J.D. Admissions | Columbia Law School

Transfer of Credits Policy

Applicants are eligible to apply for transfer admission into the second year class after having accrued a minimum of 28 credits from law schools that are either members of the American Association of Law Schools (AALS) or approved by the section on Legal Education of the American Bar Association. Please note that after you have transferred, a review with the Director of Academic Counseling will determine how many of the credits that you earned at your prior school will be eligible towards your Columbia Law School J.D. degree and whether you have completed Columbia's core first-year curriculum. Work completed at another law school is generally accepted at the credit value assigned by the original institution, up to a maximum of 32 law credits. Generally, no credit toward the Columbia J.D. degree is granted for summer school courses or for non-law courses. No credit will be accepted in transfer for courses in which the student has received a grade lower than C, or, generally, for courses graded on a Pass/Fail system.

At least 83 academic points must be earned in order to complete the Columbia Law School J.D. degree. For students who spent their first year of law school at another U.S. law school or as an LL.M. student, at least 51 of these points must be taken at Columbia Law School, since a maximum of 32 credits may be accepted in transfer. Transfer students must complete 4 terms of full-time residency at Columbia Law School as a matriculant in the J.D. program.