Fall 2011 class schedules will be posted by August 1, 2011. Please check back regularly for updates.

1. Go to ZagWeb*
2. Select the "Enter Secure Area" link.
3. Enter your Social Security number. The first time you log into ZagWeb, your pin number will be your birth date expressed as a six-digit number. Example: January 1, 1978, should be entered as 010178.
4. The login verification form will request that you change your PIN.
5. You will then be asked to provide a security question and answer to be used in the event you forget your PIN.
6. Click on Student & Financial Aid.
7. Click on Registration.
8. Click on Student Detail Schedule (your Student ID number is located in front of your name on the right side).
9. Select Fall 2011 Term.
10. Submit

You may access the academic calendar by clicking here.

Before your first class, you must have obtained the required books for each course. Professors will expect you to have prepared the first assignment before the first day of class. Each professor decides what books to require for his or her course. Therefore, for each of your courses, you need to know the professor’s name to ensure that you acquire the correct books. You can obtain a list of your professors from ZagWeb.

Law school textbooks are available at the Gonzaga University Bookstore. Currently, it is open 8 a.m.-6 p.m., Mon.- Fri., and will be open 8 a.m.-6 p.m. the weekend of August 27.

Online booksellers
Many textbooks are also available from online booksellers. Although Gonzaga University School of Law does not endorse any online Web sites, students have found these sources useful:

• www.bookfinder.com
• www3.addall.com

YES, you will have assignments to prepare in advance of your first class in each course. Click here for first-day assignments. Check back often; some assignments will not be posted until the week beginning August 22.

Yes. In addition to a faculty advisor, you can also take advantage of the Academic Resource Program (ARP) and our SBA tutorials.

• Faculty Advisors
  Your faculty advisor is available to assist you in selecting courses and developing a career plan. Your advisor is also available to advise and assist you with respect to any academic difficulties you may encounter, including developing an individualized academic plan that suits your experience and learning style. Please remember that it is always better to be proactive and to seek assistance before any problem becomes acute.
  
  Although you will be assigned a faculty advisor upon your arrival at Gonzaga Law School, please know that all of our faculty have an open-door policy and are available to advise you on a wide range of academic and personal matters.
• Academic Resource Program (ARP)
  The ARP is available to all first-year students. Its goal is to enhance students’ law school performance by providing additional instruction and skills training. Its activities include:
  
  
  • Providing assistance in class preparation for first-year courses.
  • Holding group sessions to develop essential law school skills, such as case briefing, outlining, test preparation, and test taking.
  • Assigning upper-level law students (ARP tutors) to provide individualized instruction to first-year students to help them acquire the skills necessary for success in law school.
  • Scheduling and reviewing practice tests, based on old exams from a particular course or professor.

  An informational meeting for the Academic Resource Program will be held Friday, August 26, from 12-1 p.m. in Rm. 143.

  Click here for more information.

• Student Bar Association Tutorials
  The Student Bar Association (SBA) provides optional review and tutorial sessions, conducted by second- and third-year law students, for many first-year courses. More information about the SBA is available here.

Click here (pdf) for information on obtaining accommodation.
Click here to link to Gonzaga's Disability Resources, Education, & Access Management (DREAM) office.

Most examinations for first-year courses are given during a two-week examination period after classes end. Click here for the Fall 2011 examination schedule. You must take your examination during the scheduled time.

Examination answers are submitted anonymously. You will be required to use an examination number. Examination numbers are assigned through the Registrar’s office. Click here (pdf) to learn how to obtain your examination number.

Entrance counseling will be part of the orientation schedule the week of August 16, and the requirement will be satisfied by attending that session.

Historically, almost every student will borrow federal money sometime during his or her law-school career. Therefore, everyone must attend the entrance counseling session during orientation, including Early Start students.

Tuition and fees are always paid before any refund is given. If you are paying with a private check and taking loans as well, there is a three-week hold on all personal check payments to be sure they clear the bank. Even if your tuition is paid with a check and your loans come in we do not refund on those loans until after the three-week period.

The first time any refund checks will be available for fall semester is August 18. The Orientation Schedule includes the check-refund schedule.

