University of Virginia Library

EXAMINATIONS AND DEGREES.

The degree of Bachelor of Laws (LL. B.) is conferred upon such
students as have attended two full sessions of nine months each (for
provision as to late entrance see page 176) of the law school, and who
manifest an intimate acquaintance with all the subjects embraced in the
course, evidenced by successfully passing all written examinations, and
who have satisfactorily performed the work of the Moot and Practice
courts and other assigned work.

Any one of the classes of the first or second year may be completed
separately. Upon the satisfactory completion of any class, a certificate is
issued to the student, followed by the diploma of graduation when (and
not until) all the examinations have been successfully passed.

Candidates for the degree, who in any session have less than one full
year's course to complete, may be required to take such additional work,
and to stand such additional examinations as shall be prescribed.

Fall Examinations.—The privilege of standing Fall examinations
is granted to candidates for graduation who have fallen slightly below
the required standard, and who have not more than two classes
to complete.

These Fall examinations for the session of 1908-1909 will begin
September 15, 1908, and will continue from day to day until completed,
in the following order: (1) Equity Jurisprudence and Procedure;
(2) Pleading and Practice; (3) Conflict of Laws; (4) Corporations;
(5) Evidence; (6) Real Property.

Admission to Advanced Standing.—No credit is given for attendance
at another law school, nor for time spent in private reading. The candidate
for graduation must spend both the Junior and Senior year in residence
here.

Preliminary Education.[8] —Students, and their parents or guardians,
are warned that the Law is peculiarly an intellectual profession,
and demands for its successful prosecution, whether at the Law
School or in the broader fields of professional life, a well-trained
mind. If it be true that untrained intellects, in rare instances, under
diligent and persistent effort, develop after entrance upon practice,
such exceptional cases but serve to illustrate the rule, that out of a
given number of young men entering upon the study of the Law,
those with sound preliminary training will have incomparably the
advantage, while those without it will be seriously handicapped, and
are likely never to rise above mediocrity in their profession.

The experience of the Law Faculty—nay, of all law teachers—is,
that the standing and progress of law students are, in large measure,
in the ratio of their academic preparation. Young gentlemen are
therefore advised not to begin their legal studies until they have
completed an academic course approximating that ordinarily required
for the degree of Bachelor of Arts.

Special Students.—Students who can attend but a single session
are advised to take special courses, which the arrangement of the
classes readily permits. Over-zealousness, by which an ambitious
student is beguiled into the assumption of more work than he can
thoroughly master in a single year, leads to cramming and inaccuracy,
and often to complete failure. With this admonition, the special
student is free to select his own work. The following course is
suggested for students who propose to attend for a single session
only:

First year classes 1, 3, and 4 (see pp. 167-8); second year classes, 8,
9, and 11; or, if the student has already had some legal training,
numbers 7 and 10 of the second year may be added. The first course
suggested would require 15 hours, and the second 19½ hours, of class-work
a week.

Late Entrance.—Registration commences Thursday, September
10, and the work of the Law School begins promptly September 14,
and continues until the middle of June. Students are advised that late
entrance is a serious hindrance to progress. The student who enters
late must begin his work at the point to which the work has advanced
at the time of his entrance, and credit for a full year's attendance
cannot be given in case of entrance after November 1.

As regards conditions of admission in case of late entrance, reference
is made to the General Entrance Requirements, as stated on a
preceding page.