UNT Dallas College of Law Catalog

Academic Calendars

The Registrar’s Office is committed to providing information for a seamless law school experience. Vital information such as the academic calendar, the registration and enrollment policies and information, and the class schedule come directly from the Registrar’s office.

Class Ranking

Juris Doctor students are numerically ranked at the end of the fall and the spring semesters, after grades are posted. Individual ranks will only be provided to graduating students. Ranking will not be separated by day and evening. Ranking may be used, as necessary, for academic honors such as membership in scholarly societies, or other prizes or activities that require a certain placement within a class.

Students are placed in one of four ranking groups, based on the number of credit hours earned at the time rank is calculated. 1L Ranking Group: 0 to 30 completed hours. 2L Ranking Group: 31 to 60 completed hours. 3L Ranking Group: 61 or more completed hours. Graduate Ranking Group: completion of all program requirements. Graduating rank will not be separated by day and evening.

Ranking of the graduating class will cover the academic year, and will include fall and summer graduates. August graduates are ranked with students who graduated the preceding May. December graduates are ranked with students who will graduate the succeeding May.

UNT Dallas College of Law only provides individual class ranks to all J.D. students at graduation. However, at the conclusion of each fall and spring semester, GPA cut-offs for specified percentile rankings are posted on the law school website for the 1L, 2L, and 3L ranking groups, so that students may determine their general position within the ranking group. Specifically, GPA cutoffs are posted for the top 5%, 10%, 25%, 33%, and 50%.

Class rank is determined by the transcripted cumulative GPA, which is rounded to the thousandths place. Individual ranks are based on the numerical sequence of students’ transcripted cumulative GPA’s, from highest to lowest. If two or more students have the same cumulative GPA, each receives the same rank. The position of those students ranked below them is unaffected. (If two students are tied for the number one rank, for example, the next student will be ranked number three, because there are two students with a higher GPA.)

Under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), the College of Law may not disclose an individual student’s location within the GPA percentile bands without the student’s written permission.

Course Load

Maximum Course Load

Day Division

A student enrolled in the day division may not register for more than sixteen credit hours in a fall or spring semester or for more than nine credit hours in a summer session without permission of the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. In accordance with ABA Standards, all students are prohibited from registering for coursework that exceeds 20 percent of the total credit hours required for graduation.

Evening Division

A student enrolled in the evening division may not register for more than twelve credit hours in a fall or spring semester or for more than seven credit hours in a summer session without permission of the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. Permission will not be granted for a student enrolled in the part time division to register for more than thirteen credit hours in a fall or spring semester or for more than eight credit hours in a summer session.

Correction of Excessive Course Loads

A student who enrolls for more than the permissible number of hours will be withdrawn from a course or courses until his or her registration complies with the maximum load requirements. The choice of courses from which the student will be withdrawn is in the sole discretion of the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. If the overload is not discovered until after grades have been given for the courses, the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs may withdraw the student from a sufficient number of courses in that semester or session to bring the course load into compliance.

Minimum Course Load

Day Division

A student enrolled in the day division may not register for fewer than thirteen credit hours in a fall or spring semester, generally. A student enrolled in the full time division who wishes to enroll in between eight and twelve credit hours must obtain permission of the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs or his or her designee, but does not need to file a petition for the Reduction of Minimum Hours.

Evening Division

A student enrolled in the evening division may not register for fewer than eight credit hours in a fall or spring semester, generally.

Petition for the Reduction of Minimum Hours

A student wishing to enroll in fewer than eight credit hours in a fall or spring semester must submit a Petition for the Reduction of Minimum Hours to the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs or his or her designee. A petition will only be granted if there is a showing of extenuating circumstances. A student may only submit such a petition twice during the student’s tenure at UNT Dallas College of Law.

Distance Learning

No student may be permitted to count more than 15 credit hours from distance learning courses toward the .J.D. degree, whether through courses taken at UNT Dallas College of Law or credits transferred from another institution. No student will be permitted to enroll in a distance learning course, or receive transfer credit from a distance learning course, until the student has accumulated at least 28 credit hours toward the J.D. degree. No student will be permitted to enroll in more than 6 credit hours of distance learning courses in a single term.

Credit Hours

The “semester credit hour” is the unit of credit at the College of Law. All credit-bearing courses or activities at the College of Law must meet the credit hour requirements set out in this policy.

Contact hour requirement. A traditionally delivered semester course should contain 15 weeks of instruction, plus a week for final examinations. For instance, a three-SCH course should contain 15 weeks of instruction (45 contact hours) plus a week for final examinations, so that such a course contains 45 to 48 contact hours depending on whether there is a final exam. A course that includes fewer contact hours or is delivered in a shortened time period must receive formal, written approval in advance from the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs.

