Quick Links
To Prepare for Graduation
- Complete the “JD/Diploma Privilege Graduation Credit Evaluation Worksheet” to ensure you have met the requirements for graduation. More information on graduation and diploma privilege requirements are available in the UW Law School’s Read This First! Handbook. Forms are available here.
- Notify the Law School of your graduation plans by submitting the “Declaration of Intent to Graduate” form to the Law School’s Registrar in Room 5107, available here.
- Notify the University of your graduation plans by indicating your intent to graduate via the MyUW student center (my.wisc.edu).To learn more about the process, view this online guide.
- Rent cap and gown online through the University Bookstore website.
- Make hotel accommodations for family and friends (list of hotels under "Information on Graduation Ceremonies).
- Have exit photo taken in spring (Pre-registration for photo sessions is required and will be available online. Watch your email for more information.)
- Make sure the University has a permanent address for you. Your permanent address can be updated on your MyUW page.
- Order invitations from the UW Bookstore.
- Mail invitations early.
Degree Requirements
The “Declaration of Intent to Graduate Form”, which is placed in 3L hang files in late September, must be completed and returned to the Law School’s Registrar in room 5107 of the Law Building for a credit audit to be sure you are eligible to graduate in the spring. This is the only way for the Law School to know your intent to graduate and also allows for the Law School to send you important information on graduation. This credit audit must be done early in your fourth semester or early in your fifth semester of your law study. The list generated from the returned “Declaration of Intent to Graduate form” is also used by the Board of Bar Examiners for file checks of character and fitness. Additional copies of this form can be obtained here.
Students carrying old incompletes should plan on finishing the work for these classes well before the end of the semester in which you plan to graduate. This is necessary so your work can be graded and the proper paperwork can be completed before the end of the semester.
For detailed information on graduation degree requirements, please refer to Chapter 4 of the UW Law School’s Read This First! Handbook.
Careful completion of the JD/Diploma Privilege Graduation Credit Evaluation Worksheet will confirm that you have met the requirements for graduation and will be eligible for diploma privilege - contact the Registrar, Amy Arntsen (aarntsen@wisc.edu) with questions or concerns.
Academic Regalia for Graduation Ceremonies (Attire)
University Book Store, 711 State Street
Deadline for Purchasing a Cap and Gown: March 16, 2012
Deadline for Renting a Cap and Gown: April 13, 2012
Deadline to Pick up Cap and Gown: May 16 & 17. 2012
The gown for UW Law School graduates is called the doctor-of-law gown and the hood is purple. Honors stoles for those receiving Dean’s Academic Achievement Awards are solid red. The UW Law School sends the list of students receiving the Dean’s Academic Achievement Awards to the University Bookstore once the list of those receiving honors is determined. You will be notified if you are eligible to wear an honors stole. You should request your honors stole at the time of pick-up of your cap and gown.
The University Bookstore at 711 State Street handles all arrangements for caps, gowns, hoods, and honors stoles. To confirm ordering dates and to get more information about rentals, check the University Book Store website.
You can order your cap, gown, hood by:
- Phone: University Bookstore at 608-257-3784 (A $5.00 service fee is added)
- In-Store Ordering: At the University Bookstore: 711 State Street
- Online at the University Bookstore website.
May 16 & 17, 2012: 9:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m. at the University Book Store
Pre-reserved academic attire will be available for pick-up from the University Bookstore from 9:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m. on both May 16th and 17th, 2012. Cap, gown, hood pick up will also continue until 11:00 a.m. on Friday morning, May 18th.
Stole pick-up
If you are graduating with honors, you must pick up your stole when you pick up your cap, gown and hood. Your name will be on a list that is sent over by the Law School. Remember to request your stole when you pick up your can and gown.
Post-Ceremony Return of Caps, Gowns, Stoles
Academic attire can be returned May 19 through May 21, 2012 at the University Bookstore at 711 State Street.
Returns at the University Bookstore should be done either at the Text Book Department on the lower level or at the Art Counter in the Hard Lines Department on the first floor.
For the most up-to-date information on cap and gown ordering, pick up, and returns, please visit the University Book Store website.
Honors -- Dean's Academic Achievement Awards
Graduating students who have a cumulative grade point average (GPA) of 3.35 at the end of the fall semester receive a Dean’s Academic Achievement Award. Once the Law School Registrar has determined which students are eligible for the Dean’s Academic Achievement Awards, she will notify the students and send the list to the University Book Store. The Book Store will allow those students to rent the red honors stole to wear at graduation. Stoles are picked up at the same time as the cap and gown. Because we do not have final grades until after graduation, most students who receive the Dean’s Academic Achievement Award are likely to graduate with cum laude, magna cum laude, or summa cum laude honors upon graduation. Students who receive these additional honors will receive a Law School certificate to recognize their honors status. The certificates will be mailed during the summer, so be sure that the Career Services Office has a permanent address for you.
Graduation Photographs
May, August, and December graduates will be able to have their exit or graduation photos taken by a professional photographer at the Law School in the spring. Each student may select a photo for use in our Alumni Photo Collection
located on the 2nd floor of the Law Library. Students may order copies for a nominal price. Details on registering and more information for the
photo session will be emailed.
Exit Photo Session Dates, Times, and Locations
Spring Exit Photo Dates:
TBD (Watch your email for more information)
Submitting Your Own Photos
It is not required to use our photographer in order to include your photograph in the graduation pictures of the Law School Alumni Photo Collection. However, you must send us a high resolution digital copy of your photograph with your name as the file name by July 1, 2012 in order to be included in the Class of 2012 picture.
Digital photographs should either be emailed or sent on a CD to Ms. Kimberly Frank, UW Law School Room 2320, Madison, WI 53706 or email to kafrank2@wisc.edu.
Any photographs received after July 1, 2012, will too late to be included in the Class of 2012 graduation picture for the Alumni Photo Collection.
Graduation Invitations
We encourage you to celebrate these special graduation events with your family and friends. You are not limited to the number of guests you may invite to the Commencement events. Law School invitations can be ordered online through the University Book Store website. There are three choices of vendors. Both C.B. Announcements and Herff Jones have the UW Law School Hooding Ceremony at the Monona Terrace as well as the UW Graduate and Professional Student Graduation at the Kohl Center on file.
Name Pronunciation
If your name is commonly mispronounced or hard to pronounce, please contact Kimberly Frank at kafrank2@wisc.edu with your name pronunciation. You will also be asked for the pronunciation of your name upon signing up for your exit/graduation photo. We use this information for the Honors and Awards Ceremony as well as the Law School Commencement Ceremony.
