J.D. Program

The J.D. program at UNC School of Law provides students with a broad legal education that will prepare them to begin their legal careers at a high level of readiness to pursue their professional goals. In recent years, law schools nationwide have been responding to the legal community's need for students to obtain additional practical skills while in school, and Carolina has responded with curriculum changes and additional extracurricular skills-training programs and offerings.

Application Procedures

Register with the Credential Assembly Service-CAS (formerly the Law School Data Assembly Service-LSDAS)

UNC School of Law requires its applicants to register for the Credential Assembly Service, provided by the Law School Admissions Council (LSAC). Your CAS registration includes law school report preparation, letter of recommendation and transcript processing, and access to electronic applications for all law schools accredited by the American Bar Association. There is a fee for this service, as well as a fee for each law school report.

Take the Law School Admissions Test (LSAT)

All applicants for admission are required to take the Law School Admission Test (LSAT). UNC School of Law accepts test scores up to five years old. For applicants with multiple test scores, the policy at UNC Law is to base our admissions decision on the highest of the LSAT scores. Further information can be obtained by contacting the Law School Admission Council.

Transcripts

After you register for the CAS, you must have a separate transcript sent to LSAC from each undergraduate and graduate institution you have attended. Transcripts must be sent directly from the institutions attended. Transcripts issued to you or sent by you will be returned unprocessed. Most schools charge a fee for forwarding transcripts. Allow two weeks from the time of receipt for us to process your transcripts.

Transcripts should be mailed to:

Law School Admission Council
662 Penn Street
Box 2000-M
Newtown, PA 18940-0993

Instructions from the LSAC site on how to request transcripts

Submit a Completed Application

Apply to the School of Law using the online application provided through LSAC (this is our preferred method of receiving applications) or the PDF version found on our website. If you are applying by mail, remember to sign and date the application form before returning it to the School of Law by the March 1 deadline.

Letters of Recommendation

Two letters of recommendation, reported through LSAC, are required in order for your application to be considered. A third letter of recommendation is optional. Please make sure that your recommenders use your full name (in addition to any nickname or other preferred name) when writing your letters of recommendation. It makes it easier to match the letters to your CAS report and your application file. All letters must be submitted through the Credential Assembly Service.

Instructions from the LSAC site on how to complete the letters of recommendation

Personal Statement

Carolina Law requires that each applicant submit a personal statement. The personal statement provides prospective students an opportunity to share their perspectives on a number of specified topics. Please refer to the application for specific information regarding the personal statement requirement and the topics to be addressed. The personal statement should be double spaced and no less than 10 point type. The allowable number of pages is four total for the required questions and two pages total for the optional questions, for a possible maximum personal statement length of six pages total.