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.
  2. Earned a cumulative average of at least 2.000 on all work attempted at the law school, earned an average grade of at least 2.000 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 Executive Committee. Such a candidate will be permitted to continue in school only by a special vote of the Executive Committee. The Executive Committee may impose conditions on such permission to continue.
  3. Successfully completed 90 hours of credit, with a grade of Pass or Low Pass, in a Pass/Fail course and a D or above in a graded course.
  4. Successfully completed all required courses, including all first-year courses, Professional Responsibility, Legislative and Administrative Law, and six credits of Professional Skills. For students who matriculated in the fall of 2018 and after, Legislative and Administrative Law is not a required course. Students must have taken two of the following four courses prior to graduation: (1) Administrative Law; (2) Evidence (or Trial Advocacy); (3) Business Associations; (4) Taxation I.
  5. Successfully completed 64 credits of direct instruction as outlined in Rule II.H.12.
  6. 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 will not receive their degree until all grades are received. Students who will complete their degree requirements in the summer session following graduation and who have registered for their remaining credits will be allowed to participate in graduation.