Credits and Grading

Among other graduation requirements, Tulane Law students must earn a minimum of 88 credit hours and must be full-time students in residence at Tulane for six regular semesters, which are limited to fall and spring semesters. Of the 88 required hours, Tulane Law students may earn a maximum of 12 credit hours during their two summer terms after their first or second year of law school, whether taken on Tulane’s campus or in one or more of Tulane's summer abroad programs.

A maximum of 9 credit hours can be earned in a single summer semester. Tulane students may not receive credit for courses taken in a summer program or in the regular semester at Tulane that are the same or essentially the same as courses they have already completed.

No student shall receive academic credit for any paper, comment, note or other written work which is the same or substantially the same as a paper, comment, note or other written work for which the student has previously received academic credit or will in the future receive academic credit in the law school.

If you have questions about Tulane course selection or course conflicts, contact the Assistant Dean for Students.

Del Kirkpatrick
Assistant Dean, Academic Services
Tulane University School of Law
6329 Freret St., Suite 204
New Orleans, LA 70118
504-862-8835
dkirkpatrick@tulane.edu

If you are from another law school, check with your school's officials before applying to determine the maximum number of credits you will be permitted to take in a summer session and whether or not that school will accept any credit or grade for any course taken in the program. Acceptance of any credit or grade for any course taken in the programs, including externships and other clinical offerings, is subject to determination by a student's home school. It is unlikely that participation in a foreign summer program may be used to accelerate graduation. Students interested in acceleration should consult their home schools to review this issue in light of ABA Standard 304, Interpretation 304-4.

Requesting Transcripts

• Transcripts are not automatically sent to your home school.
• Transcripts can be requested from Tulane University’s Registrar’s Office through Gibson online.
• Transcripts can also be requested directly from the Registrar’s Office at https://registrar.tulane.edu/transcript

Students wishing to enroll in summer abroad courses with titles and/or descriptions similar to another course they have taken or intend to take should consult with their institution before enrolling to ascertain what credits they will receive and whether these courses overlap.

You will be enrolled in the courses you select on your program application and will receive your course confirmation from Academic Services in the spring to your Tulane email. To change your course selections prior to receiving your course confirmation from Academic Services, please email lawabroad@tulane.edu to the attention of Mallory Asp.

Grades will be posted on Gibson online within 30 days of the completion of your program.

Logging into Gibson
To login to Gibson, use your username and password that will be sent in two emails from Tulane University Technology Services.

If you did not receive your log in information, you must contact Tech Support directly in order for them to reset your password. If you continue to have trouble logging in to http://gibson.tulane.edu, you can contact Technology Services directly by any of the four methods below:

1. Write help@tulane.edu
2. Call us Monday through Friday 7AM - 7PM, at 504-862-8888 or 866-276-1428.
3. Search the Knowledge Base at https://tulane.service-now.com/kb
4. Go to the TSNOC online at https://tulane.service-now.com/

ANONYMITY
All examinations shall be given and graded anonymously. Each student and faculty member has a duty to ensure that the anonymity of the examination grading process is not breached. Prior to the announcement of grades, no student shall disclose to any faculty member information about himself or herself or about any other student which might compromise anonymity.

EXAM NUMBERS
The Dean of Academic Services shall be responsible for assigning an examination number to each student to assure anonymity. Faculty members may not have access to the number until after their grades have been submitted to the Director of Academic Services at Tulane.

FACULTY RESPONSIBILITIES
Faculty members are expected to be present in the building during the time that their examinations are being taken. However, if they cannot be present, they should be accessible by telephone for any inquiries relating to the examination.

ABA Regulations
The faculty determined that a “credit-hour” is an amount of work that reasonably approximates not less than 750 minutes of classroom or direct faculty instruction and 30 hours of out-of-class student work. Also, ABA regulations prohibit students from receiving more than 1.5 semester credit hours for each week of the program, and students cannot be enrolled in more than 220 class minutes per day.

GRADING SCALES
The Berlin Program is graded on a scale of Pass/C/Fail. All of the other Summer Programs have the normal grading scale and quality point system as follows:

REQUIRED MEAN GPA
The distribution of grades to J.D. students in each course shall produce a mean GPA of between 3.20 and 3.30.

EXCEPTIONS

• Classes of 12 J.D. students or fewer
• The Berlin Program - The exam is graded on a scale of Pass/C/Fail. A passing grade indicates that the student was given a grade of above a C.

