In exceptional cases, law students are allowed to visit for the third year at another law school. The student should have a compelling reason, such as to keep a family together, or sometimes to take advantage of a special concentration of law that we do not offer. The Law School must be ABA accredited and the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs will make the final decision as to whether to approve the visit.
The student must make all arrangements with the other school. All courses must be approved prior to the student registering for them and the grades transfer as “Pass”. Grades at another school do not affect the GPA here. Students spending a semester away are not ranked with their classmates here.
Students who plan to do work at another law school must obtain the written approval of the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, prior to undertaking the work. When approved work is completed away from The University of Alabama School of Law, the credit earned will be applied toward hours needed for graduation and will be recorded in the student’s record; however, grade points earned in courses and seminars away from the School of Law will not be used in the School of Law’s computation of the student’s overall grade point average. When Alabama law students taking classes in other divisions or at other law schools ask to transfer credit, credit for grades below “B” will not be transferred. Approval of planned work at another law school does not necessarily alter the residency requirements of the School of Law. Normally, permission to do work at another law school is given only under unusual circumstances.
The student is responsible for providing us with an official transcript from the school they were attending at the end of each semester and a final transcript before we accept the credits and certify them to take the Bar. We generally do not accept letters from the Registrar certifying the courses and grades. The burden is on the student to have this information forwarded (for instance, schools will not release transcripts if the student has an outstanding tuition account) to ensure that we have the courses on record and do not certify a student to the Bar without the official transcript to evaluate.
Students will not pay tuition at our Law School, but will pay at the school they are visiting. The student must make all financial arrangements, including any consortium financial agreement. The student should stay in close communication with the University of Alabama Law Registrar. If a student visits another law school and is a scholarship recipient at Alabama’s Law School, the scholarship will not be applied toward his/her tuition during visiting status. Scholarship recipients must notify the Admissions Office if they intend to visit at another law school.
A student may take up to 6 hours of graduate work from other divisions of The University of Alabama so long as (1) there is prior approval by the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, (2) the student articulates in writing how the class enhances his or her law school curriculum, and (3) the student makes a “B” or better in the course. Students may also request that undergraduate courses may be included within these 6 hours, although credit for such courses is only given in those limited circumstances in which the student can demonstrate that the rigor of the course is equivalent to a graduate level course.
A student may not transfer credits from other schools and divisions that were earned prior to the time the student matriculated as a law student.
Other divisions on campus may charge a fee to students outside their division who enroll in classes.
Students who wish to transfer credit from a summer program at another ABA-accredited law school should follow the procedure set out above. Permission to enroll in summer classes at another ABA-accredited law school is granted more often than permission to transfer work from other law schools and completed during the regular academic year.
The University of Alabama School of Law is committed to providing its students the broadest legal education possible, including some exposure to legal issues presented in international contexts.
To supplement its international course offerings, the Law School offers a summer study abroad program in Australia. Students may also enroll directly for a semester at the Tel Aviv University (Israel) and The University of Delhi (India). Please note that students enrolling in the Tel Aviv and Delhi programs must submit an application to the Director of International Programs. In exceptional circumstances, students may also propose, subject to approval by the Law School, semester and yearlong plans of study at other foreign law schools. Please note that plans of study at foreign law schools must meet criteria established by the ABA Criteria for Student Study at a Foreign Institution.
Students may receive no more than 30 credit hours from courses taken at a foreign law school.
All courses taken in a foreign law school must be approved in writing by the Law School’s Office of Academic Affairs prior to registration. All grades transfer as pass. A passing grade for all programs other than those offered by the Law School is defined as a “B” or higher, or the equivalent, at the foreign law school. Grades taken at a foreign law school do not affect a student’s UA Law GPA. Students spending a semester away are not ranked with their classmates.
Subject to the approval of the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, students may apply up to 15 credit hours in distance education courses through the Law School’s LLM in Taxation Program and LLM in Business Transactions Program toward their JD. Students may not enroll in distance education courses until they have completed 28 credit hours.
A selected number of students each year are allowed to transfer from other law schools with advance standing. These students must complete a transfer student application. The admissions process is very similar to the regular admissions process.
The Law School will accept no more than 30 hours of credit from another school. An evaluation of credit is done on a case-by-case basis. The Law School may require particular courses of transferred students. Students wishing to transfer will not be able to transfer C’s (including C+, C, and C-) or their equivalents.
Usually transferred students will not have class ranks.
A transfer student may be considered for the following graduation honors if the student’s Alabama Law cumulative GPA falls within the prescribed range: cum laude, magna cum laude, summa cum laude, and Order of the Coif. For transfer students, an additional calculation is made, and eligibility for those honors is based on the lower of the following two numbers: 1) cumulative GPA for all J.D. courses completed at the Law School or 2) cumulative GPA for all J.D. courses completed at both the Law School and the transferring student’s original law school (including courses not transferred).
