Administrative Announcements September 8 - September 14

Administrative Announcements September 8 - September 14, 2015

Faculty Services

Research Assistrant position for Associate Dean and Professor Josh Davis

Associate Dean and Professor Josh Davis is seeking one or two Research Assistants for the FA15 semester. The position has the potential to extend into the spring if the work demands. The general topic for this project is private antitrust enforcement.  Students will research particular antitrust actions to assist in determining why they reached the result they did. They may also be asked to assist on other projects, such as an empirical analysis of jury instructions in antitrust cases. Dean Davis does not have prerequisites but prefers that candidates have taken Antitrust Law. A commitment of 10-20 hours per week is desired. Compensation is $16/hour. Those wishing to apply should email Dean Davis directly at davisj@usfca.edu expressing interest and attaching a resume, transcript and writing sample. In your email, please also indicate how many hours per week you are available to do this work and whether or not you have been given a work-study grant for the fall semester.

Financial Aid

Please note that most of this information is repeated from the week of August 31 however, there is some new information below that all continuing Part Time students should be sure to review.

FAFSA for 2015-16

The FAFSA for the Fall 2015/Spring 2016 academic year is available online. Any student who wishes to receive financial aid for the 2015-16 year can still apply for aid and should complete the FAFSA as soon as possible if you have not already done so. You can access the FAFSA online at www.fafsa.ed.gov.  Our Title IV code is 001325 and must be listed on your FAFSA.
 
If you have already paid your fall semester bill with personal funds or signed up for the payment plan, you can utilize any Authorized Financial Aid received later in the semester for tuition expenses or living expenses.  Any Authorized Aid Funds received AFTER your tuition bill is paid with personal funds would be refunded to you.

Once you are offered the Federal Direct Unsubsidized Loan for the 2015-16 academic year, you must “accept” the Federal Direct Unsubsidized Loan online via your myUSF student portal as soon as possible. 

If you need additional financial aid besides the Federal Direct Unsubsidized Loan, you can apply for Federal Direct Graduate PLUS loan, which is a credit based loan offered through the federal government. You must first be awarded and “accept” the maximum Federal Direct Unsubsidized Loan before you can apply for a PLUS Loan.  You can apply for a PLUS Loan online at the www.studentloans.gov web site. Instructions for applying online are available at:

http://myusf.usfca.edu/law/financial-aid/financial-aid-documents

New Loan Borrowers Only: If you are a first time Unsubsidized Loan and/or PLUS Loan borrower, you must complete a Master Promissory Note (MPN) and an Online Entrance Counseling Session for each loan at www.studentloans.gov. Failure to complete these requirements will prevent your Loan(s) from being noted as Authorized Financial Aid and will NOT be disbursed to USF. 

Financial Aid Update Requests

Adjustments to your financial aid can be made for students who incur non-standard expenses such as bar fees, childcare, or unanticipated medical or dental expenses. Inquiries on financial aid adjustments should be sent to Rosanna Woods, the Assistant Director for Law Financial Aid, at rlwoods@usfca.edu or call 415.422.6210.

Important: In order to prevent any delay in processing your fall semester aid disbursement on August 17 and the subsequent refund processing the following day on August 18, requests for aid adjustments will not be processed until August 24.

Important Notice Regarding Fall 2015 Tuition Bill
Fall 2015 tuition was due on August 1.  Please be sure to check your student account record via your myUSF student portal to insure that you do not have any outstanding tuition charges. 

If your student account remains unpaid and you still have a balance due on your account you will also be assessed a 1.5% fee on any outstanding balance due and you will have a Hold placed on your student record, which could prevent you from adding or dropping classes on August 20 or registering for the Spring 2016 semester.  

You will need to pay any outstanding tuition charges with personal funds or sign up for the 4 month payment plan and make the first installment for Fall 2015.  Payment plan information is available on-line at: http://myusf.usfca.edu/onestop/billing-tuition/payment-plan

Financial Aid Disbursement Date & Aid Refunds

The earliest scheduled disbursement date for registered students for Fall 2015 financial aid will occur on Monday, August 17.  Once financial aid funds disburse, your fall semester charges will be paid off and any remaining credit after your bill is paid will be refunded to you.  The refund process will begin on Tuesday, August 18.  If you are expecting a refund and you are enrolled in direct deposit refund processing, you can expect to receive your refund in your designated bank account approximately 2-5 business days AFTER the August 17 disbursement date.  Spring 2016 disbursement date is scheduled for January 4, 2016.

