Welcome Back! Congratulations to all first-year students
on completing your first semester of law school, and to upper-level students for
making it one semester closer to graduation. I hope everyone had a restful holiday
break.
U-Pass Distribution. Distribution of Spring 2008 U-Passes
will take place as follows:
*Thursday, January 17, 2:00-3:30pm, Front
Lobby
*Friday, January 18, 12:00-1:30pm, Front Lobby
*Tuesday, January 22,
11:30-1:00pm and 3:00-4:30pm, Front Lobby
After Tuesday, January
22, you may pick up your U-Pass from the Registrar's office. For more information
on the U-Pass program and which students qualify for participation in the program,
see the
U-Pass
FAQ.
You will not receive a U-Pass during the initial distribution
period if you registered for classes late or do not have a picture in our ID system.
In either of those cases, please contact Jenna Moroney (jmoroney@kentlaw.edu)
to explain your situation, and we will put you on our supplemental order list
after we confirm your status.
Spring 2008 Semester Information.
The Spring 2008 Term Information page has most of the information you will need
in advance of the start of the Spring semester -
click
here, or go to the main
Student
Portal page and click on the Spring '08 link under "Academic term information."
Print copies of many of the documents described below are available outside the
third floor cafeteria.
Initial Reading Assignments. Initial
reading assignments for the first week of the Spring semester are available on
the S
pring 2008 Term
Information page. The list of assignments has been revised from its initial
version as follows:
*New entries added 1/16/08: Civil Procedure (Prof.
Laser); Evidence (Prof. Bailey); Evidence (Prof. Kling); International Business
Transactions (Prof. Birdthistle); Introduction to Islamic Law (Prof. Shawamreh);
Resolving Environmental Liabilities in Bankruptcy (Prof. Prewitt); Securities
Regulation (Prof. Birdthistle).
*Revised entry 1/16/08: Work and
Family (Prof. Shapiro).
Not all professors submit initial assignments,
so do not be concerned if there is no listing for one or more of your Spring courses.
Course
Information Updates. Course information updates for Spring classes are
available on the S
pring
2008 Term Information page.
Revised Spring Schedule (with Classroom
Assignments). A revised copy of the Spring 2008 Schedule of Classes, including
classroom assignments, is available on the
Spring
2008 Term Information page. Classroom assignments are also posted in the front
lobby.
Adding and Dropping Classes. You may add an open course
without special permission until the end of the first week of Spring classes;
during the second week, however, you may add an open course only with permission
of the instructor. You may not add a course after the second week of the semester.
You may withdraw from any course except a required course, a clinical course,
Law Review, Moot Court, or Intensive Trial Advocacy at any time prior to the date
of the final exam or final paper (see §3.10(c) of the Student Handbook). There
is no tuition penalty if you drop a course during the first two weeks of classes.
You will not receive a tuition refund, however, if you drop a course after the
second week of classes.
Trial Advocacy Section Assignments.
If you are registered for Trial Advocacy 1 or Trial Advocacy 2 for the Spring
semester, a list of section assignments is available on the
Spring
2008 Term Information page.
Note: If your section meets at the Daley Center,
please be sure to bring your Kent ID card with you, as you will be required to
show it before being allowed to enter. Exam Schedule.
A copy of the Spring 2008 exam schedule is available on the
Spring
2008 Term Information page. Please note that you are permitted to register
for courses with exams scheduled at the same time; one exam will be rescheduled
for you.
The Student Handbook requires that you take your finals at the
times scheduled unless you have an exam conflict (as defined below), or you have
a "serious illness or other extraordinary or compelling reason" beyond
your control. A Final Exam Reschedule Form will be posted later this semester
through Web for Students.
A student is deemed to have an "exam conflict"
if he or she has two exams at the same time, or has two or more exams within 24
hours (e.g., exams at 8:30 a.m. and 6:00 p.m., or at 6:00 p.m. and 1:15 the following
afternoon). A conflict does not exist if two exams are scheduled exactly 24 hours
apart (e.g., exams at 8:30 a.m. one morning and 8:30 a.m. the next morning).
