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Eligibility for the Order of the Coif
Election to the Order of the Coif is based upon a student's final grade point average. However, the National Executive Committee has interpreted the Coif Constitution to require that, to be eligible, students must have at least 75% of their work in graded courses.
- Our Chapter has interpreted this to mean that a graduate must have at least 68 graded credits. (68 is 75% of 90 credits.) If a student earns more than 90 credits they still need only 68 graded credits.
- A graded credit is one earned in a Law course graded on the Law School's 4.3 grading scale (A+ to F). Grades assigned under the University's 4.0 scale are not counted toward eligibility.
- Transfer students may be eligible for election, so long as (a) they have completed the equivalent of four semesters of work at the University of Wisconsin Law School; and (b) they have 68 graded credits from the University of Wisconsin Law School. Note: graded credits taken elsewhere cannot be counted toward the 68 graded-credits requirement.*
In some circumstances, factors other than the computed academic average might be taken into account in making a selection. For example, in choosing between students whose numerical averages are extremely close, the student with more numerical grades might be selected, even if their average was slightly lower.
* The Law School received communication from the National Secretary of the Order of the Coif in June 2012 that the eligibility requirement of 68 graded credits from the Law School must be the same for all students, including transfer students. The Law School's former interpretation of eligibility for transfer students had been thus: "In order to be eligible, 75% of the students work at the University of Wisconsin Law School must be graded. This means that a transfer student must have 45 Wisconsin graded credits in order to be eligible."
