/ Offices/ Law School Registrar/Registration Guidelines

Registration Guidelines

Registration Mechanics

Dates for Online Registration

Priority Registration Days for 2024-2025 are June 4-5.

All students register for both semesters on the two priority registration days, except students who qualify for the “evening-only” status. “Evening-only” students begin registration a day before the two priority registration days. See below for more information on “evening-only” status.

Each day, June 4 and June 5, you will have two registration time slots: one in the morning and one in the afternoon. On Tuesday morning, you will choose ONE Fall class and ONE Spring class. Then, on Tuesday afternoon, you will choose a SECOND Fall class and a SECOND Spring class. On Wednesday morning, you will choose a THIRD Fall class and a THIRD Spring class. Then, on Wednesday afternoon, you will fill out the rest of your schedule.

Note: During the first three registration time slots, students are allowed to register for courses requiring co/prerequisites without prior registration of the requisite. However, you are obligated to sign up for the necessary co/prerequisites when you complete your registration during the last registration time slot on Thursday afternoon.

Appointment Times

Students are given two separate appointment times for each day of priority registration. That’s four appointments over two days. After the priority registration period, students may add and drop classes on WebAdvisor through the rest of the summer. Students who qualify for evening-only status (see definition below) register all at one time, the evening before the rest of registration begins.

To see your appointment times

Go to the WebAdvisor Student Menu screen,
Click on “My Registration Permissions” found below the Registration header,
Choose the correct semester.
Note: You register for both Fall and Spring, in each of your appointments.

What happens at each appointment

Time #1 — register for one class for Fall and one class for Spring

Time #2 — register for a second class for Fall and a second class for Spring. You can also drop your first class and exchange it for another at this time.

Time #3 — register for a third class for Fall and a third class for Spring. You can also drop your first two classes and exchange them for others at this time.

Time #4 — register for your remaining classes for Fall and for Spring.

Evening-only students will be allowed to register for all Fall and Spring classes on the day before priority registration begins. This is done to ensure that students who are not able to take classes except in the evening get first priority for evening classes.

To qualify as evening-only, students must have advised the Registrar’s office that they have always been and will continue to be an evening division student in the 4-year degree program. If you qualify and are placed in the evening-only group, and you do not register on the Monday for evening-only students, your next opportunity will be the second day of priority registration at 6pm and later. YOU MUST notify the Registrar if you are changing from evening-only status to full-time.

If you cannot make your appointment time and need someone to register for you, please contact the Registrar’s office at lawreg@lclark.edu for instructions

Online Registration Instructions

Step-by-step instructions on how to register for a class on WebAdvisor can be found here. These instructions include how to add classes to your “Preferred Sections” list as well as add and drop courses during the registration period.

Before You Register — Making Your Plan

General Course Selection Instructions

Planning your curriculum

Consult the planning guides, course descriptions, course schedule, and exam schedule (to be released soon) to select classes. In addition to your interest in a class, you should consider graduation requirements, state bar subjects, and courses needed as prerequisites. You should also include some courses that may be challenging or an entirely new subject to you. Check the three-year plan (by course or by professor) to see how often a course is offered and the division in which a course is scheduled.

If you are interested in the following programs, you can contact the director of the program to get scheduling advice:

Animal Law — Pam Byce, pamelabyce@lclark.edu

Environmental Law — Janice Weis, jweis@lclark.edu, and Tess Jacobsen, tessjacobsen@lclark.edu

Associate Dean Libby Davis, eadavis@lclark.edu, is available for general curriculum advising advice and can recommend specific faculty who may be helpful if you are interested in areas that fall into other specialty categories.

You can also contact a faculty member who teaches in the area of law that interests you.

Check the final exam schedule. You are responsible for your own final exam schedule. If you have two exams on the same day, you will be expected to take them on the same day.

Tips For Setting Priorities

While there is no way to identify with certainty which courses will close, we can offer some suggestions for determining which classes you may want to consider as priority for your schedule. Remember in determining priority classes, the real key is trying to determine how many other people are going to make that class a priority.

Consider the class size.
Highly Specialized classes are often limited in range from 14 - 20 students; other classes are usually capped according to room size.
What is it competing with?
Other large classes? Required courses? Consider the number of other courses offered in the same time slot.
Who is the instructor?
How frequently is the course offered?
Every year? Twice a year? Every other year?
Any other factor that you may consider relevant such as how badly you need the class to fulfill certificate or graduation requirements.

Most students get into most of the classes in which they are interested. You should get into your most preferred classes if you take the factors above into account. There is also registration movement during the summer and during the add/drop period for each semester.

Starting at 7:00am on Thursday, June 6, you may put yourself on a wait list. At that time, be sure to check how many are on the wait list before you add yourself. Check again after you have added yourself to determine approximately what number you are on the wait list. The Registrar’s office will not give out wait list position information.