If you are relying on your refund to help with the purchase of your books or other cost of living expenses for the fall semester, please plan your finances carefully as you may not receive your refund until the first week of classes. Receipt of refunds vary depending on your banking institution.  Larger, national banks take shorter time to process electronic transfer of funds compared to smaller banks or credit unions. If you are not enrolled in the direct deposit refund process, a paper check refund will be cut 10-15 business days AFTER the August 17 disbursement date and mailed to your current mailing address.

If you are receiving federal loans, please remember that the Department of Education withholds loan origination fees for both the Federal Direct Unsubsidized Loan (1.073%) and the Federal Direct Graduate PLUS Loan (4.292%). These fees are deducted from the fall portion of your loan aid PRIOR to disbursement.

Aid will continue to be disbursed throughout each semester as individual student financial aid files become complete later in the term and/or additional federal or private loan applications are processed and approved.

Important Information for 2L, 3L and 4L Part Time Students Regarding Add/Drop

Late registration and Add/Drop begins on Thursday, August 20, AFTER you have already been processed for a financial aid refund.  Adjustments to your financial aid may be necessary if any of the following situations occur during Add/Drop:

  • If you have received the maximum financial aid award for 20 annual units but you are registered for less than 10 units for the fall semester as of August 17, your aid refund will be in excess of your anticipated cost of living expenses for the fall semester. If you are not planning on adding any additional units, you will be required to return the excess financial aid awarded to you since you cannot receive aid for units that you are not registered for.

  • If you Add a class after your refund has been processed, you will be immediately billed for the additional units. You will need to submit a payment with personal funds to pay for the additional units (or make and personal payment using the funds you received as a refund).  If you are already receiving the maximum financial aid for the semester prior to the addition of your added class, you can request additional financial aid to cover the cost of the additional units. For more information, please contact Rosanna Woods, the Assistant Director for Law Financial Aid at the above contact information.

  • If you Drop a class after your refund has been processed, with the intention of adding another class with the same unit value, you must Add and Drop on the same day, otherwise you run the risk of a an outstanding tuition balance due on your USF student account.

  • If you Drop a class after your refund has been processed, and you do not intend to add another class, you will create a credit on your USF student account. You must notify the Law Financial Aid Office immediately by contacting Rosanna woods, the Assistant Director for Law Financial Aid at the contact information above.  Otherwise you will be inadvertently issued a refund for this credit, which you will be required to repay the University since you are not eligible to receive financial aid for this dropped class.

Important:  The Law Financial Aid Office will conduct an audit of all Part Time students' financial aid records after the September 11 census date (last day to withdraw without penalty).  If your financial aid for the fall semester is not appropriate for the unit load you are registered, we will make the necessary adjustments to your aid and you will be notified via email.  Please remember that any over-award (receiving financial aid in excess of your unit load), will result in the USF One Stop Office returning those funds to the lender and creating a balance due on your USF student account.  It is critically important that you review your student account after the census date to insure that your account is reconciled. Any unpaid balance will result in late fees assessed on your student account and a Hold placed on your student record, which will prevent you from registering for the spring semester.

Federal Work Study Award Cancellation Notice

Please be aware that if you were awarded the Federal Work Study award for the upcoming 2015-16 and you did NOT accept this award via your myUSF student portal within 30 days of the award offer, the main campus University Financial Aid Office will be cancelling that award amount from your USF financial aid record.

You can petition for reinstatement of this aid by submitting a written letter to Norman Caito, USF Director of University Financial Aid Student Services. Letters can be faxed to his attention at 415.422.6084, or can be dropped off at the USF One Stop Office at Lone Mountain, room 251.  Petitions for reinstatement should include your name and USF ID number and the following:

  • The reason why a student did not accept the Federal Work Study aid in a timely manner.

  • The financial hardship a student would experience without the Federal Work Study aid.

Please note that you cannot submit a letter of appeal via email.  The last day to submit an appeal is November 1.

Loan Payment Deferments
The main campus University Registrar will forward fall class registration confirmation for all USF registered students to a national clearinghouse used by federal and private lenders to verify enrollment for its loan borrowers.  The information is sent in mid-September after the Law School census deadline (last day to withdraw with full tuition refund).  The enrollment confirmation is used by lenders to continue your loan payment deferments while enrolled in school.