If you do not have any or enough financial aid to cover your tuition and fees, an electronic bill will be sent you in early August. Your tuition and fees will be due by August 26.

You can email Joan Henning at jhenning@lawschool.gonzaga.edu or call her at 1-800-448-2138, or (509) 313-3859.

That information is available at Student Computing Services.

Most professors allow you to use your computer to take examinations. To do so, you must obtain the required training and certification of your computer, and you must use SofTest, the university-approved exam-taking program. During the exam, SofTest blocks access to the Internet, and to information stored on your computer. Once school begins, you will be notified of the dates and times for these training sessions. At the training session, you will receive a password allowing you to download SofTest. To confirm that your computer meets SofTest's specifications, click here.

All Gonzaga law school students are automatically enrolled in Gonzaga University's Student Accidental Injury Plan. For more comprehensive health coverage Gonzaga offers an optional Student Injury and Sickness Plan.

Click here for more information.

Gonzaga’s insurance carrier is Moloney O’Neill Benefits, LLC. The contact person for questions is Jean-Marie Garcia, (509) 343-9508.

To obtain quotes from outside companies, click here.

For information on-campus health services available to enrolled students click here.

As a student, you are entitled to buy a membership ($150 per semester) to the Rudolf Fitness Center. Undergraduate students are automatically charged a fee as part of required tuition and fees. Law students are not. Contact the Fitness Center for more information.

Dean of Student Office:
John Sklut, the Assistant Dean of Students, is the main liaison between law students, the administration of the Law School and the University. Whether you have questions about a financial aid grant, need help with a personal problem, or anything in between, the place to begin is the office of the Assistant Dean of Students.

Dean Sklut's office is located in the Administration Suite, Room 467, extension 3715.

For more information, click here for the Student Resources brochure. (pdf)

At orientation you are required to sign a Handbook Acknowledgment form acknowledging that you have read and agree to be bound by the Gonzaga University School of Law 2011-2012 Student Handbook. The handbook is available here. (pdf)

The handbook contains the Law School’s Academic Rules, the Code of Student Conduct, and other important information and policies. Be sure you have read it prior to the start of Orientation.

You will also be bound by the Gonzaga University Handbook and Student Conduct and Community Standards contained within. You can download a copy here.

YES. You must disclose everything, civil or criminal, no matter how minor, no matter if it was expunged, sealed, etc. If you did not disclose something, IMMEDIATELY contact Dean of Academic Affairs Vickie Williams, 313-3720.

In the event you apply for admission to practice in any state or country, your life will be under examination by the bar examiners. Failure to disclose something to us that must be disclosed to the bar examiners in any jurisdiction is evidence of dishonesty, and could prevent you from being admitted to practice. For example, the Washington State Bar application asks:

"Have you ever been cited, arrested, charged or convicted for a violation of any law including minor traffic violations?"

The application then provides:

"On matters other than traffic violations, you must set forth on an additional sheet the full circumstances surrounding the incident, including the date and place; a description of your conduct; the nature of the citation, arrest, charge or conviction; the enforcement agency involved; any courts involved; file number and the disposition, including dismissal, acquittal, sentences, fines or probation, etc. It is your responsibility to provide full details, explanation and relevant documentation (copy of information, complaint or indictment, judgment and sentence, order of deferral or dismissal, etc.) to the best of your ability to do so."

The application also provides:

"The responsibility of full disclosure rests entirely upon the applicant. Failure to fully disclose as requested in this application may be considered a reflection on the applicant’s moral character and may itself result in denial of admission. It is the applicant’s duty to advise the Admissions Department of any changes in or additions to the information provided on this application. There cannot be too much disclosure."

To be admitted to any bar, you will be required to sign a blanket waiver of confidentiality and are subject to independent verification of the items you report on the bar application. Any discrepancies between what the bar examiners find out about you and what you report to them may prevent you from being admitted based upon lack of good moral character.

The first year of law school is a challenging experience that requires a significant commitment of time and energy. First-year students should not work at outside employment.