Amount of work. A semester credit hour is an amount of work that reasonably approximates:

Not less than one hour of classroom or direct faculty instruction and two hours of out-of-class student work per week for 15 weeks, or the equivalent amount of work over a different amount of time; or
At least an equivalent amount of work as required in subsection (1) for other credit-bearing academic activities as established by the College of Law, including simulation, field placement, clinical, co-curricular, and other academic work leading to the award of credit hours.

For purposes of this definition, fifty minutes is sufficient to constitute one hour of classroom or direct faculty instruction, and an “hour• for out-of-class student work is sixty minutes. The College of Law may award credit hours for coursework that extends over any period of time, if the coursework entails no less than the minimum total amounts of classroom or direct faculty instruction and of-of-class student work specified in subsections (1) and (2), above. For purposes of (1) and (2), the time may include time on final examination and midterm examinations, as well as other work.

The following are examples of work that satisfies this requirement:

Exam course: 42.5 hours per credit of time spent in class, preparing for class (reading or completing class assignments or assessments), and preparing for and taking exams.
Paper course: 42.5 hours per credit of time spent in class, preparing for class (reading or completing class assignments or assessments), and researching and writing the required paper(s).
Field placement or clinic: 42.5 hours per credit of time spent in class, performing fl81d placement or clinic work, preparing for class or completing class assignments (including any reflective papers), and preparing for and taking an exam, if applicable.

In order to comply with this policy, the Registrar: (1) will schedule Summer courses over an 8 week period of time in addition to the Final Exam period and all school holidays; and (2) in Fall and Spring semesters, will schedule enough course weeks such that the semester encompasses 15 of each day of the week, in addition to the exam period and all scheduled school holidays.

The College of Law will regularly monitor adherence to this policy, through methods such as ongoing curriculum review and assessment, the course approval process, and the ongoing management of the College of Law’s academic program.

Dean’s List and Graduation Honors

After each semester, the Registrar prepares the Dean’s List, which is based on GPA and minimum course hours for the semester. The Dean’s List includes students who receive a 3.300 GPA or above for the semester and were enrolled in a minimum of 8 semester credit hours for the qualifying semester. Graduating students receive “Latin honors” as follows:

3.400 Cum laude
3.700 Magna cum laude
3.900 Summa cum laude

Examinations

Other than as stated in this policy, a student may not take a final examination or a midterm examination at a time other than the regularly scheduled time. Failure to take an examination on the regularly scheduled day, or on the day set for an exam that is rescheduled under this policy, will result in an “F” for the examination.

Rescheduling requests submitted before the start of the examination period.

A student may request to change an examination date to the next available date subsequent to the scheduled date under the following circumstances:

The student has an illness that is sufficiently severe to prevent the student from taking the exam at the scheduled time. Medical documentation is required for any application of this provision.
The student experiences an unpreventable circumstance, such as severe illness or death in the immediate family that would cause the taking of the exam at the scheduled time to be a major personal hardship for the student. Medical or other appropriate documentation is required for any application of this provision. Work schedules, vacation plans, or travel arrangements do not qualify as a basis for rescheduling.
The student has 3 or more examinations scheduled on the same day. If a student has 3 or more examinations on the same day, they should contact the College of Law Registrar’s Office directly to reschedule.

If a student seeks to reschedule an examination under any of these provisions, except where indicated, the student must submit his or her request to the Assistant Dean of Student Affairs by completing and submitting to an Academic Exception Request Form. The request can be submitted in hard copy or via email. If the reason for the scheduling request is conflicting exams, the request must be submitted at least two weeks before the start of the exam period. If the reason for the request is illness or hardship, the request must be submitted as soon as practicable after the student becomes aware of the problem. If the Assistant Dean of Student Affairs approves the request, he will notify the Office of the Registrar, which will work with the student on available alternatives.

If the request to take an exam at other than the scheduled time presents problems relating to delivering the same exam to the student as the other students will take, the Assistant Dean of Student Affairs will consult with the instructor who, in his or her discretion, may require the student to take a special final examination or submit a special paper. If this occurs, the instructor may, in his or her discretion, grade the examination or paper either on a credit/no credit basis or on the same numerical basis as the other exams or papers.

Rescheduling requests submitted after the start of the examination period.

A student may request to change an examination date during the examination period to the scheduled date under the following circumstances:

The student was ill on the examination day or on the day immediately preceding the examination, and presents medical documentation confirming the illness.
The student experienced an emergency (examples would be the death or severe illness of a close relative, or a car accident) on the examination day or immediately prior to the day, and presents satisfactory evidence of the emergency.

The student must submit his or her request to the Assistant Dean of Student Affairs by completing and submitting an Academic Exception Request Form. The request should not be submitted to the professor or instructor in the course. If the Assistant Dean of Student Affairs approves the request, he will notify the Office of the Registrar, which will work with the student on available alternatives.

