Inquiries  207.780.4355 (ph)  •  207.780.4239 (fax)  mainelaw@usm.maine.edu

Graduation Requirements

The Juris Doctor degree will be recommended for each candidate who has:

  1. Successfully completed six semesters of residence as a law student enrolled at an ABA accredited law school. The candidate must be in residence at least three semesters or the last two semesters at the University of Maine School of Law. The student earns resident credit only for those semesters in which a full academic program is carried. Any student attending another law school but receiving the University of Maine School of Law degree must meet all these requirements for graduation. (See Residence Requirements, Section I.B.2. of the Student Handbook).
  2. Earned a cumulative average of at least 2.0 on all work attempted at the law school, earned an average grade of at least 2.0 on all work attempted during the semester immediately preceding the date the degree is to be conferred, earned no more than two (2) D+, D, or F grades during the semester immediately preceding the date the degree is to be conferred, and received not more than six (6) D+, D, or F grades on all work attempted at the law school. A candidate who is on probation at the beginning of the semester immediately preceding the date the degree is to be conferred must also have satisfied the terms of probation. A candidate who fails to comply with any of the requirements set out in the preceding sentence but meets the other requirements for graduation will be recommended for the degree only under special circumstances and by special vote of the Faculty. Such a candidate will be permitted to continue in school only by a special vote of the Faculty. The Faculty may impose conditions on such permission to continue.
  3. Successfully completed 90 hours of credit. Successfully completed means a Pass, Low Pass, or Honors in a Pass/Fail course and a D or above in a graded course. This requirement may be met either by work at the Law School, or by work at other law schools for which the Maine Law Faculty has given credit, or by a combination of the two.
  4. Taken and successfully completed all required courses (all first-year courses, Constitutional Law II, Professional Responsibility, a perspective course, and a professional skills course).
  5. Satisfactorily completed the Upper Level Writing Requirement.

Participation in the graduation ceremony is limited to students who have completed all graduation requirements. Students who are enrolled at another law school during the last semester may participate in graduation but may not receive their degree until all grades are received.