As a rule of thumb, you should plan to spend three hours of study time for each credit hour you are registered for. This does not count the extra time it will take to prepare for examinations or write papers. If you are registered for 15 credit hours per week, you should plan to spend at least 45 hours studying.

On average, you should spend 60 hours a week on law school (15 hours in class, and 45 hours outside of class). Initially, the time commitment may be even higher as you will be inefficient in your preparation. As you become more efficient, however, the workload will increase.

Being a full-time law student during the first year will occupy you "full time."

Additionally, every law school accredited by the American Bar Association is required to enforce this rule:

"A student may not be employed more than 20 hours per week in any week in which the student is enrolled in more than 12 class hours."

ABA Standards for Approval of Law Schools, Rule 304(ƒ)(2006-07)

All Gonzaga students need a University identification card to access various University facilities, including the libraries and the athletic center. You can have your ID card prepared in advance and waiting for you on the first day of class by visiting this page on the Gonzaga University website and following these instructions. You will be asked to electronically submit a photograph.

When providing this information, be sure to notify Student Accounts that you are a law student.

If you electronically submit a photograph prior to Orientation, your Gonzaga student identification card will be available for pick-up along with your financial aid check (if any) on Thursday, August 18. If you do not electronically submit a photograph prior to Orientation, you will need to have your picture taken during normal business hours, Thursday, Aug.18. To have your picture taken go to:

Room 024
College Hall
Main Campus

ID cards for those students whose pictures are taken on Thursday will be available for pick-up in the Law School Dean’s Suite beginning at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, August 23.

A parking permit is required for all campus lots. Cars without permits will be ticketed. To purchase a parking permit, visit the Safety and Security Office.

You may park in the Law School parking lots without a parking permit until the end of the first week of classes. Security will not start ticketing until the following week

In addition to the SBA, a variety of student organizations are active at the Law School. Click here for a list.

First-year students will have an opportunity to become involved in the Student Bar Association government.

The SBA will hold a club fair in September. Date TBA.

There is no right answer for all students. You need to consider your personal circumstances, including your financial needs and your areas of legal interest. We encourage you to talk with your faculty advisor - or another faculty member whom you feel comfortable with - regarding these issues.

You will be assigned a faculty advisor and will have a chance to meet with that person during Orientation.

You should also discuss your situation with the Law School's Center for Professional Development. The Center for Professional Development is here to assist your job search efforts, including helping you contact Law School alumni to network for job opportunities. Click here for descriptions of the Career Services Office and here for the Alumni Office.

The new rule for required courses is:

Rule 2-4: Required Courses

A. Required courses generally. To earn the J.D. degree, a student must successfully complete the following courses:

1. First-year courses: Civil Procedure; Torts; Perspectives on the Law; Litigation Skills and Professionalism Lab; Contracts; Property; Criminal Law; Transactional Skills and Professionalism Lab; and Legal Research and Writing I and II. For a transfer student, the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs may waive the requirement that the student take the Litigation Skills and Professionalism Lab and/or the Transactional Skills and Professionalism Lab.
2. Second-year courses: Constitutional Law I & II; Evidence, Legal Research & Writing III, Legal Research & Writing IV; and Professional Responsibility. The Associate Dean for Academic Affairs may allow a student to take one or more of these classes after the second year if it is impossible or highly impractical for the student to take one or more of these classes during the second year.
3. Experiential Learning: Three credits of Experiential Learning in the clinic or in an externship. Starting during the 2011-2012 academic year and thereafter, students may satisfy this requirement in the second year, provided they have previously successfully completed Professional Responsibility or are enrolled in Professional Responsibility concurrently.

For purposes of this rule, the second year begins after a student has successfully completed 30 credits, and the third year begins after a student has successfully completed 60 credits.

During the Spring 2012 semester, you will receive information from the Law School Registrar’s Office regarding class offerings and the registration process. You are encouraged to talk with your faculty advisor, or another faculty member you feel comfortable with, to discuss what classes you should register for and how to plan the courses you should take during your second and third years of law school.

Your student identification card is your library card. Click here for the Library Student Services, for a more complete discussion of the library.

Click here for more information.