3.2 Registration Overview
First-year J.D. students are assigned to sections and registered by the Office of the Registrar for all classes except their spring quarter Constitutional Law, Statutory, , and elective classes.
Second-and third-year J.D. students, M.L.S. students, J.S.D. students taking elective classes, and LL.M. students register themselves for classes using a web-based registration system. Non-first-year students seeking to register for first-year required classes must contact the Office of the Registrar. Limited seats may be available in 1L classes.
Students cannot take more than 14 credits per quarter, with no exception, including credits earned in non-law classes.
The Law School class registration process is fully described and governed by the online registration instructions that are updated quarterly. Please see http://www.law.uchicago.edu/students/registration for the most up-to-date registration instructions. All registration deadlines are outlined in the Academic Calendar on the Law School website. Students are responsible for reviewing and abiding by the registration deadlines for each quarter.
As ABA standards require, the Law School may enroll individuals in any JD course as auditors*, non-degree candidates, or candidates for a degree other than a JD, provided that such enrollment does not interfere with the ability of the law school to operate in compliance with the ABA Standards and to carry out its program of legal education. With respect to any course required for the JD degree, needed for bar examination preparation, or required for bar admission, JD students have priority enrollment unless otherwise provided by law. Courses that prioritize JD students for registration are determined by the Law School and will have a notation in the online course description.
*Auditors are not officially enrolled in classes, please see section 3.6 Auditing Classes for more information.
Initial registration takes place several weeks prior to the start of each academic quarter. Students are notified of the availability of online class schedules and registration procedures via email. The registration process for each quarter consists of several periods:
- Initial bidding for biddable courses and live registration for non-biddable courses;
- Online add/drop;
- Instructor Approval Required to Add/Drop; and
- The withdrawal-only period (students abandoning a class after the last day to drop receive a grade of “W” if they drop the class up to the last day of classes or a failing grade if after the last day of classes).
Students must refer to the online academic calendar for specific withdrawal dates for each quarter (http://www.law.uchicago.edu/students/academiccalendar). Deadlines are strictly enforced, and under no circumstances can a “W” be removed from a student’s record once the deadline has passed.
Limit on Enrollment in Kirkland & Ellis Corporate Lab Clinic & Courses Taught by Kirkland & Ellis Corporate Lab Clinic Faculty:
Students may enroll in no more than 14 total credits with the Director of Kirkland & Ellis Corporate Lab Clinic Programs and any other instructor who teaches in the Kirkland & Ellis Corporate Lab Clinic, including no more than nine credits in the Kirkland & Ellis Corporate Lab Clinic itself. All credits taken during the second and third years with any instructor who teaches in the Kirkland & Ellis Corporate Lab Clinic count toward the 14 credit limit. Please see the online course search for the Kirkland & Ellis Corporate Lab instructors for the current year.
Limit on Distance Education Class Credits:
LLM students: LLM students who want to take the NY Bar Exam should be mindful that remote class credits will not count towards the 30 credits required for the NY Bar.
JD students: JD students who want to sit for the NY Bar may only count up to 15 remote class credits towards the 105 required to earn the degree. JD students in general cannot take more than 35 remote class credits total. This count starts from Autumn 2022 and does not generally include remote classes taken during the pandemic.