Bookstore
Hours. The bookstore's hours are available by
clicking
here.
2007-2008 Academic Calendar. The academic calendar
for the Spring semester is available on the S
pring
2008 Term Information page.
Bar Registration for First-Year Students.
First-year students who plan to take the Illinois Bar Examination after graduation
should register with the Illinois bar examiners. The registration materials must
be submitted by
March 1, 2008. The forms and instructions are available
on the bar examiners' web site:
http://www.ibaby.org.
Although you are not required to register as a first-year student, the
advantage of doing so is that you will avoid paying additional fees of $350 or
more if you apply to take the bar at any point after March of their first year.
If you are uncertain whether you intend to practice in Illinois, you may want
to consider waiting to register and paying the late fee should you eventually
decide to take the Illinois bar exam. The application form is very comprehensive
and requires you to provide a significant amount of background information, some
of which may be difficult to remember or obtain. I suggest that, if you do plan
to register by the March deadline, you begin working on the materials sooner rather
than later. If you have any questions about the application materials, you may
call the Illinois Board of Admissions to the Bar at 217/522-5917.
All
information you disclose on the bar registration application should be consistent
with answers to questions on your Application for Admission to the law school.
Please note, however, that the bar registration application asks for a considerable
amount of information that you were not asked to provide on our Application for
Admission. You only need to be concerned about the consistency of your answers
for questions asked on both forms. You can amend your Application for Admission,
if necessary, by addressing a letter to me setting forth the details of the omission
or misrepresentation and the reason for it.
First-year students who think
they may practice in
another state should contact the bar examiners
office in that state as soon as possible to determine their registration requirements.
Booklets with the addresses and phone numbers of state bar examiners offices are
available for you to consult in the Registrar’s office and in my office.
July 2008 Illinois Bar Applications. Applications for the July 2008 bar
exam must be submitted by
February 1, 2008. You may file a late application
for the July bar up to May 31, but substantial penalty fees apply. The forms and
instructions are available on the bar examiners' web site:
http://www.ibaby.org.
Please note: Even if you registered with the bar examiners as a
first-year student, you must still file a final application. If you have any questions
about the application materials, you may call the Illinois Board of Admissions
to the Bar at 217/522-5917.
The law school sends a “Certificate of Dean
of Law School Proof of Legal Education” to the Illinois bar examiners for every
student who graduates in December or May. Please be sure to file an Application
for Graduation so that we will know you plan to graduate in either December or
May.
All information you disclose on the bar application should be consistent
with answers to questions on your Application for Admission to the law school.
Please note, however, that the bar application asks for a considerable amount
of information that you were not asked to provide on our Application for Admission.
You only need to be concerned about the consistency of your answers for questions
asked on both forms. You can amend your Application for Admission, if necessary,
by addressing a letter to me setting forth the details of the omission or misrepresentation
and the reason for it.
Multistate Professional Responsibility Exam
(MPRE). The MPRE is required for admission to the bars of most jurisdictions,
including Illinois. The exam is administered in March, August, and November each
year. You may take the exam after you have completed two-thirds of the credits
required for the J.D. degree (at Chicago-Kent, this means you must have completed
58 credits). You may register online by going to
http://www.ncbex.org/multistate-tests/mpre.
The deadline for applying for the March exam is January 29, 2008 (the late deadline
is February 14).
Academic Calendar for 2008-2009. The academic calendar
for next academic year (2008-2009) is
available
here.
Weather Closing Information. Flyers with information about
emergency weather closings are available on the table outside the third-floor
cafeteria. As explained in the flyer, you may find out whether the Law School
is closed due to severe weather in any of the ways listed below.
Please note:
Information for the Law School will be listed under "IIT-Chicago-Kent College
of Law."
Radio: WGN 720 AM; WBBM 780 AM.
TV: CBS 2,
NBC 5, ABC 7, WGN, Fox News Chicago, CLTV News.
Phone: 847-238-1234 (use Kent's
phone number, 312-906-5000, as the school ID).
Online: http://www.EmergencyClosings.com.
(You may also sign up for personalized e-mail notifications at this site.)