Transfer Policies

Office Hours:
Mon. – Fri. 8:00 am – 5:00 pm
Phone:
(352) 273-0620
Fax:
(352) 392-3800
E-mail:
student.svc@law.ufl.edu

Academic Policies

1st year required courses

The following are first year required courses at the University of Florida Levin College of Law:

Contracts 5000
Criminal Law 5100
Torts 5700
Introduction to Lawyering 5755
Civil Procedure 5301
Constitutional Law 5501
Property 5400
Legal Research 5803
Legal Writing 5792
Appellate Advocacy 5793

Those required courses not taken at your prior institution must be completed during your first year of study at the Levin College of Law.

The Assistant Dean of Students will review your transcripts prior to the start of classes to determine which course(s) you will be required to register during your first and/or second semester. Please also be advised that Legal Drafting is a required second year course and you will be required to take this course during the first fall or spring term you enroll as a student at the UF College of Law. Finally, the Assistant Dean of Students will register you for all required courses, thus, if you have a specific request for a particular course section please contact us.

Degree Requirements

J.D. Requirements

Registration Priority Courses

These courses are not required, but the faculty recommends them for the designated term. Registration for these courses will be allowed in the term of priority. Registration in any other term is subject to space availability after Advanced Registration.

Second and Third Years

Second Year – Registration Priority Courses:

Trusts and Estates* 6930 (4)
Evidence* 6330 (4)
Legal Drafting (required) 6807 (2)
Corporations* 6063 (3)
Unincorporated Business Enterprises 6062 (3)
Interviewing, Counseling, and Negotiation 6388 (3)
Business Enterprises Survey 6068 (5)

NOTE: When transferring, many second year registration priority courses may be full when transfer students attempt to register. Thus, transfer students may not be able to take these courses until a future semester unless the courses are added during the drop/add period.

Third Year – Registration Priority Courses

Trial Practice* 6363 (4)

Grades

Per faculty policy, the mean grade for all course sections is 3.15-3.25, inclusive. For courses in which there are 15 or fewer students, there is no minimum and the maximum is 3.60.

Letter grades translate as follows:

A= 4.0
A-= 3.67
B+= 3.33
B= 3.0,
B-= 2.67
C += 2.33
C=2.0
C-= 1.67
D+= 1.33
D= 1.0
D-= 0.67
E= 0.0

Transfer of Credits Policy

Transfer of credits will be permitted based on the following criteria:

A student may request to transfer up to 29 hours of classes taken at another ABA accredited institution. The credits you earn will be accepted towards your J.D. degree at the Levin College of Law, provided that you adhere to the following rules:

A student will not receive credit for any Levin College of Law required courses taken at another law school without prior written permission.
A student will not receive credit for a course taken at the Levin College of Law if the same course was taken at another law school and those credits were transferred.
A student will receive credit for elective courses only if the student earns a grade of 2.0, “C”, or its equivalent or higher in the course. The grades will appear as “S” grades on the UF transcript and will not be calculated in the grade point average.

The College does not have any articulation agreements with other institutions.

Joint Degree Information

Transfer students are not eligible for joint degree programs outside of the College of Law due to the maximum number of transfer credits allocated at the time of transfer. Transfer students are eligible for the 7-semester JD/LLM in Taxation joint degree.

Non-graduate course options

Transfer students are not eligible for the graduate course option due to the maximum limit of transfer credits allocated at the time of transfer.

Order of the Coif

Transfer students are eligible for Order of the Coif as long as when determining compliance with the 75 percent graded course requirement for Coif membership, the student’s transferred credits are considered as having been earned in a “graded course” if, at the time the course was taken, a grade was received. Graduation, GPA and class rank will continue to be determined as provided in the grading policies of the University of Florida Levin College of Law.

Westlaw, Lexis Nexis

Upon transfer to the University of Florida Levin College of Law, you will need a WestLaw and LexisNexis account with UF. You will receive this information prior to the start of classes for the term either from the representatives from Westlaw and LexisNexis or the Assistant Dean of Students. You will need access to both systems to conduct research and/or access assignments, syllabi and other information posted by professors.

