In response to student suggestions, we are working on compiling information about which professors plan on recording classes in the Spring and whether they will make recordings available generally, or more selectively. We anticipate having this information available for most or all classes prior to the start of registration.

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 page 2 of the schedule for information about Legal Writing 4 Equivalency) 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.

Bar Exam Strategies Course. This is a reminder that 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.

Pass/Fail Limitations 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. Pass/fail registration will open in January shortly before the start 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 Professional Responsibility; (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) courses that are graded only on a pass/fail basis (as noted above), such as clinical courses, Moot Court, and Law Review; (5) Financial Services LL.M. courses; (6) Trial Advocacy and Appellate Advocacy courses; and (7) courses taken to fulfill the requirements of any certificate program. Fall pass/fail registration will open shortly before the start of the Fall semester. 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 clinical courses and externships combined. (Students in the Litigation and Alternative Dispute Resolution Program (LADR) and the Criminal Litigation Program are exempt from this limitation.)

Graduating Students: Reduced Loads and Tuition Discounts. J.D. students graduating at the end of the Spring semester who need fewer than the minimum number of hours to graduate may take fewer credits without special permission. Taking a reduced load may affect your eligibility for financial aid; please contact the Financial Aid Office if you have questions about this.

In addition, if you will be graduating at the end of the Spring 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 Tuesday, January 31, and I will arrange for the credit to be applied to your account. Please note: Financial aid is not available for any courses you take that are not necessary for you to reach the required 87 credits.

Registration for First-Year Students. First-year Day Division students should register for Civil Procedure, Property, and Legal Writing 2 for the Spring semester. (Please be careful to register for the Civil Procedure and Property classes listed for your current section, and for the Legal Writing section taught by your current professor.) For their fourth course, full-time Day Division students should also register for one of the options listed below. First-year Evening Division students should register for Contracts, Property, and Legal Writing 2.

1L Your Way. For their fourth course, full-time Day Division students should register for Legislation, or for one of the "1L Your Way" choices described below. If you decide to take Legislation, please register for Dean Sowle’s section if you are in the Legal Writing sections taught by Profs. Debush, Nagel, De Armond, or Godfrey; please register for Prof. Marder’s section if you are in the Legal Writing sections taught by Profs. Gieseke, Aleisa, Johnson, or Rips.


• First Year Clinic (3 credits): All first-year students were emailed information about the First Year Clinic program and how to apply. If you were accepted into First Year Clinic, you will receive instructions on how to register.

• Electives: We have designated certain courses as automatically available for first-year students; see page 2 of the class schedule for the list. With permission, students may take other electives that fit their schedules (requests should be sent to me). If you take an elective, you will be in class with upper-level students. Please note: Upper-level required courses may not be taken (this includes Constitutional Law, Professional Responsibility courses, Legal Writing 3, Legal Writing 4, and seminars). Depending on demand, we may not be able to accommodate all first-year students who wish to take an elective, although we are hopeful there will be sufficient spaces available for all interested students.

To ensure that all full-time first-year students are assessed on a common set of courses, grades for Legislation or for an elective taken its place will not be considered in calculating Spring class ranks for first-year students or for purposes of probation and dismissals, Law Review selections, or merit scholarships for first-year students. The First Year Clinic option is graded pass/fail and thus won't count into students' GPA's for that reason. Grades for Legislation and electives will be included in all subsequent class rank calculations.