Registration Policies

Priority Enrollment for JD students

Registration priority for courses required for the JD degree, for bar examination preparation, or for bar admission will be given to JD students earning their degree at Lewis & Clark Law School. Students in the Environmental Law or Animal Law LLM, MSL, or SJD programs seeking to take courses outside of their specialty area must have permission of the specific program’s director and will be registered if there is space after JDs have registered. Visiting students from other institutions will be allowed to register for courses after priority registration for JD students has concluded.

Online Registration

In April, registration information, course descriptions, class schedules and exam schedules for the upcoming academic year are made available online by the Registrar’s Office.

Students register online using WebAdvisor. Students are assigned two separate appointment times for each of the two days of priority registration. During the first three appointment times students register for one Fall course and one Spring course. During the fourth and final priority registration time students can register for multiple courses to complete their schedules. After the priority registration period, students may add and drop classes on WebAdvisor through the rest of the summer.

Students who are in the evening division program must advise the registrar’s office one week prior to registration that they qualify for “Evening Only” status. These students will be allowed to register for all of their Fall and Spring semester classes the evening before priority registration begins for all other students.

The day after priority registration ends, students may add their names to the wait lists for closed classes. In August, email invitations will be sent to students on wait lists. Students will be given two days to respond to the email invitation to add the class. Failure to respond within those two days results in the next person on the wait list being offered the seat via email invitation. You can help us keep seats available for other students by keeping wait lists up to date; please take yourself off a wait list as soon as you know you don’t plan to take the class.

Students can continue to register online through the first week of class (including weekends and holidays). During the second week of the add/drop period students must have any add/drops processed by the Registrar’s office, either in-person or via email. If faculty permission is required, an email statement from the faculty member is needed before the transaction will occur.

Students are notified by email when registration materials are available on our website and WebAdvisor.

Time Conflicts and registration

Students may not register for courses that conflict in time.

Final Examination Schedule

Each student is responsible for checking his/her own exam schedule at the same time as he/she registers. Exam schedules are given out with registration materials and are available at the registrar’s office and on our website. See Examination Information at: http://law.lclark.edu/offices/registrar/final_exams/

Course Changes (Add/Drop Policy & Failure to Drop)

A student may add or drop courses after official registration subject to the following conditions:

1. The add/drop period is the first two weeks of the semester for ALL courses
2. Students who have paid tuition and who change from day to evening status after the semester begins receive a refund for the difference in tuition if the change is made prior to the second Friday of the semester.

Students who have medical or distress circumstances that require a division change after these dates must petition to request an adjustment to their charges.

For students receiving financial assistance from the College, refunds will be calculated according to federal regulations and will be refunded to the appropriate programs before funds are released to the student.

1. If a student registers for a course and fails to drop it by informing the Registrar’s Office in writing prior to the time of final examination, the student will be held responsible for the final examination and may be given an “F” for the course.
2. It is the responsibility of the student to see that all courses have been adequately registered each semester. No student will be allowed to register for a course after the semester has ended.

Division Changes

Upper division students may transfer semester by semester from one division to the other before or during the add/drop period. Please fill out a Division Change form to change divisions.

Audit Policy (non-degree seeking student)

A person who is not a regular student of the law school may be allowed to audit a class if the class is not filled during the pre-registration process and if the professor gives that person permission to audit the class by signing the Audit application. No required first year courses may be audited. Audited coursework is not transcripted and cannot be used toward a law degree at Lewis & Clark Law School.

In order to audit a class, a person must have a bachelor’s degree, except in the case of legal assistants. Legal assistants who do not have a bachelor’s degree will be allowed to audit classes if they provide a letter from their employer confirming that they work as legal assistants.

A certificate of completion is given only to those students who (1) register to audit for certification and (2) complete all course work, including the final exam, with a passing grade. For auditors who graduated from Lewis & Clark Law School, the charge for auditing a class will be half the regular hourly audit fee. The regular hourly audit fee is the same as the credit hour charge for LLM students.

Non-alumni auditors are charged by the credit hour at the LLM per-hour rate. If an auditor chooses not to receive a certificate of completion, the auditor pays one-half the per-hour credit amount for each hour taken.

Payment is to be submitted with the application. Withdrawal from an audited class must be submitted to the Registrar’s Office in writing. The reimbursement of tuition is subject to certain time limits.

Auditors should contact the Campus Safety Office for parking instruction before parking on campus.

For more information contact Brooke Mill @ bmill@lclark.edu or 503-768-6614.

Leaves

Leave of Absence

A Leave of Absence is the request to take a semester or year off. To qualify for such a leave, an upper-division student in good standing, with no incomplete grades, must present a written application for leave prior to the beginning of the semester. This application will be presented to the Associate Dean and the student will be allowed to return to the school as a matter of right if the absence is not longer than one year. A student is limited to one such leave of absence.

To ensure proper registration and correspondence, students should notify the Registrar’s Office in writing if they plan to return earlier than the assumed one year or semester leave time. Students planning not to return are also requested to contact the Registrar’s Office.

First year students who plan to take the spring semester off must send an email request, specifying the reasons for the need for a leave of absence, to the Associate Dean prior to the start of the semester. Full time students who take a leave of absence for the spring semester will be eligible to return for the following spring semester only in order to complete the first year course sequence. Part time students in their first year may be eligible to return for the fall semester depending on the available first year part time courses offered in the semester of their return.

Students with loan deferments who will be on leave and will not attend another school during that time should contact their lenders to determine if they will be subject to repayment. Lenders can advise students about forbearance requests and how to apply for them.

A student who registers for classes, does not attend, but gives no notice that he or she has withdrawn, may be held responsible for tuition charges.

Total Withdrawal From Classes

After school begins each semester, students wishing to withdraw from all courses must make their request for withdrawal by petition. The effective date shall be the date written notice is received by the Law School Registrar’s Office. At the time of withdrawal, the student may indicate their intentions for return. The time element for returning will be limited to one year.

Students who withdraw from all classes during the semester may be held liable for tuition. Please see the What’s What page on Administrative Rules and Policies for information regarding Tuition Policies and Procedures as it relates to withdrawals. Loan deferment information may also be found on that page under the Financial Aid Policy and Processes section. 

A student who believes that he or she will be placed at a disadvantage during examinations as a result of poor health or other severe adverse circumstances may petition the Dean for a withdrawal from school for the remaining semester based on medical or distress grounds. Any such petition must be submitted prior to the student taking any examination and must be accompanied by verification from the attending doctor. If the petition demonstrates to the satisfaction of the Dean that the student is not able to continue, the Dean may grant the petition subject to such conditions regarding readmission as the Dean deems appropriate.

Military Leave

A student called to active duty in the military is entitled to return as a matter of right provided he/she notifies the school in writing and provides documentation at the time of the leave, and applies for readmission upon completion of the military service.