LL.M. candidates who have already completed course work in areas such as computer or advanced technology, intellectual property, media or entertainment law while obtaining a U.S. law degree from an ABA-approved law school may apply for and receive transfer credit for up to nine (9) semester hours at the discretion of the Associate Dean of the Law School and the Graduate Studies Committee appointed by the Dean of the Law School. LL.M. students who have graduated from the University of Dayton School of Law and who have completed all of the requirements of the “Intellectual Property, Cyberlaw and Creativity” curricular track may apply for and receive transfer credit for an additional three (3) semester hours toward the LL.M. degree.
LL.M. candidates who have already completed course work in areas such as computer or advanced technology, intellectual property, media or entertainment law while obtaining a first degree in law from a foreign university may apply for and receive transfer credit for up to nine (9) semester hours at the discretion of the Associate Dean of the Law School and the Graduate Studies Committee appointed by the Dean of the Law School.
Approval of any transfer credit toward an LL.M. degree will be granted only where the student can demonstrate that the course for which transfer credit is sought has been taken at an ABA-approved law school or foreign university within the preceding three years, that the student received a grade of 2.5 or better in the course and that the course is equivalent or substantially similar to the course work required or offered by the University of Dayton to obtain an LL.M. degree.
M.S.L. candidates may not receive transfer credit for prior course work in satisfaction of any of the requirements for the M.S.L. Degree.
Credit for Coursework Outside the Graduate Program Curriculum
With the approval of the Associate Dean and the Director of Graduate Programs at the School of Law, a graduate student may allocate a maximum of 6 semester hours of course work from other elective courses offered by UDSL and not listed in the Graduate Program Curriculum, approved courses in related fields from other departments of the University of Dayton or approved courses in related fields from another educational institution consistent with UDSL’s credit transfer policy.
Student Transfers between the LL.M. or M.S.L. Program and the J.D. Program.
M.S.L. students and LL.M. students with a law degree from a non-U.S. law school or university may, of course, apply for admission into UDSL’s J.D. degree program. However, students earning academic credit in the LL.M. or M.S.L. degree program at the University of Dayton will not be permitted to apply that academic credit toward the requirements of a J.D. degree at the University of Dayton School of Law. It is the understanding of the School that such transfer credit from a non-J.D. program to a J.D. program may be permissible under the American Bar Association’s rules governing U.S. law schools. However, absent a clear future indication from the American Bar Association of the propriety of such a practice and the fact that we do not intend or desire to use the proposed graduate program as a feeder program for our J.D. degree program, no such transfer credits will be permitted.
Academic Good Standing and Grading Standards
UDSL’s LL.M. and M.S.L. students must maintain a 3.0 GPA in order to remain in academic good standing in UDSL’s graduate law programs.
In order to further insure that a lack of prior comparable legal education experience does not have an adverse academic impact upon graduate students without a U.S. Law degree, graduate students in a mixed class will be graded upon a different standard than the J.D. students in the class. UDSL’s graduate law programs have looked to the grading norms and practices of the University of Dayton’s Graduate School as guidelines to be employed in the Law School’s graduate program rather than the Law School’s mandatory grading norms for its J.D. program. As a result while J.D. students enrolled in a Law School class may be subjected to mandatory grading norms, those grading norms will not be used when assigning grades to LL.M. or M.S.L. students enrolled in any UDSL class. In addition, the graduate students in any integrated class will not be taken into account for purposes of determining the applicability of the mandatory law school grading norms in the class to avoid any adverse impact upon the academic standing of the J.D. students in the class.
Class Enrollment Priorities
Should competition for enrollment in classes arise, students in the J.D. program will be given priority in enrollment over graduate students for all courses offered in any semester at UDSL. While this enrollment priority seems a prudent way to avoid any adverse impact upon UDSL’s J.D. program commensurate with ABA standards, it is not anticipated that such enrollment prioritization will be needed. J.D. students will not be permitted to enroll in required graduate program courses and student enrollment in the intellectual property and technology courses offered by UDSL is seldom large enough to require enrollment restrictions. Should graduate students seek to enroll in courses outside the area of intellectual property and technology law, the enrollment priorities noted above would be applicable.
Part-Time Graduate Degree Program
With the permission of the Associate Dean and the Director of Graduate Programs of the School of Law, the LL.M. or the M.S.L. program may be completed on a part-time basis over the course of no more than four calendar years from the date of matriculation.
International Academic Cooperation Agreements
International graduate students admitted to the LL.M. or M.S.L. program pursuant to an International Academic Cooperation Agreement between UDSL and an educational institution in a foreign country may be subject to different admission or degree requirements in accordance with that Agreement. While such Agreements may not alter the minimum semester hour degree requirements, the need to take the required courses for students without a U.S. law degree, or the requirements with respect to “Core” courses, such Agreements may, for example, require that certain additional required courses be taken by the students or permit limited study in absentia at the foreign educational institution which is party to the Agreement. This flexibility may be beneficial when, for example, a student from a foreign nation wishes to take one or more courses in his own domestic intellectual property or technology law at a foreign university and have such study apply towards his or her advanced degree from the University of Dayton.