Miscellaneous

Class Attendance

Regular and punctual class attendance is required by American Bar Association. Students who do not attend class on a regular basis will be dropped from the class at the request of the instructor and with the concurrence of the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. Instructors may also elect to consider class attendance and participation in assigning final grades.

Disability Accommodation

The UNC School of Law works through the Department of Disability Services to determine what accommodations an individual student needs. Reasonable accommodations are provided to students who are identified by Disability Services and who have provided documentation that supports the need for reasonable accommodations so they may, as independently as possible, meet the demands of law school life.

Disability Services offers individualized programs and services, including academic advising, registration assistance, accessible classrooms and materials, tutoring and special testing arrangements to enable students with disabilities to enjoy campus life as independently as possible. To be eligible for services, students must provide medical documentation that provides information about a substantial limitation to one or more major life activities, specifically as it applies to meeting the demands of University life, in and/or out of the classroom. Students with temporary disabilities (such as broken limbs) or who want more information should see the Assistant Dean for Student Services.

Prohibited Harassment and Discrimination

The University's Policy on Prohibited Harassment and Discrimination prohibits discrimination or harassment on the basis of an individual's race, color, gender, national origin, age, religion, creed, disability, veteran's status, sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression. Appendix B of this policy provides specific information for students who believe that they have been discriminated against or harassed on the basis of one or more of these protected classifications.

Students who want additional information regarding the University's process for investigating allegations of discrimination or harassment should contact the Equal Opportunity/ADA Office for assistance:

Equal Opportunity/ADA Office
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
100 E. Franklin Street, Unit 110
Campus Box 9160
Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599
Telephone: 919.966.3576
Fax: 919.962.2562
Email: equalopportunity@unc.edu

Any administrator or supervisor, including a department chair, associate dean or other administrator, who receives a student's complaint about prohibited harassment or discrimination, must notify the Equal Opportunity/ADA Office within five (5) calendar days of receiving the complaint. If a student raises a claim of prohibited harassment or discrimination during an academic appeal, an investigation of the student's claim must be performed under the direction of the Equal Opportunity/ADA Office. The school or department must await the results of the harassment or discrimination investigation before deciding the student's academic appeal.

Employment

A law student may not be employed more than 20 hours per week in any week in which the student is enrolled in more than 12 credit hours. This is an ABA requirement, Standard 304(f).

Plagiarism

Students are required to read the materials on the website about plagiarism. Beginning in January 2008, each first-year law student must certify that he or she has read and understood the anti-plagiarism materials on the site. See additional information about plagiarism on My Carolina Law.

Recording and Distribution of Classes

Class recordings are distributed for the exclusive use of students in the University of North Carolina School of Law class that was recorded. Student access to and use of class recordings are conditioned on agreement with the terms and conditions set out below. Any student who does not agree to them is prohibited from accessing or making any use of such recordings. Any student accessing class recordings:

1. acknowledges the faculty members' intellectual property rights in recorded lectures and class materials and that distribution of the recordings violates the UNC-Chapel Hill Copyright Policy;
2. recognizes the privacy rights of fellow students who speak in class;
3. accepts that distribution, posting, or uploading class recordings to students not authorized to receive them or to those outside UNC Law School is an Honor Code violation; and
4. agrees that recordings are to be accessed and used only as directed by the faculty member(s) teaching the course.

Rules Governing Professional Training of Law Students

Law students may be able to engage in supervised representation of low income individuals in limited circumstances pursuant to the North Carolina Rules of Professional Conduct (Subchapter C, Section .0200 Rules Governing Practical Training of Law Students of the N.C. Rules of Professional Conduct).

To engage in activities permitted by these rules, a law student must satisfy the following requirements:

1. Be enrolled in a law school approved by the Council of the North Carolina State Bar.
2. Have completed at least three semesters of the requirements for a professional degree in law (J.D. or its equivalent).
3. Be certified in writing by a representative of his or her law school, authorized by the dean of the law school to provide such certification, as being of good character with requisite legal ability and training to perform as a legal intern.
4. Be introduced to the court in which he or she is appearing by an attorney admitted to practice in that court.
5. Neither ask for nor receive any compensation or remuneration of any kind from any client for whom he or she renders services, but this shall not prevent an attorney, legal services corporation, law school, public defender agency, or the state from paying compensation to the law student or charging or collecting a fee for legal services performed by such law student.
6. Certify in writing that he or she has read and is familiar with the North Carolina Revised Rules of Professional Conduct and the opinions interpretive thereof.

27 N.C. Admin. Code 1C.0200 (2007)

Certification forms can be found on the N.C. State Bar website.

In- and out-of-state certification forms should be submitted to Shelby Mann, Director of Facilities.

Clinic and externship program students: This process will be managed by law school personnel.