In all courses subject to the required mean GPA, 0 grades of D or below in a class of more than 50 JD students and one grade of D or below in a class of 50 or fewer JD students may be given without these grades counting toward the class GPA required mean. For example, in a class of 60 J.D. students, there could be a total of two grades of D or F given which would not be used in the calculation. In that case, if two such grades are given, the mean GPA of between 3.2 and 3.3 would be calculated based on 58 J.D. students rather than 60. Nothing in this provision is intended to limit the number of grades of D or F given. However, any additional grades of D or below beyond the number excluded above, will be part of the calculation to determine if the course has met the required mean of between 3.20 and 3.30.

PENALTIES

• After consultation with the Director, a faculty member may assess a penalty against a final grade for demonstrated failure to be prepared and/or lack of attendance.
• A faculty member who intends to invoke this rule shall announce his or her intention to the class during the first class, and shall maintain a record of attendance and/or performance in class.
• The faculty member will submit to the Director, before the submission of course grades, the names of any students against whom penalties are to be imposed. The Director will make the necessary adjustments to the grades the faculty member has submitted, with a notation to indicate those grades affected by penalty assessments.
• In the case of a student who has rarely or never attended class, a faculty member may refuse to permit the student to take the final examination, even if the faculty member has not kept a daily record of attendance or announced an intention to invoke the penalty provisions. The student shall receive no credit for the course.

DEADLINE FOR FACULTY TO SUBMIT GRADES
Except in case of severe hardship, the period of time allowed a faculty member for grading examination papers shall be 14 days from the date of the examination.

CHANGE OR APPEAL OF GRADES
Once a faculty member has turned in his or her grades, the faculty member may not change any grade on representations or complaints of students unless the original grade was the result of a mathematical error in computation or of an error in transcription. If the original grade was the result of mathematical error, the faculty member will certify that fact to the Director who will then authorize the change.

Any student who wishes to appeal an assigned grade must comply with the process for appeal established by Tulane.

BAR CERTIFICATIONS
If you are applying for a bar exam, you will likely have a form from your state’s bar association requesting verification of your enrollment and/or degree. Shari Vice in the Academic Services Office can help complete this kind of form. This is applicable even for those enrolled in the Tulane Summer Abroad programs. Please send any bar certification requests or forms to Academic Services at Tulane Law School, 6329 Freret St., Suite 204, New Orleans, LA 70118. If you have specific questions, you can reach Ms. Vice at 504.865.5935 or svice@tulane.edu.

CODE OF STUDENT CONDUCT & HONOR CODE
All students participating in any of Tulane Law School’s summer programs are subject to and bound by the Tulane University Code of Student Conduct, except as follows: the responsibility to enforce the Code shall lie exclusively with the Director of the summer program. The Director shall have the right, in his or her sole discretion, to impose any sanction authorized by the Code of Student Conduct, up to and including immediate expulsion from the summer program. Any student upon whom a disciplinary sanction has been imposed by a Director shall have the right to seek review of that decision from the Dean of the Law School within 30 days. The scope of such review will be limited to a determination of whether the Director acted arbitrarily, or capriciously, or whether the disciplinary sanction was the result of prejudice, or discrimination on the part of the Director. Please see the attached Tulane University Code of Student Conduct.

All students, including non-Tulane students, are subject to the provisions imposed by the attached Tulane University Law School Honor Code with the following exception: the responsibility to enforce the code shall lie exclusively with the Director of the summer program. All program directors have the authority to institute disciplinary measures at his/her discretion. Decisions regarding disciplinary measures can only be appealed to the Dean of Tulane University School of Law. For more information, please visit the Handbooks & Policies page.

OVERALL STUDENT EXPECTATION
All students, whether Tulane or visiting, are subject to the standard attendance and grading policies of Tulane Law School. The faculty believes that learning requires the active engagement of our students. Thus, the faculty expects students to attend class regularly and to be prepared to participate in the class discussion when called upon to do so.

Although the faculty recognizes that the majority of students are highly motivated and would prepare for and attend class without any requirement, a small but significant number of students do not attend class with sufficient consistency and preparedness. That failure is detrimental to their education and is inconsistent with the professionalism that aspiring lawyers should exhibit. In addition, a student’s failure to prepare for class often adversely affects the class discussion and thus is detrimental to the education of his or her fellow student.

This statement of policy by the faculty is consistent with the position of the American Bar Association. As an ABA-accredited institution, Tulane Law School must require that its students attend class regularly, as well as adopt and enforce policies relating to class attendance.