Credit Hours Regulations
According to ABA Rules, a “credit hour” is an amount of work that reasonably approximates: (1) not less than one hour of classroom or direct faculty instruction and two hours of out-of-class student work per week for fifteen weeks, or the equivalent amount of work over a different amount of time; or (2) at least an equivalent amount of work as required in subparagraph (1) of this definition for other academic activities as established by the institution, including simulation, field placement, clinical, co-curricular, and other academic work leading to the award of credit hours. For purposes of this Standard, fifty minutes suffices for one hour of classroom or direct faculty instruction. An “hour” for out-of-class student work is sixty minutes. The fifteen-week period may include one week for a final examination.
For courses taken elsewhere in the University toward a Law degree, Law students will earn credits calculated as above (rounded down to the nearest quarter credit).
The Stern School of Business permits law students to cross-register for certain graduate business courses on a preferential basis. Students who cross-register for these Stern courses may use COURSES to register. Law students can request the course in the bidding cycle, when available, or during add/drop.
The Stern courses offered for preferential cross-registration are identified by the footnote “Prf” and the course type “Stern Preferential Course” for bidding and add/drop purposes only. After add/drop, the courses will be identified by the Stern course numbers on the records of students whose bidding or add/drop requests are successful and they will count towards your total of non-law credits.
If you are interested in a Stern course that is not offered on a preferential basis, please see the non-law course registration procedures.
Stern courses generally begin after the last day to add a Law course. If you must drop a Stern course, you will not be able to add a Law course in its place. Make sure you have enough credits each semester even without the Stern course.
Note: Registration dates for Stern classes are different than for Law School classes and are distinguished between day and evening course offerings. Please see the Registration Calendar for the applicable registration deadlines. Once COURSES add/drop ends, all transactions must be completed in person in the Office of Academic Services.
Things to Consider Before Deciding to Cross-register
You should check the Stern website for additional course information and meeting times.
Stern Courses with Prerequisites
Many Stern courses (e.g., Finance courses) maintain course prerequisites/co-requisites. If you seek to waive out a prerequisite course, you will need to pass the Stern Proficiency Exam for the relevant course subject. Please note that you can take each proficiency exam only once. Exam grades may not be appealed. If you do not pass the exam, you have not satisfied the prerequisite waiver, and you cannot register for the course in question. You may not take more than one proficiency exam per session. Proficiency exams are offered several times a year (see Stern’s website for upcoming dates.)
Law School students interested in taking the exam should email: advising@stern.nyu.edu.
Prerequisites for Stern Accounting Courses
The Law School courses Accounting for Lawyers (LAW-LW.10007) and Introduction to Accounting and Finance (LAW-LW.12337) will be accepted by Stern as satisfying the prerequisite for An Integrated Approach to Financial Statement Analysis (ACCT-GB.2303) and Forensic Accounting and Financial Statement Fraud (ACCT-GB.3310) for the sections that are approved to count toward the Law degree when these Stern courses are made available for Law students.
Prerequisites for Stern Finance Courses
For certain Stern upper-level finance courses there is a pre-requisite of Foundations of Finance (COR1-GB.2311) and a co-requisite of Corporate Finance (FINC-GB.2302). A law student who is currently taking or has completed Corporate Finance at the Law School (LAW-11461) will have satisfied this requirement. [Note: The Law School’s Corporate Finance course (LAW-11461) is mutually exclusive with both Corporate Finance at Stern (FINC-GB.2302) and Foundations of Finance (COR1-GB.2311).]
You may obtain a waiver of the prerequisite if you meet one of the following conditions:
- You have an MBA degree and have taken finance courses as part of that degree.
- You are in the LLM APCLB program and took the Stern summer course on finance topics that is part of this program.
- You were a Finance undergraduate major, or you can provide a minimum of five courses, from an accredited institution, which directly correspond to the subject matter.
- If you do not meet the above-listed requirements to waive the required prerequisite for Stern courses, you will need to take the Foundations of Finance proficiency exam. All students enrolled in higher level electives need to meet the prerequisite requirement before the class begins. Therefore, if a student needs to take the proficiency exam in order to be in the class, they will need to take it before the start of the course.
If a proficiency exam is only offered after the start of the course, the student will need to wait until the following semester to register for the course.
Registering for Preferential and Non-Preferential Courses
Preferential Courses
You are required to use COURSES to register.
Non-preferential Courses
To register, complete the Stern Graduate Level Non-Preferential Course Request form (JD or LLM) available online and submit it to the appropriate program office. See a schedule of classes available to non-Stern students.