Rules, Regulations and Policies
Special Rules for Graduate Legal Students
The rules and policies on this page refer to students enrolled in the School of Law's four graduate programs only. These include the M.J., LL.M., S.J.D and D.Law but not the J.D. degree.
As a degree candidate in graduate program, you are expected to complete your degree within the following time frames:
LL.M. students: 1 academic year for full-time students, 2 academic years for part-time students
M.J. students: 2 academic years
S.J.D. students: 2 academic years
D.Law students: 2 academic years
On an individual basis, exceptions may be made to allow shorter or longer degree completion times with permission of your program director. Your degree completion progress may also affect your financial aid status.
Satisfactory Academic Performance
Graduate students are expected to maintain the following minimum grade point averages in order to continue at Loyola:
LL.M. students: 2.5
M.J. students: 2.0
S.J.D. students: 2.5
D.Law students: 2.5
If you fall below the minimum GPA at any time during the course of a program, you must submit a written petition to continue in the program to your individual program director. This petition may granted or denied, or granted subject to whatever conditions restrictions, and limitations deemed appropriate by director. Please note that you will not be permitted to continue in the program if you fail more than one course in a given semester.
Thesis and Dissertation Completion
As a degree candidate in the graduate programs, you are expected to satisfactorily complete your thesis or dissertation during the semester in which you register for it. If you do not satisfactorily complete your thesis or dissertation, you will receive a failing grade for the thesis or dissertation course. At the discretion of the program director, you may be allowed to register for the thesis course again, pay the current rate of tuition for that course, and satisfactorily complete the project before being allowed to graduate. Excepting death and serious illness, THERE WILL BE NO EXCEPTIONS TO THIS RULE.
Satisfactory completion of the thesis or dissertation project will be determined by your project advisor, but at minimum requires submission of a proposal, outline, first draft, and final draft of publishable quality in sufficient time for the advisor to read, comment on, and grade the submission. A submission not accepted by the advisor does not satisfy this requirement. M.J. students must receive a grade of "C" or better on their thesis in order to be eligible for graduation. LL.M. students must receive a grade of "C+" or better on their thesis in order to be eligible for graduation. S.J.D. and D.Law students must receive a grade of "B-" or better on their dissertations in order to be eligible for graduation.
Loyola University Chicago confers degrees twice yearly (in January and May) and holds one annual ceremony (in May) for all law school degree candidates. If you wish to graduate, you must complete and turn in a graduation application BEFORE registering for your final semester of study. Application forms and graduation information will be made available to you at that time, and it your responsibility to apply for graduation.
