"After 30 years spent in courtrooms in Texas, ... I am comfortable that SMU's emphasis on how to think as opposed to what to think has been instrumental in procuring justice for a number of deserving clients."
- Frank Branson '69, '74
Partner, Law Offices of Frank L. Branson, PC
Skip Navigation LinksDepartments & Services > Registrar > Registration Information > Registration Instructions - Summer/Fall 2008

Registration Instructions - Summer/Fall 2008

All upper-class students will register for courses via ACCESS.SMU (https://access.smu.edu). Please read all instructions before registering. Make sure to scroll down for further instructions.

Clinic Registration:

Clinic seats will be assigned through a lottery that will occur prior to registration. Students who receive a clinic seat in the lottery will be registered for the appropriate clinic by the Registrar's Office. The clinic that you are selected for will be added to your schedule prior to registration.. Students will not have the ability to register themselves for an open clinic seat; any clinic openings that occur will be filled on the basis of the waiting list. The clinic will contact any students who have made a clinic spot and were on the waiting list.

Extra Hours and Non-class Credits:

In order to take extra hours students must fill out a petition for extra hours and obtain approval from Dean Camp. Evening students may petition for full-time status after their fourth semester. Dean Camp will send an e-mail regarding the deadline for evening student petitions. The petition may be found in the Registrar's Office or on the Registrar's web page.

Full-time students who plan to register for less than 12 hours must also meet with Dean Camp before registration.

Directed Research, Externship, Moot Court, and Mock Trial hours must still be added through the Registrar's Office. To register for any of these hours, permission must be obtained from the designated faculty member and the appropriate permission to register form must be submitted to the Registrar's Office. The permission to register form is available in the Registrar's Office or on the Registrar's web page. Law Review and Clinic Deputy hours must also be added through the Registrar's Office, however no signed authorization is needed.

Add/Drop Deadline:

ALL CREDIT HOURS that are to be applied to the summer or fall 2008 semester must be added to your schedule by the last day of the add/drop period. *This includes hours for Directed Research, Externship, Moot Court/Mock Trial, Clinic Deputy, and Law Review. The last day to add a class for the summer semester is Friday, May 30. The last day to add a class for the fall semester is Thursday, August 28. You will receive a grade of "W" on your trancript if a class is dropped after the add/drop period has ended, however you may drop a class up until the last day of classes with the instructor's permission. First year students may not drop first year required courses without the permission of the instructor and Dean Camp.

Required Courses and Reminders:

Required Courses for Graduation: Professional Responsibility, Constitutional Law II, General Writing course, Edited Writing course, Professional Skills Course (all students who began law school in the Fall of 2006 or later must take at least one course designated as a Professional Skills Course. Professional Skills Courses are strongly recommended for all other students.

Reminders:

*Courses MUST be designated as either Edited or General Writing to satisfy the writing requirement. They are designated as "EW" or "GW" on the upperclass course listing next to the title of the course.

*If you are selected for a clinic, the Registrar's Office will manually register you for the clinic hours.

*6 Residency credits are required for graduation. (1 credit is given for 12 course hours) Refer to the law school catalog for more information.

*Maximum number of pass fail hours:

The maximum number of pass fail hours (other than for externships or classes where there were special circumstances where the entire class was given a pass/fail grade) which can be applied to satisfy the 87 hours required for graduation is 6. This restriction also does not include hours transferred from other law schools or other graduate school at SMU. This requirement reflects the impact of the reduction in required hours from 90 to 87. Generally, the type of pass fail hours that this affects are hours for law review and BOA such as mock trial and moot court competitions and serving on the BOA. If you have questions, please direct them to Dean Camp.

Each student must take the following steps prior to registration:

1. Check for any service indicators (holds) which need to be cleared prior to your enrollment. To view your holds:

  • Login to Access.SMU
  • Click the Student Center link
  • Click the Expand Section button to view holds

Contact the appropriate person or department listed with each hold to inquire about the hold and have it cleared. If no contact person or department is listed, contact the University Registrar's Office at 214-768-2038 or registrar@mail.smu.edu. If you have a hold on your account when your appointment time opens, you will lose registration priority. Please be advised that it could take up to 24 hours to have any hold removed.

2. Check your enrollment appointment time (make sure it corresponds to the schedule below). To check your appointment time:

  • Login to Access.SMU
  • Click the Student Center link
  • Click on Enrollment Dates
  • The enrollment appointment times will appear. To see a different term, select the term and click Change.

3. Update demographic information, addresses, phone numbers, and emergency contacts. If this information is not verified a HOLD will be placed on your account and you will not be permitted to register until the verification has been completed.

To update your personal information:

  • Login to Access.SMU
  • Click the Student Center link
  • Click the Home Address link
  • Select any information that needs to be updated.
  • Enter the updated information
  • Click the I have verified and/or updated my information; it is current option
  • Click Save
  • Follow the same instructions for updating your Demographic Data, Emergency Contacts, and Phone numbers.
  • Refer to the student tutorial for more detailed instructions: http://www.smu.edu/help/access/tutorial/student/

4. Review the course schedule and choose your classes. The summer and fall 2008 course listings and block schedules are on the Law School Registrar's webpage under the Course Schedules and Information link.

5. Make sure to review the exam schedule for the applicable semester prior to registering for classes. Do not register for courses in which the exams are scheduled at the same time. The exam schedules are also on the Law School Registrar's webpage under the the Exam Information and Policies link.

6. Check for seat availabilities for the courses that you have chosen by following these instructions: Seat availabilites are automatically updated in Access.SMU as students add and drop courses.
  • Login to Access.SMU
  • Click the Student Center link
  • Click the Search for Classes button
  • Select the Term (Summer 2008 or Fall 2008) from the drop down menu.
  • Click Go
  • Select the Subject (Law)
  • Select the Course Career (Law)
  • Uncheck the Show Open Classes Only box
  • Click search
  • Click OK when the statement regarding 50 classes appears

Under "Available Seats" you will see Unrstr and Rstr. Unrstr is the unrestricted number of seats that are available in the course. Rstr is the restricted number of seats. The only instance where there is a number under Rstr is when there are seats that are restricted for day or evening students. The "Wait" feature is not available for law classes.

7. Visit the Web Enrollment Tutorial (http://www.smu.edu/help/access/tutorial/student/) for detailed registration instructions.

The schedule for on-line registration for upper-class students is as follows:

All students who have 53 hours and above including hours in progress.

 Thursday, April 10th beginning at 12:30pm until Friday, April 11th at 12:29pm.

LLMs register for up to 14 credit hours.
Full-time day and evening students register for up to 17 credit hours. Part-time evening students register for up to 11 hours.
All students who have 32-52 hours including hours in progress.

Friday, April 11th beginning at 12:30pm until Saturday, April 12th at 12:29pm.

Full-time day and evening students register for up to 17 credit hours. Part-time evening students register for up to 11 hours.

 
All students who have 0-31 hours including hours in progress Monday, April 14th beginning at 12:30pm until Tuesday, April 15th at 12:29pm

Full-time day students register for up to 17 credit hours.
(2LEs will register for up to 6 hours of electives. The Registrar's Office will add Property and Criminal Law to your schedules.)

Except for clinics, no waiting lists will be maintained. All open seats will be available on a first-come-first-served basis during the regular add/drop period. When the add/drop period begins, please check for all current seat availabilities through ACCESS.SMU.