Preparing to Register — Checking the Details

You are registering for both Fall and Spring semester. Prepare a list of classes for Fall and Spring in order of priority. For each class, indicate the course priority, the course number and section, the class title, the teacher and the hours of credit.

Most courses are open to all upper division students. However, some classes, such as Practicums, Externships, and some clinics, can only be registered for with the consent of the professor. These classes require a special procedure for registration, usually an application that must be submitted by a deadline date. Official registration will occur after the candidates have been selected by the professor. No one can register for this type of class online. Registration will be done through the Registrar’s office. Please check the course descriptions when registering to determine if a class has special registration qualifications.

Note: Applications that are listed as due the day of registration are due by 10:00am, on the first day of priority registration, June 3.

For courses needing applications and instructions please visit applications

If you are planning to try for Law Review, the registrar’s office will register you once you turn in a course add form during the add/drop period at the beginning of the semester. You cannot register for the classes online. Lists of those students invited for each law review are submitted to the Registrar’s office.

When you Register

How Does Priority Online Registration Work?

The object of priority registration is to allow students the chance to register for preferred classes, at appointed times over two days of registration. Students are randomly assigned to a registration group at the end of the first year of law school. You stay in the same group the rest of the time you are in law school. Each group rotates through appointment times; each group getting a chance at some appointment time to be first, middle, or last in both the mornings and afternoons of the two-day registration period.

Each registration group is given two appointment times for each day of the assigned registration period, for a total of four appointment times. The appointment time is different each day. Group appointment times are set 30 minutes apart.

The appointment time is the earliest time your group can start registering. All morning registration times will expire at 12:30pm and all afternoon registration times will expire at 9:00pm.

Most closed classes will have a wait list, however, all wait lists are closed until Thursday, June 6, at 7:00am in the morning. At that time, all students are eligible to add themselves to a wait list for closed classes.

From then through September 4, you can rearrange both your Fall and Spring schedules on-line by adding open classes and dropping classes from your schedule. See the Academic Calendar.

During the first three registration time slots of priority registration, the system will not check for co- or pre-requisites. You can add your first priority courses without first registering for the pre-requisite courses. However, you must be sure to register for the necessary required courses by the last time slot of priority registration. The Registrar will be checking to be sure all students are enrolled in any co- or pre-requisites after the last day of registration, and the system will resume automatically checking the pre-requisites on the afternoon of the final day of priority registration.

Wait List Sign-up

Sign-up for waitlists for closed classes will start on Thursday, June 6, the day after priority registration ends.

Beginning in early August, wait list invitations for Fall and Spring semester will start being sent out by e-mail. Those who are first on the wait lists where seats have opened up will be notified by email that they may register for the class. You are given two (2) days to respond. Start watching e-mail on August 1st if you are on a wait list.

Note: Be sure to clean up your wait lists. Take yourself off the classes you no longer need to get into so that the wait lists can be gone through as quickly as possible, inviting only the people who are still truly interested.

Questions and Issues Related to Registration

Out of town or for some other reason not able to register at the time of your appointment?

If for some reason, you will not be able to use the online registration procedure at your appointment time and you would like the Registrar’s office to process your registration, please contact us no later than the Thursday before Priority Registration begins, lawreg@lclark.edu.

System Won’t Let You Register?

Problems that will cause your registration not to be processed or that can cause errors in the processing include:

Time Conflicts - registering for two classes that overlap in time.
Too many credits for your division load. Day Division load is capped at 17 credits; evening is capped at 12. If you want to change divisions, you must petition before registering.
Trying to add a class that needs professor consent or an application. (Classes such as law review, Legal Practicums, or externships. These classes have to be registered through the Registrar’s office once professor consent is confirmed).
Trying to add a class without the necessary pre-requisites after the Priority Days Registration.
Trying to add a class in the wrong semester or adding the wrong class section. You are responsible for the course information that appears on your schedule on WebAdvisor.
Missing your invitation to add a class for which you are wait listed.
Student and Departmental Accounts Services Office holds for past tuition and fines that are overdue.
Failure to check your schedule to be sure the class has been added or dropped correctly

Note: Students cannot withdraw for the entire semester by using the online registration screen and withdrawing from all classes. You must submit a written notification. You may do so by email, lawreg@lclark.edu. The date you submit your written statement is the date used for the withdrawal transaction

Time Conflicts

Students may not register for classes that have a time overlap. If you try to replace a class on your schedule with one that conflicts in time, be sure to drop the current class or the new class will not be added. If you try to add a class that conflicts in time with a currently listed class, the new class will not be added. If you try to add classes together that conflict in time, it is possible that neither will be added.

Division Changes

Division changes (Day/full-time or Evening/part-time) must be petitioned. There is an online electronic petition, Division Change Please mark the appropriate line(s), indicating which semester(s) the change(s) will take effect. You may also send an email statement to lawreg@lclark.edu, stating you want to change divisions and indicate which semester the division change will take effect.