Student Complaints

The ABA Standards related to student complaints may be found at http://www.americanbar.org/groups/legal_education/resources/standards.html. Any student at the law school who wishes to bring a formal complaint to the administration of the law school regarding a significant problem that directly implicates the school's program of legal education and its compliance with the ABA Standards should do the following:

1. Submit the complaint in writing to the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs or the Associate Dean for Students Affairs, with a copy to Teresa Pittman, who serves as administrative assistant to the Associate Deans. The writing may consist of e-mail, U.S. mail, or fax. If it is submitted by e-mail, which is the preferred form, the subject line is to read "Formal Student Complaint" to ensure appropriate attention.
2. The complaint should describe in detail the behavior, program, process, or other matter that is the subject of the complaint and should explain how the matter implicates the law school's program of legal education and its compliance with a specific, identified ABA Standard(s).
3. The complaint must provide the name, official law school e-mail address, and a street address of the complaining student, for further communication about the complaint.
4. Within three weeks after a complaint is received by the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs or the Associate Dean for Students Affairs, the student will be advised of the resolution of the complaint, any further investigation into the matter, or action the law school is taking to address the matter.
5. The complaining student may appeal the decision or action of the law school to the Dean of the law school within ten days of being advised of the law school's response to the complaint. The decision of the Dean shall be final.
6. A copy of the complaint and a summary of the process and resolution of the complaint shall be kept in the office of the Dean for a period of eight years after the date of final resolution of the complaint.

Standard 512. Student Complaints Implicating Compliance with the Standards

1. A law school shall establish, publish, and comply with policies with respect to addressing student complaints.
2. A law school shall maintain a record of student complaints submitted during the most recent accreditation period. The record shall include the resolution of the complaints.
3. A "complaint" is a communication in writing that seeks to bring to the attention of the law school a significant problem that directly implicates the school's program of legal education and its compliance with the Standards.

Transfer of Credits for Courses Taken by UNC J.D. Students at another Educational Institution

Students enrolled in the UNC J.D. program may take courses at an institution instead of UNC Law School and its graduate departments and schools and use those credits toward their J.D. degree in situations described in this section. Except in extraordinary circumstances and with permission of the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, students must complete the required professional responsibility course and an RWE, a second writing course, and a skills course at UNC Law School. In all cases, students must be in good standing at UNC, receive advanced permission from the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs for the course or courses selected before undertaking the study at another institution, and receive a grade of C or better in any course taken for which transfer of credit is sought. In making decisions to approve particular courses for transfer credit, the Associate Dean will principally approve courses that are similar in content and academic rigor to those offered at UNC Law School for upper-level students. Students may be required to document the academic value of the course by providing course syllabi and a list of required readings and/or writing assignments for proposed courses.

Summer School

A student may earn no more than twelve transfer credits per summer for summer school classes taken at an ABA accredited United States law school. The Associate Dean for Academic Affairs must approve the institution chosen prior to matriculation, except for North Carolina Central Law School which is a pre-approved institution.

Foreign Study Abroad at Program Sponsored by ABA Approved Program

A J.D. student may earn no more than twelve credits in summer school and no more than sixteen credits for a semester-long program at an ABA approved study abroad program. The Associate Dean for Academic Affairs must approve the institution chosen prior to the student's matriculation. In approving a student's request, the Associate Dean considers the potential benefits of the proposed courses to the student's academic development, the student's cumulative GPA, and the nature of elective courses previously taken, with the principal concern of the student having the critical competencies for law practice and being prepared to pass the bar examination.

Foreign Exchange Programs

J.D. students may earn no more than sixteen credits for a semester long program at one of UNC's established foreign exchange programs. The current list of established programs is posted on the International Programs website. Typically, twelve to fifteen credits are approved. In approving a student's request, the Associate Dean considers the potential benefits of the proposed courses to the student's academic development, the student's cumulative GPA, and the nature of elective courses previously taken, with the principal concern of the student having the critical competencies for law practice and being prepared to pass the bar examination.

Study at a Foreign Law School

A J.D. student may earn no more than twelve transfer credits in summer school and no more than sixteen credits for a semester-long program at a foreign law school. The Associate Dean for Academic Affairs must approve the institution chosen by the student prior to the student's matriculation with the principal concern for the overall academic quality of the institution's legal studies program and its satisfaction of ABA instructional requirements. In approving a student's request, the Associate Dean considers the potential benefits of the proposed courses to the student's academic development, the student's cumulative GPA, and the nature of elective courses previously taken, with the principal concern of the student having the critical competencies for law practice and being prepared to pass the bar examination.

Semester and Year-Long Visits

See policy on "Visiting at Other U.S. Law Schools" under policies regarding "Leaving the School."