If you have any other questions related to your financial aid, please feel free to contact either Alan Guerrero at guerrero@usfca.edu  or Rosanna Woods at rlwoods@usfca.edu or call 415.422.6210. . We wish you a very successful fall semester!  Take care.

Intellectual Property Law Bulletin

Seeking 2L & 3L Staff Members
USF Intellectual Property Law Bulletin is currently seeking staff members for Volume 20. Staff members perform substantive editing and citation checking on all types of intellectual property and cyberlaw articles. This is a great opportunity to be exposed to the legal writing and editing process. If you would like to become a staff member please email your resume and a brief 1-2 paragraph statement of interest to the Editor-in-Chief, Caitlin VanCuren, at vancurence@gmail.com. Please include "IPLB - Application for Staff Member" in the subject line. Applications are due by Friday, September 11th.
 Seeking Article SubmissionsUSF Intellectual Property Law Bulletin is still looking for publications for Volume 20.  If you completed your writing requirement (or a class paper) on an Intellectual Property topic, you may have the opportunity to be published.  If you are interested, please submit your article to the Editor-in-Chief, Caitlin VanCuren, at vancurence@gmail.com by next Wednesday, September 9th.  

Moot Court

The Advocate of the Year Competition is USF’s annual internal oral argument competition. This competition is not just for Moot Court team members; it’s a great opportunity for all students to network and improve their writing and oral advocacy skills. All upper division students are invited to write a 16-20 page brief (due 9/21) and argue both sides of the problem in front of current judges and lawyers in the first round of competition (10/3-10/4). There are three rounds of competition. Students advance based on their performance in each round. Sign up by the last day to add classes on 9/4 with CRN # 42833.

Questions? Email usfmootcourt@gmail.com. 

Office of the Dean

MUNI Passes

MUNI Pass pick up times will be as follows:

  • Tuesday, September 8 from 12:00 pm - 1:30 pm
  • Tuesday September 8 from 5:30 pm - 6:30 pm

Pick up location will be the Student Boulevard. If you cannot make these pick up times, the passes will be available in the Deans' Office during business hours beginning Wednesday.

For more information, contact Megan Watt at mwatt@usfca.edu.

OneJustice Justice Bus Trip

Sign up TODAY for the Overnight Justice Bus trip to El Dorado and Placer Counties!

On October 10-11, 2015 USF law students will spend two days helping undocumented clients get protection from deportation and obtain a work permit. In June 2012, the Secretary of Homeland Security announced that certain people who came to the U.S. as children and who meet several key guidelines may request consideration for deferred action for a period of two years. Since the announcement, legal services organizations have been flooded with requests for assistance in filing Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) applications and, as of June 2014, applications for DACA renewal. The need for legal help is especially severe in rural areas like El Dorado and Placer Counties.

Email Ruby Kimberly at rkimberly@one-justice.org to sign-up.

Office of the Law Registrar

Last Day to Drop Individual Classes – Friday, September 11th. 
Friday, September 11th  is the last day to drop individual courses for the semester (for students who have enrolled in at least one course for the fall term). Students may drop courses through 11:59pm on USF Connect. When evaluating your schedule, please ensure that your enrollment meets the following semester residence unit load requirements:

  • Part-time students must be enrolled in a minimum of 8 (maximum of 12) units.
  • Full-time students must be enrolled in a minimum of 12 (maximum of 16) units.

If your enrollment does not meet these guidelines please make the necessary adjustments immediately (failure to do so may result in a delayed graduation date).

Review Your Course Schedule For Accuracy
Please review your course schedule on USF Connect to ensure that it accurately reflects all courses for which you are enrolled, and are attending. Students will be held financial responsible for all courses showing on your course schedule. Students are not eligible to earn credit for courses for which they are not enrolled.

Last Day to Elect Credit Optional Grading for Fall 2015
October 5, 2015 is the last day to elect Credit/No Credit Optional grading for courses designated as "Opt" in the Fall 2015 Course Schedule. Credit/No Credit Optional courses are courses in which a student may opt to be graded on a credit/no-credit basis instead of a letter grade. Note, students can only elect to opt for credit/no credit grading in only one credit optional graded course per semester. The remaining credit optional grading courses must be taken for letter grade (that semester). 

The election of a credit/no credit grade is made by submitting a completed Change of Schedule Form to the Registrar's Office. Forms can also be faxed to 415-422-4199 or emailed (as a PDF attachment) to lawregistrar@usfca.edu from a USF email address (only). 