Certificate Programs

UF Law currently has 6 established certificate programs that provide for specific areas of specialization. Please visit our Concentration Areas and Certificate Programs pages to find the specific program and contact information.

UF Law Academic Policies

In addition to the policies and information listed above, it is expected that UF Law Students familiarize themselves with all academic policies. Therefore, please read the information on this page to gain an understanding of these policies.

The Florida Constitutional Law Endowment in memory of Justice Ben F. Overton was created by Judge Karen Miller in 2013. This fund supports lectures and presentations by Justices of the Florida Supreme Court at the Fredric G. Levin College of Law.

HISTORY

Justice Overton, who earned his B.S. in 1951 and his Juris Doctor in 1952 from the University of Florida, was the first merit appointment to the Florida Supreme Court. Throughout his career he was active in legal education and served as an Adjunct Professor at the Levin College of Law through December 2012, the month of his death. Although he resided at Oak Hammock at the University of Florida, a continuing care retirement community developed in cooperation with UF, he also considered the Florida Supreme Court “home.” Among the high points of his later years was hosting Justices of the Florida Supreme Court in Gainesville and taking his class to Tallahassee to hear oral arguments at the Florida Supreme Court.
Judge Miller, who earned her B.S. cum laude from New York University in 1974 and her Juris Doctor from New York Law School in 1977, served as Chief Administrative Law Judge of the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs, New York City’s business regulatory agency, before she retired to Oak Hammock at the University of Florida. Having accompanied Justice Overton on his excursions to Tallahassee and joined him in welcoming guests to Oak Hammock at the University of Florida, she created the endowment in memory of Justice Overton to ensure that the Levin College of Law continues to have the funding necessary to continue and enhance the interaction between its students and the Florida Supreme Court.

Judge Miller remembered the event that motivated the endowment.

Prior to a dinner at the home of Dean Robert Jerry and Lisa Jerry shortly after Justice Overton’s death, Justice Barbara Pariente and I were discussing a suitable memorial. Justice Pariente, who had been Justice Overton’s colleague on the Florida Supreme Court and who understood the importance to him of the interaction between his students and the Court, suggested the outline of what has become the Overton lectures. Dean Jerry, who has since retired, as has Dean Emeritus Jon Mills, who assumed responsibility for implementing the Overton lectures, were very supportive from the beginning. Since Dean Mills’ retirement, Professor Timothy McClendon, who assisted both Justice Overton and Dean Mills teaching Florida Constitutional Law and who co-authored the recent Florida Constitutional Law casebook, has continued the Overton lectures with the support of Interim Dean Merritt McAlister and CGR director, Professor Danaya Wright.

Justice Overton was a devoted jurist, educator, and ethical leader of the Florida legal profession. The Overton Lecture Series brings Florida Supreme Court Justices to the University of Florida, Levin College of Law, and serves to introduce students to the inner workings of the Court. CGR and the students of the College of Law extend our deepest gratitude to Judge Karen Miller for making the Overton Lectures possible in perpetuity.

You can watch an interview for the Florida Historical Society by Mary Adkins, professor emeritus of the UF Levin College of Law, with Justice Overton here.

Justice Overton was also interviewed for the Samuel Proctor Oral History Project and a transcript of his interview is available at the Smathers Library, and here.
Justice Overton sat on the Constitution Revision Commission of 1977-78 that proposed a right to privacy in the Florida Constitution. Although it failed as part of the Constitution Revision Commission recommendations, it passed in 1980 when proposed by the legislature. The bill was co-sponsored by our very own Jon Mills. The privacy provision prevailed by greater than 60%. Justice Overton then wrote a concurrence in a critical reproductive rights case in 1989 affirming that the privacy provision of the Florida Constitution included the right to obtain an abortion. That decision was overruled in Planned Parenthood of SW and Central Florida v. Florida. You can read about the role of Justice Overton, Jon Mills – director emeritus of CGR, and the history of the 1989 case here.