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Degree Requirements

You have two major responsibilities:

• Hand in all your work by the last day of the semester. (Most instructors set an earlier deadline, which you must meet).
• Make sure you have given the appropriate forms to your instructors, and that the instructors give them to us. (We will also urge the instructors to get the forms in on time.)

Requirements
To receive a degree, you need to complete 85 units with passing grades. You also need to successfully complete the Professional Responsibility course during your second year (will be Legal Profession for most of you), the Constitutional Law course, and the Writing Requirement.

Writing Requirement
No matter what method you use to satisfy the Writing Requirement (in a class or through an independent study) you must submit the "little blue form," actually the Writing Requirement form, which is available in the Registrar's Office, and through the Registrar's forms website, when you complete the paper. It requires the professor's signature (so plan ahead and get that signature before your professor leaves town or is otherwise unavailable).

Incompletes
All incompletes must be cleared via the "Petition to Request a Grade in an Incomplete." A $5.00 fee is required, payable to the Registrar's Office (exact change, please), prior to taking it to the instructor for the signature.

Deadlines: Incompletes awarded in the second year are to be completed in the time prescribed by the instructor which will be not longer than March 31 for the Fall semester and August 31 for the Spring semester.

EXTENDING AN INCOMPLETE DEADLINE: If the student fails to complete the work by the assigned date, it is the student's responsibility to file a petition for an extension of the original deadline (use the Petition for Incomplete). The student will need to secure the agreement of the instructor in advance, and then the approval of the Dean of Students. No extension for second-year students will be allowed past December 1 of the third year. No extension for third-year students will be allowed past May 1.

• Incompletes awarded in the second year must be completed by December 1 of the student's third year.
• An Incomplete from the Fall semester of the third year absolutely must be completed by May 1 of the Spring semester, except that to extend an I beyond March 31, you must obtain the signatures of the instructor & Dean Ortiz.
• You cannot take an Incomplete in your last semester, nor can you extend your work beyond the last day of the semester.

An Incomplete is a permanent grade. Once it is entered on your transcript, the course in which the "I" was taken cannot be dropped. When the required work has been completed, the final grade achieved will appear in the on the student's transcript in the semester in which the work was completed, along with an "I Removal" notation, stating the date on which the work was completed. Should you fail to complete the work for the course, the "I" grade may lapse into an "No Credit" at the instructor's discretion. If your writing requirement was an Incomplete, you will need to file the "Petition to Request a Grade in an Incomplete" as well as a blue Writing Requirement form. The removal of the Incomplete does not obviate the need for the blue Writing Requirement form. Both require the instructor's signature, and you are responsible for getting the forms to the instructors.

Dropping Courses
Before you drop any courses, please be absolutely certain that you will still have enough units to graduate. Staff in the Registrar's Office will be happy to review your units.

Legal Studies Course
Remember you get (1) unit less than undergraduates toward your JD degree. You must petition to get credit for the course. These units are deducted from your non-law, non-classroom 15 unit limit.

Concurrent Degree Students
The following is required:

• Both degrees completed simultaneously or concurrent degree program completed prior to completing the JD degree.
• Law school "Academic Rules Petition" filed in the Registrar's Office, requesting 8-10 units to be transferred from your concurrent program toward your JD

Commencement
Commencement is normally held on the Saturday after exams for Spring Semester at the Greek Theater. It lasts about 2 hours, with a reception following the ceremony at Boalt. Tickets are necessary; seating is not assigned so have your family & friends come early for a good seat. Further information will be distributed from the Graduation Committee.

Diplomas
The name appearing on your diploma and our degree list will be the full, legal name in the form it appears on your transcript. All name changes require a "Name Change" petition (and legal documentation). Diplomas will be available for distribution in room 120 Sproul Hall approximately four months after the end of the spring semester. Diplomas can also be mailed to you. See the campus registrar's website for additional information.

California Bar Administration
Will be administered at the end of July at locations listed on the BAR application. Usually April 1 is the deadline to apply to take the July bar without a late fee. You can still apply to take the California bar up until around July 15, but late fees will accrue.

Certification to the California Bar
After your application has been received and processed by the Bar Examiners Office, a "Law School Certificate" will be mailed to the Registrar's office as soon as we know that you have passed all your courses and met all other graduation requirements. We will complete and return your form to the Bar. For those of you who never registered as a law student with the California bar when you were a first year student, and now realize you do want to take the California bar exam, you must do so via the Bar website: http://www.calbar.ca.gov.

Out-of-California Certification
We will also be collecting out-of-state certification forms. We will need a mailing address and a deadline date for mailing your certification forms. Every bar has a different deadline. Please check the Bar website, or call the state bar you are interested in and obtain this data, and we'll work together to get you certified in the state of your choice.

Remember, you must complete and hand in all your coursework no later than the last day of the Spring Semester, and you must provide all the appropriate forms to your instructors.