Spring 2027 Quick Guide

Spring 2027 Schedule of Classes. The Spring 2027 class schedule, including course descriptions, registration instructions, and other important information, is available for J.D. students. These schedules may be updated as circumstances require. Please review the schedules carefully, including any notes regarding prerequisites, registration restrictions, course formats, and graduation requirements. Please also review the registration instructions before your registration window opens. Some classes require special permission or have enrollment restrictions.

A course schedule for LLM students will be available from Dean Weber; contact the Office of International and LLM Programs for deals.

Classroom assignments will be posted here when available.

Registration for Spring 2027 Registration for Spring 2027 will begin on November 9, 2026, according to the procedures described in the Student Handbook. Chicago-Kent follows Illinois Tech's system of registration priority. In short, athletes, degree-seeking ROTC, and students with disability accommodations may register on the first day registration opens. On the second day that registration opens for the university (November 10), Chicago-Kent's priority rule kicks in: first rising 3L and 4L students along with LLMs (Nov. 11), then rising 2Ls (Nov. 12), then all other students can register. Registration is expected to open at 8:30 am each morning.

You will need a registration PIN to register for classes. To find your PIN, log in the portal.iit.edu, search Registration Pin. In the “Quick View” section, click on “Registration Pins”. You will be able to see your registration PIN if you have been assigned one. 

Students who need assistance with registration-related matters should use the Academic Affairs request forms. 

Spring 2027 Intersession. Spring intersession courses will be held Monday, January 11, through Friday, January 15, 2027. Please note that intersession courses have special registration, attendance, and withdrawal rules. Intersession courses generally cannot be dropped after they begin. Review the applicable course information and academic regulations carefully before registering. First-year day students are not eligible to take intersession courses this spring. 

Spring 2027 Academic Calendar. The complete 2026–2027 academic calendar is available here. Please pay particular attention to the makeup days scheduled for April 26–28. These are instructional days, even though regularly scheduled classes end on April 23. 

Spring 2027 Exam Schedule. Information about Spring 2027 final exams, including which courses have exams, exam formats, and the dates and times of fixed examinations, is available here; you will need to log in to access the link. The examination period runs from Wednesday, May 5, through Friday, May 14, 2027. Students should review the exam schedule before finalizing their course selections, particularly if they anticipate taking multiple courses with fixed examinations. Please contact Dean Abhijeet with questions about exams. 

Add/Drop Period. The Spring 2027 add/drop period will continue through Friday, January 29, at 9:00 p.m. (subject to confirmation). 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 Spring 2027. These will be collected closer to the beginning of the spring semester, and a spreadsheet of initial reading assignments will be linked here. Please check for updates before classes begin. Some instructors may also post course materials and assignments directly to Canvas; check Canvas! 

Book Orders for Spring 2027. The university uses a virtual bookstore for students to order course materials. Please visit https://iit.edu/bookstore to access the bookstore and instructions for ordering materials. If any of your courses is missing book ordering information, please check back periodically for updates. Some professors may use coursepacks or other materials distributed separately from the virtual bookstore. Students enrolled in those courses will receive additional instructions. 

Application for Graduation. If you will be graduating at the end of the Spring 2027 semester, please complete the Application for Graduation before the end of the first week of classes so we can check your completion of degree requirements. All graduating students should also review their remaining graduation requirements carefully, including total credit hours, required courses, experiential credits, and the classroom-credit requirement. 

Graduating Students: Reduced Course Loads. J.D. students graduating at the end of Spring 2027 who need fewer than the minimum number of credit hours to graduate may register for fewer credits without special permission. Important: Financial aid is not available for courses that are not necessary for you to reach the required minimum of 87 credits for graduation. Students should consult the Office of Financial Aid about the potential consequences of a reduced course load. 

Pass/Fail for Upper-Level Courses. Certain upper-level electives may be taken pass/fail, subject to the limitations described below. Required courses may not be taken pass/fail. The anticipated deadline for electing pass/fail is Friday, January 29, at 9:00 p.m. (subject to confirmation). Although there is no overall limit on pass/fail credits, the following restrictions apply: 