Once submitted, the election is irrevocable. A student is presumed to be taking the course for a letter grade unless a credit option form is submitted. A student may be precluded from enrolling in a credit optional course or electing to take it for credit by a condition of probation or as the result of other enrollment limitations.  

Class Attendance:
Students are required to attend a minimum of 80% of their class sessions each semester unless the professor sets a higher attendance threshold (noted on the class syllabus and sometimes in the first-assignments).  Absences are determined from start of the semester not the student’s enrollment date. The professor monitors class attendance and determines when tardiness is considered an absence. Please advise the instructor in advance if you must miss a class session.  More information on this policy can be obtained in the Academic Policies.

Work Statement:
The American Bar Association (ABA) standards require that full-time students not engage in outside work in excess of 20 hours per week during the regular (fall/spring) semesters.  By registering for the term, full-time students are certifying that they are not employed, in aggregate, for more than 20 hours per week.

Submit Fall 2015 Exam Conflict Petitions
The fall final exam schedule is available online at: http://myusf.usfca.edu/law/registration/exam-information#schedule.  Students should not contact or otherwise discuss rescheduling an examination with the instructor or other students as doing so may be an exam violation. Questions about a conflict should be addressed with the Law Registrar’s Office (only). Discussing the nature of the conflict with the professor may allow the professor to know/remember the dates and nature of the conflict identifies the student, the dates of their conflict, and thus may reveal the student’s identity to the professor.

Students who have a final exam conflict should complete the Petition to Reschedule Exam form to the Law Registrar’s Office as soon as possible, but no later than Monday, October 12, 2015. 

An exam conflict is defined as:

  • two examinations are scheduled for the same time and date
  • there are four or fewer hours between the scheduled end of one examination and the scheduled commencement of the next examination.
  • three examinations scheduled on two consecutive calendar days.

The Registrar will review (not guaranteed to be approved) a medical emergency/ or other extenuating circumstances (which require documentation). Note: personal vacation plans will not be considered. Please note: In order to preserve anonymity, students should never contact their professor(s) with any exam conflict questions, but direct these inquiries to the Law Registrar’s Office.

The Registrar will begin to evaluate submitted Petitions for an Individual Examination in late October, and will confirm the final decision via USF email.

Discretionary Grading – Fall 2015
The professors listed below have reserved the option to employ discretionary grade adjustments in determining the final grades for the Fall 2015 semester in the following courses:

  •  Blau                      Income Tax of Trusts & Estates
  • Dibadj                   Corporations
  • Dibadj                   Securities Regulation
  • Duryee                 Civil Procedure
  • Garvey                 Public International Law
  • Green                   Wills & Trusts
  • Lathrope              Federal Tax Timing & Accounting Issues
  • Lathrope              Foreign Taxation I
  • Leo                       Criminal Law
  • Magee                 Torts
  • Moses                  Insurance Law

Registration with the Committee of Bar Examiners as a First Year Law Student
All first year law students attending school in the state of California must register with the State Bar of California within the first 90 days of beginning the study of law (if you’re planning on taking the bar examination in California).   To Register:

1. Go to www.calbar.org 
2. Choose the “Future Lawyers” tab at the top of the page.
3. In the top right corner, click the “Register with the State Bar” link.
4. Read the information on the page and at the bottom of the screen you’ll see the link to begin your application(click that).
5. Create an account as a first-time user (unless you have already done so).  Note: Creating an account is not actually registering – there are additional steps, below, to complete
6. Once your account has been created, you will receive a confirmation email from the State Bar at which point you can log-in and complete the application to register.  There is a registration fee of $108.00
7. You will receive an acknowledgement in the mail once your registration has been processed – be sure to hold on to this confirmation.
8. Registering allows you to begin tracking your eligibility towards taking the bar examination and outstanding documents that need to be submitted during your time in law school.  

If you have any questions about registering with the State Bar of California, please contact the California State Bar directly at (415) 538-2300.  Additionally, printed step-by-step CA State Bar registration instructions are also available in the Registrar’s Office (Kendrick 220).

Registrar Office Hours
The Law Registrar’s Office hours are Monday – Thursday from 8:30am – 7:00pm and Fridays from 8:30am – 5pm. 

For more information, please contact the Law Registrar’s Office at lawregistrar@usfca.edu, or by calling 415-422-6778.