Registration Information

Registration appointments are based upon the following general criteria to facilitate as fair a registration process as possible.

• Registration priority order is based on cohort (class year) as follows:
  1. All anticipated graduates for upcoming term.
  2. 3L and 4L year students graduating after the term.
  3. 2L year students.
  4. 1L students are block registered fall and spring terms. Part-time 1L students will be block registered for Torts their second summer.

• All second year through fourth year students will receive equal preference in those courses designated as "Equal Preference" courses.

• Part-time students receive priority registration in “Part-time Preference” courses. Full-time students will receive priority registration in “Full-time Preference” courses. (See below). Part and full-time preference classes are made available to all students to register during the open registration period (after registration appointments).

• Joint Degree Students (both MBA and MPA) will register for classes according to registration priority order.

• LATE registrations do not have ANY priority nor are they to be given ANY preference on a waitlist.

• Waitlist information is NOT available for students until after all regular registration deadlines have been passed.

Registration appointment times are assigned according to registration priority order (as listed above); however, due to the number of students eligible to register during the fall and spring semesters, registration groups are assigned within the cohort. These groups are randomly assigned and equally divided. Students remain within their registration groups irregardless of their cohort.

There are four registration groups for 3L and 4L students, and four registration groups for 2L students. Registration appointments are based upon cohort year and group. Registration appointments follow this general pattern:

Graduates
3L and 4L students by group order (1,2,3,4)
2L students by group order (1,2,3,4)

The group order is switched each term to ensure an equal chance at one of the first registration appointments. For example, if group (1,2,3,4) is the last group 2L students to register for fall, that group will be the first 2L group to register in the spring. For example: using the scenario above, assignments the following term would look like this:

3L and 4L students by groups order (4, 3, 2, 1)
2L students by group order (4, 3, 2, 1)

Part-time are included in appointment groups by cohort; however during each group's appointment time, students are allowed to register for part-time preference (if a part-time student), full-time preference (if a full-time student), or priority-by-year preference courses depending on registration priority order (cohort/year). Again, students will sign up for Equal Preference classes and placed by lottery on a specified date.

Summer term is designed as a part of the part-time, evening program. Attendance for full-time students is not mandatory; therefore, registration preference is given to part-time evening students and appointments are assigned simply by program and year. Because we enroll fewer students and offer fewer classes during the summer, we can function with larger registration groups.

With the exception Moot Court, Law Review, Externships, and Independent Study Contracts, courses are designated as:

• Equal Preference: (Courses offered on periodic or one-time only basis.) Students sign-up prior to the registration period, then are registered by random lottery on the first day of registration.

• Part-time Preference: (Multiple section courses offered in the evening and designed for students pursuing the part-time program.) Part-time/evening students are permitted to register for any section designated E (evening) before any other student may register.

• Full-time Preference: (Multiple section courses offered during the day and designed for students pursuing the full-time program.) Full-time/day students may register for any day section of a multiple section course before any other student may register.

• Priority-by-year Preference: Registration preference for all other courses will be based upon cohort (adhering to the registration priority order listed above).

• Equal, Part-time, and Full-time preference restrictions are removed during the designated open registration period. At this time students may register or waitlist for any class (provided they fulfilled the pre or co-requisites).

Students may not take more than one Clinic in a semester. Also, Students may not take an Externship and a Clinic course in the same semester. Students are welcome to sign onto any number of wait lists, but can be registered in only one Clinic or Externship. This rule is established to: 1) ensure students can meet time commitment obligations needed for effective client representation and Externship obligations; 2) maximize clinical opportunities for all students, and; 3) minimize conflicts of client interests.

In general, a student may register for no more than 15 clinical credits during law school. "Clinical Credits" include both Clinic Course and Externship credits. Unless a student takes a full-time externship (15 credits), students may not take more than 8 externship credits. To take the Family Law, Predatory Lending, and Youth Advocacy Clinics, students must be eligible to appear in court under Rule 9 of the Washington Rules of Practice. You must be in good standing and have completed, by the end of the semester or summer session before the course, 60 credit hours of study (full-time students), or 56 credit hours of study (part-time students).

As a functioning law office, the Law Clinic must comply with all rules governing conflicts of interest. Because the Law Clinic is a single entity, any student enrolling in any clinic course (except Arts Legal and Bankruptcy) must be screened for conflicts with respect to any of the Clinic’s work. Thus, no student can enroll in any clinical course while also working (in any capacity, for pay or not) for an organization which is adverse to any of the clinic’s clients. Students may not work for a prosecutor’s office while enrolled in any clinic course because the Youth Advocacy Clinic collaborates with The Defender Association as defense counsel on cases. Students interested in taking any clinic course are encouraged to consult with clinic faculty to be sure that their employment or other activities will not present any conflicts of interest.

Independent Studies must be arranged prior to the beginning of term, and the completed Independent Study Form submitted to the Office of the Registrar by the first day of the term. Forms are available at the Office of the Registrar. Please refer to the regulations for Independent Study in the Student Handbook and on the back of the Authorization form. Students must be in the top 75% of their class in order to be eligible.