FERPA

The College of Law complies with the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) (20 USC § 1232g; 34 CFR Part 99), which protects the privacy of student education records.

Consent to Disclose Education Records

Except in limited circumstances, the College of Law will not release personally identifiable information from a student’s education record without a signed and dated, written consent from the student. A student’s consent to disclose an education record to a third party must specifically identify the education record for which consent is granted, the purpose for the disclosure, and the identity of the person or entity to which the education record is to be disclosed.

Directory Information

Directory Information· means information contained in the education record of a student that would generally not be considered harmful or an invasion of privacy if disclosed. The following types of student information are considered “directory” for the purposes of this policy:

Name
Address
Telephone Number
Email address assigned by the College of Law
EUID assigned by the College of Law
Date and place of birth
Participation in officially recognized activities
Dates of attendance
Enrollment status
Degrees, awards and honors received
Expected graduation date
Most recent previous school attended
Photograph

Currently enrolled students wishing to withhold any or all directory information may do so by submitting a written request to the Office of the Registrar prior to the 12th class day in the fall and spring terms or equivalent dates during the summer sessions. A request to withhold directory information may be submitted after the stated deadline for a term or session, but information may be released between the deadline and receipt of the request. Directory information of a student who has requested withholding of directory information will remain excluded until the student submits a subsequent written request to release directory information.

Disclosure of Education Records as Permitted without a Student’s Consent

FERPA permits the disclosure of education records without a student’s consent under limited circumstances. For a full description of the circumstances under which education records may be released without student consent, please consult UNT Dallas Policy 7.003.

Student Right to Inspect and Review Records

With limited exception, a student has the right to inspect and review his or her own education records, to receive explanation and interpretation of the records, and to obtain copies of the records when needed to allow the student to effectively exercise the right of inspection and review. Students seeking to inspect or review their education records should contact the following Responsible Administrator:

Record

Responsible Official

Permanent

Registrar

Academic transcript

Registrar

Disciplinary record

Assistant Dean of Student Affairs

Academic disciplinary record

Associate Dean for Academic Affairs

Financial aid

Assistant Director of Curriculum Management and Student Aid

Financial accounts

Assistant Director of Financial Services

Placement

Assistant Dean of Career and Professional Development

If a student submits a request for records to an administrator other than the one who maintains the record being sought, the administrator will advise the student of the correct administrator to whom the request should be addressed.

The College of Law will comply with all student requests to review and inspect records within 45 days of the date that the request is submitted to the appropriate records custodian. Students requesting access to their education records may be asked to verify their identity with a government issued photo identification, prior to inspection. Students seeking access either electronically or by telephone will be asked to verify their identity by providing information of specific individual relevance- not including a social security number.

Student Right to Request Amendment of Education Records

College of Law students have the right to correct their own education records when the records are inaccurate, misleading, or otherwise in violation of the student’s privacy rights. Students may request amendment of their education record by submitting a request to the appropriate records custodian. The College of Law will issue a decision within a reasonable period of time after receiving the student’s request.

Students may challenge a College of Law decision regarding the amendment of an education record by filing a request for a hearing with the Assistant Dean of Student Affairs. The request must identify the contested record and specify the reason that the record is believed to be inaccurate, misleading, or a violation of the privacy rights of the student. After the hearing, if the College of Law determines that the education record is not inaccurate, misleading, or a violation of the student’s privacy rights, the student may place a statement in his or her education record commenting on the contested content and the basis for disagreement with the College of Law’s decision.

The College of Law will amend any education record that is determined to be inaccurate, misleading, or a violation of the student’s privacy rights. The right to amend or correct an education record does not apply to routine grade appeals.

Graduation Requirements for Award of the J.D. Degree

To graduate with a J.D. degree from the UNT Dallas College of Law, the following requirements must be met:

Credit hour requirement. Students entering in 2014, 2015 or 2016 must complete no less than 88 semester credit hours. Students entering in 2017 and beyond must complete no less than 90 hours.
Residency requirement. Students must complete at least 53 hours in residence.
Completion of required courses. The required courses are listed in the current Academic Catalog.
Completion of the writing requirement, the skills requirement, the research requirement, the experiential requirement, and the practice-related technology requirement.
Maintain satisfactory academic progress.
Complete all requirements in no less than 24 months and in no more than 6 years after matriculating at the College of Law or at a law school from which the student has received transfer credit.The ABA Standards address the pace at which a student may complete his or her legal studies. Standard 304(c) requires that the course of study for a J.D. degree be completed “no earlier than 24 months and no later than 84 months after a student has commenced law study at the law school or a law school from which the school has accepted transfer credit.” The College of Law has adopted a maximum period of 6 years (72 months). In exceptional circumstances, the College of Law may extend this requirement but to no more than the maximum allowed by ABA Standard 304(c).

Academic Calendars, Policies, and Procedures

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