Graduation and Admission to the Bar

Commencement Ceremony

To honor its graduates, the Law School conducts a Commencement Ceremony in May each year (December for students entering in August 2015 and thereafter). It may, at its discretion, also conduct other commencement ceremonies. In conjunction with the Ceremony, the Law School often hosts a reception for the graduates and their spouses, families, and friends.

Information regarding announcements, invitations, and other details of time and place will be available through the Office of Career and Student Development. All potential degree candidates should consult that office at the beginning of their last term.

Admission to the Bar

The student should make a timely inquiry concerning requirements for admission to the Bar, including character and fitness qualifications. Failure to follow proper procedure and to adhere to announced deadlines may result in considerable delay in approving an application for admission to the Bar. All credit and residence requirements must be completed (with a grade recorded or certification by the faculty member to the Registrar) before an applicant may sit for the Bar Examination.

Applications for admission to the North Carolina Bar Examiners are available on-line. (To ensure privacy, when using Law School computers to access the application, students should take care to save the application only to personal files.) Careful attention must be given to the completion of the application. Students may seek advice concerning Bar requirements from the Office of Career and Student Development

The North Carolina Bar Examiners will request certification information from the Law School for every student sitting for the exam. It is the responsibility of every third- year student to make sure all requirements have been met for certification.

All students who are applying for disability accommodations for the Bar examination should meet with the Associate Director of Career and Student Development prior to filing their petitions.

All coursework must be completed by the end of the grading period in order to ensure that the Dean can certify graduation and eligibility to the Bar. Students with incompletes from previous semesters or trimesters should be aware that their coursework is not considered completed until a grade has been recorded by the Office of the Registrar.

Moreover, under no circumstances can the institution make certification of graduation unless all requirements have been completed by the deadline of the jurisdiction to which the student is applying.

Graduating students must accordingly take care to assure that all graduation requirements have been met, e.g., that incomplete work resulting in a grade of “I” has been finished and a grade recorded, and that the upper-level writing requirement has been satisfactorily completed by the end of the student’s final term. Students completing requirements thereafter will not be able to sit for the bar examination