  • Pass/fail election: Students may elect up to six credits pass/fail during their time at Chicago-Kent. This applies to upper-level electives that normally receive letter grades. Courses offered exclusively on a pass/fail basis do not count toward the six-credit limit.
  • Ineligible courses: Required courses (including courses satisfying Professional Responsibility), seminars, courses designated by instructors as ineligible for pass/fail, Trial Advocacy and Appellate Advocacy courses, and courses used to satisfy certificate requirements may not be elected pass/fail.
  • Minimum grade: A student taking a course pass/fail must earn at least a C to receive a P (Pass). A student who passes the course but earns below a C will receive an LP (Low Pass).
  • Clinical credit limitation: Students may take no more than 24 credits toward graduation from in-house clinical courses, externships, and Business Entity Formation & Transactions combined. Students in the Litigation and Alternative Dispute Resolution Program and 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. The list is available here. Most students will satisfy four of these credits through Legal Writing 3 and Legal Writing 4. Students who complete the Legal Writing 4 requirement through an equivalency class should consult the approved course list to determine whether their qualifying activity also counts toward the experiential requirement. Law Review does not count toward the experiential requirement. 

64-Credit Classroom Course Requirement. At least 64 of the 87 credits required for graduation must be earned in courses involving regularly scheduled classroom sessions or direct faculty instruction. Clinical coursework counts toward the 64-credit requirement. Externships, extracurricular activities (including law journals, moot court competitions, trial advocacy competitions, and teaching assistantships), and courses taken in another academic unit generally do not. Students planning their final semesters should review this requirement carefully. 

Graduation Checklist. To earn the J.D., students must complete the following requirements, earn at least 87 credits, and maintain a cumulative GPA of at least 2.300.

  • 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 (or an approved equivalency)
  • One qualifying seminar
  • Six credits of approved experiential courses
  • At least 64 qualifying classroom credits
  • Bar Exam Strategies, if required

Sequence of Courses and Upper-Level Requirements. Students should review their remaining required courses carefully when planning their Spring 2027 schedules.

  • Course sequencing: The faculty has waived course-sequencing requirements for the 2026–2027 academic year. Students may complete required courses in a different sequence, provided they satisfy all graduation requirements before graduating. If Spring 2027 is your final opportunity to complete a required course and you cannot register for it, please contact Academic Affairs at law-academicaffairs@illinoistech.edu.
  • Legal Writing 3 and 4: Legal Writing 3 is not a prerequisite for Legal Writing 4. These courses may be completed in either order.
  • Professional Responsibility: The Professional Responsibility graduation requirement may be completed at any time after the first year. Qualifying courses include Professional Responsibility, Ethics and Advocacy, and Practice and Professionalism, subject to course availability.
  • Legal Writing 4 Equivalency: Students participating in certain qualifying courses or activities, including Law Review, Appellate Advocacy, Pretrial Litigation, Criminal Litigation 1, or judicial externships, may be eligible to satisfy Legal Writing 4 through the equivalency class. The zero-credit equivalency class must be taken in the same semester as the qualifying activity. See the Schedule of Classes for eligibility and registration instructions.
  • Seminar requirement: To satisfy the graduation seminar requirement, students must have completed at least 54 credits and Legal Writing 4 before beginning the seminar. A seminar taken before satisfying these conditions will not count toward the graduation seminar requirement. Students may also satisfy the requirement through Independent Research in Lieu of Seminar.
  • Bar Exam Strategies: Students in the bottom 25 percent of their class at the end of their second year (full-time students) or third year (part-time students) are required to take Bar Exam Strategies in their final semester. Other students in their final semester may elect to take the course. Eligible students may petition the Director of Bar Success for an exemption.

Credit Hour Limitations. The following credit-hour limitations apply to upper-level J.D. students. Full time day division students take a minimum of 12 credits (10 credits during either of the final two semesters); maximum of 16 credits. Part-time Day and Evening division students take a minimum of 8 credits; maximum of 13 credits. Students participating in Law Review and/or Moot Court Honor Society may take one additional credit hour, up to 17 credits for full-time students or 14 credits for part-time students. In addition, students who need fewer than the minimum number of credits to graduate may take a reduced load without special permission. Intersession credits are not counted toward the regular semester course load for purposes of the maximum credit-hour limits. Students whose intersession enrollment would exceed the system’s registration limit should submit a request through the Academic Affairs forms before registering. Other exceptions to these limits require approval. 

Consortium Program. Chicago-Kent has a consortium arrangement with DePaul, Loyola, and UIC under which upper-level students may take designated courses at participating schools. Under the consortium arrangement, students pay tuition to their home school, and grades earned in consortium classes transfer back to the home school and are included in the student’s GPA, not merely transferred as credits. If consortium courses are available for Spring 2027, information about participating courses, available spaces, and registration procedures will be posted here and announced through Academic Affairs. Consortium courses may count toward a Chicago-Kent certificate program only with appropriate approval.