Note: Once a division change has been made, you are assumed to be in that division until another petition is filed. You may indicate two division changes, one for each semester, if that is your plan.

Special Consent or Application Needed to Register

Courses requiring special consent are:

Individual Research
Practicums if the class requires an application
Moot Court Regional/National Contests
Law Reviews
International Animal and Environmental Law Clinic application necessary
Tax Clinic: Advanced - application necessary
Criminal Justice: Criminal Justice Reform Clinic - application necessary
Earthrise Clinic - application necessary
Externships - See Externship description to determine which application is necessary
Professor Permission to add a class without the prerequisite

Note: In the case of courses that require applications or special consent, the professor notifies the Registrar’s office of those who have been accepted. All special permission classes have to be registered by the Registrar’s office.

For application information, see the course description. Some applications have forms and are listed on the Applications web page.

NOTE: Applications are due at the date listed in the course description. Applications listed as due at registration will be due by June 3. Courses needing only the professor signature may be presented to the Registrar’s office anytime during the official registration period.

Prerequisites

Some classes require a prerequisite or co-requisite for registration. This information is found on the course description information. During the two days of priority registration, you may register for a class without having the co/prerequisite needed. However, after the priority registration days you will need to register for the prerequisite class(es).

After the two priority registration days, if you try to register for a class without the necessary prerequisite or co-requisite, you will not be allowed to add the class. If so, be sure to add the prerequisite class to your schedule before attempting to add the course that requires the prerequisite.

Some professors will override prerequisites if you prove to them that you can qualify to take the class without the preliminary class. To do this, you will need the professor’s confirmation, in writing or in an email message, granting permission to override the prerequisite. All overrides of prerequisites must be done by the Registrar’s office, and cannot be done online. If you have questions about prerequisites, please contact the Registrar’s office.

Registration Restrictions

If you owe money for tuition not paid, you will not be allowed to register. Check WebAdvisor under My Holds and Restrictions found under the header Academic Profile on the Student Menu. If you have a hold it will advise you if the hold restricts your ability to register. If it does, you will want to be sure to take care of the hold before registration starts so you will not lose your chance to register.

Responsible for Your Registration

You are responsible to make sure your registration is correct. Check your schedule on WebAdvisor to be sure that you have the correct classes listed. If you want a printed schedule, ask the Registrar’s office. You can add and drop classes online through September 4 for Fall semester, and through January 12, 2025 for Spring semester. After those dates, all adds and drops must be done through the Registrar’s office. You can be held responsible for an examination if you neglect to drop a class. You will not be given credit for a class that you are attending if you are not registered for it.

Wait List Invitations

Wait lists are maintained on WebAdvisor. You may add your name to, or delete your name from any wait list. Should a seat open in a class and you are first on the wait list, you will be sent an email message advising you that you may add the class. You will be given 2 days to respond. If you do not respond within that time, your name will be dropped from the wait list and the next student on the wait list will be offered the seat in the class.

Wait list invitations for Fall 2024 and Spring 2025 will start being sent out in early August 2024. Mark your calendar if you are on a wait list and check your email every day during the wait list invitation period.

Please take your name off a wait list as soon as you know you do not want to take the class. This makes the wait list process quicker and more efficient.

Clinics, Practicums, and Externships — Only One per Semester

To avoid client conflicts, and conflicts of interest, the faculty members of the clinics of Lewis & Clark Law School have established a rule prohibiting students from taking more than one clinic each semester. Moreover, because potential conflicts can arise when a student takes a clinic and/or a legal practicum or externship in the same semester, it is advised that students should not enroll in more than one such class each semester. Clinics and Internship Seminar professors and the Externship director will be informed should any student participate in more than one of these classes in the same semester.

Externship Registration

If you have been approved for a Fall 2024 externship, your registration will be done by the Registrar’s office.

If you hope to do a Spring 2025 externship, register for course selections you plan to take if the externship is not approved. In the event the externship is granted, the course selections will be dropped and the externship added through the Registrar’s office.

Anyone approved for an externship or interested in applying should see the course description for the Externship Classroom Component for information about the classroom components for the externship and an explanation for how and when to register.

Note: If you are thinking about doing an externship in the future, note that significant advance planning is required for externships, and applications are due well before the externship begins. Talk to the Associate Dean for Student Affairs, if you think you may be interested in one. For complete information on what externships are available, and how to apply for one, see, Externships.

Underloads

Students with special circumstances can petition to take less than 8 credits in a semester and pay by the credit hour. Requests should be sent to lawreg@lclark.edu

Faculty Evaluation Information

Faculty evaluations are available for student review. The numerical summaries for each question for each faculty member are on the website, Faculty and Course Evaluations.