Independent Study Registration Policy

1. No student may take more than 2 credits of IS during the entire course of law school. This could be either one 2-credit IS, or two 1-credit IS.
2. Faculty members may supervise a maximum of three independent studies per semester.
3. Students will be expected to engage in at least 42 hours of research and writing for each IS credit, and to produce a high quality paper in the range of 15-20 pages for 1 credit, and 20-30 pages for 2 credits.
4. Students and supervising faculty members will complete a form contract that contains:
• Topic statement and description of the project
• A statement of the student’s objective in pursuing the IS
• A mutually agreed upon weekly meeting schedule (regular day and time)
• Presumptive deadlines for completion of:
  • topic development
  • consultation with assigned librarian
  • bibliography (a list of possible sources on the topic)
  • thesis statement
  • research plan
  • outline
  • draft(s)
  • final paper deadline
• Credit allocation and grade or pass/fail designation
• Signature of the research librarian who will work with the student (to be assigned by the Library Director)
• Signatures of student, supervising faculty member, and associate dean (if necessary)

Participants who compete in at least the regional level of a nationally recognized dispute resolution competition may receive 1 credit hour of upgraded academic credit upon certification by the faculty advisor. No student may receive more than one credit for dispute resolution competition, nor may any student receive academic credits for both dispute resolution and moot court competitions. Students will be registered upon the written certification of the faculty advisor.

Law Review

Students must be selected to be a member of the Law Review. Members are selected based either on academic rank in class after the first year or by submission of an article to the editorial board. Students must apply the Law Review credits in the academic year in which they are earned. Students may distribute the credit(s) as they choose to the Fall or Spring semester of the academic year in which the credit(s) are earned. If a student registers for all three credits in one semester (fall or spring), one of the three credits may nonetheless be attributed to the other semester in that academic year for purposes of determining whether the student is maintaining his or her enrollment status. You may only register for Law Review credits in person at the Office of the Registrar.

Moot Court

Participants in moot court competitions who submit a brief and make an oral presentation in at least the regional level of a nationally recognized moot court competition will receive 2 hours of ungraded academic credit upon certification by the faculty advisor to the specific competition that the participant has satisfactorily performed the duties of team membership. Participants who compete in at least the regional level of a nationally recognized moot court competition that requires either a written or an oral presentation, but not both, will receive 1 hour of ungraded academic credit upon certification by the faculty advisor to the specific competition. No student may receive more than 2 credits for moot court. In addition, students may not receive academic credit for participating in more than one moot court competition.

Ordinarily, students must register for their moot court credits in the semester in which the credit is sought. If a student should become entitled to receive moot court at a later date in a semester, the student may register belatedly for and receive that credit in the semester in which it is earned or the student may elect to register for and receive that credit in the next fall or spring semester. If the student does not receive credit at that date, the student shall have no further entitlement to receive the credit and may not apply for it. You may only register for Moot Court credits in person at the Office of the Registrar.

Seattle Journal for Social Justice

The Seattle Journal for Social Justice requires a two-year commitment by its members. Members are initially selected at the end of their first year according to an application and interview procedure. After one year of service, members may apply to serve on the Board of Editors of the SJSJ for the second year of their service. All members of the SJSJ must be law students who are in good standing. No person may serve who is also a present member of Law Review. No person may serve as either Editor-in-Chief or Managing Editor of the SJSJ who is performing a full-time (or substantially full-time) judicial or other externship.

Second year students who are members of SJSJ ordinarily receive one academic credit for the year unless he/she produced a publishable note or comment, in which case the student could elect to receive a total of 3 academic credits for the year. A third or fourth year student would ordinarily receive 1 academic credit for the year, unless the student were a member of the editorial board, in which case the student could elect to receive a total of 2 academic credits for that year. The maximum number of credits an SJSJ member could elect to receive over the course of two years would be 5 credits. Credit must be applied in the academic year in which it is earned. You may only register for Seattle Journal for Social Justice Credit in person at the Office of the Registrar.

1. Students may withdraw through the 1st week of class, the 100% refund period, with a drop-without-record. This means the class will not appear on the transcript, however, the date of the withdrawal is logged in the system. Students may use SU Online to withdraw from a class only through the first week of class. (Withdrawal from a wait-listed class requires approval from the Associate Dean for Student Affairs.) After the first week of class, all drop actions must be processed using an Add/Drop Form.
2. All first year students must see Associate Dean Deming for approval of any drop actions.
3. A "W" will be recorded on all withdrawals processed after the first week of class.
4. After the 5th week of class, the student must have a faculty signature and approval from Associate Dean for Student Affairs. This is to make sure students are advised about residency requirements and normal progress for their degree.
5. Any withdrawals from a class must take place prior to the final exam in that class.
6. Students who abandon a course without permission from the instructor and/or Associate Dean for Student Affairs are subject to a "WF" (failing) grade.
7. Students withdrawing from all classes in a term must see the Associate Dean for Student Affairs to discuss leave of absence possibilities.
   Exception: Any student requesting a drop from a wait-listed class, and it is after the posted drop deadline for that class, must get approval from Associate Dean for Student Affairs.

1. Students may add a class, with faculty approval, no later than the third week of class. It is unlikely that a faculty member will allow a student in class after the 3rd week. (ABA attendance requirements specify that a student attend 80% of their classes each semester.)
2. Students may add classes through SU Online through the first week of class. Beginning with the 2nd week, students must complete an Add/Drop Form, have it processed with the Office of the Registrar, and the action may be subject to a late fee. Exception: Approval from the Registrar to waive the fee.

After you have been accepted, please contact the Office of the Registrar to register for your classes. Our staff will work with you to get the classes you wish; however, we urge you to provide us with alternative courses. You will be manually registered your first term; however, you will be given an appointment for Web registration for the following term.

Graduates are entitled to six free alumni course credits. These credits must be used after graduation. Alumni credits may be used for any class with the exception of the following:

• waitlisted courses
• courses where the student is required to make a commitment to parties outside the law school
• seminar or lab course
• courses where withdrawal may have an adverse and substantial effect upon the education of other students

Other pages in the Students section: