J.D. Residence Requirement

To be eligible for the Juris Doctor degree, a student must complete at least nine quarters of study in residence. A quarter of residence credit is given for each quarter during which a student successfully completes at least 12 credits of work. Two quarters, in each of which a student earns fewer than 12 but no less than 7 credits, may be combined to produce a quarter of residence credit.

A full-time student in the Law School is one who is registered for a minimum of 12 credits per quarter. To complete the J.D. degree in nine quarters, however, a student must average 15 credits per quarter. No student may register for fewer than 12 nor more than 16 credits per quarter without the approval of the Assistant Dean for Student Affairs. Permission to register for more than 16 credits is granted only to students whose records demonstrate the capacity to assume such a program of study successfully. In unusual situations, it may be preferable for a student to plan to take more than nine quarters to acquire the necessary credits to graduate. Appropriate arrangements for a longer program may be approved by the Assistant Dean for Student Affairs.

For students in concurrent degree programs, a full quarter of residence credit will be granted for a quarter in which a student successfully completes a total of at least 12 credits of law courses and courses applied to the concurrent degree, regardless of whether the student will receive credit toward the J.D. degree for the non-law courses. A partial quarter of residence credit will be granted if a student successfully completes a total of at least 7 credits of law and concurrent degree courses, and two partial quarters may be combined to produce a full quarter of residence credit.