Transfer & Visiting Students

Louisville Law welcomes both transfer and visiting students to apply to join our community. Transfer students are those who have completed their first year of JD study at another law school but wish to complete their education at Louisville Law. Visiting students are those who have completed at least their first year of JD study at another law school and wish to remain enrolled there but have reason to attend classes at Louisville Law for no more than one academic year.

Transfer Students

A student who has completed the first year of JD study at another law school accredited by the American Bar Association may apply to join the second-year class at Louisville Law. Transfer applicants are subject to the same entrance standards as first-year applicants, plus consideration of their first-year law school performance. An applicant who has been dismissed from another law school for academic insufficiency or for misconduct may not be eligible for transfer consideration.

Pursuant to ABA accreditation standards, Louisville Law may award a transfer student up to, but no more than, thirty (30) credits for first-year coursework. Transfer credits are awarded only for courses in which the student earned a grade of C or better, and a student who receives transfer credit for a course cannot earn credit for a duplicative course at Louisville Law. No credit will be awarded for coursework completed prior to matriculating at an ABA-accredited law school. An applicant must be admitted as a transfer student before a determination on the number of qualifying transfer credits will be made.

Your application to enroll as a transfer student must include everything required of a first-year application plus the following additional components:

1. a transfer statement, no more than one double-spaced page (250 words) in length, addressing why you are seeking to transfer from your current law school to Louisville Law;
2. your official transcript from your current law school, which must include your grades for the full first year of coursework; and
3. a letter of good standing from your current law school verifying the following information as of the conclusion of your first year in the JD program: (a) your cumulative law school GPA, (b) your class rank or closest approximation and (c) that you are in good academic and disciplinary standing.

In addition, we strongly encourage all transfer applicants to arrange for at least one of their letters of recommendation to be provided by one of their first-year law school professors.

Visiting Students

A student who has completed the first year of JD study at another ABA-accredited law school may apply to attend classes at Louisville Law for no more than one academic year. In addition to the online visiting student application, you must arrange for your current law school to provide both your official JD transcript and a letter stating that you are in good academic and disciplinary standing and that the school has granted you permission to attend Louisville Law as a visiting student.