Office of Student Affairs

Overview

The Office of Student Affairs (OSA) provides advice and counseling on academic and personal matters for students and acts as a liaison between students, faculty, and other law school administrators. OSA provides important information to students on a variety of issues; acts as a liaison between students, faculty, and other administrators; provides advice and counseling on academic and personal matters; funds student organizations; coordinates student activities; designs programs ranging from orientation to graduation; and hosts workshops on academic and bar-related issues.

OSA’s specific services include:

  • Coordinating student activities such as admit weekend, first-year orientation, and graduation.
  • Hosting workshops designed to enhance students’ understanding of law school procedures and to facilitate a high quality of life for law students.
  • Distributing the Weekly Brief, an electronic newsletter containing important deadlines, events, and notices for students.
  • Overseeing the student organizations and working with the Law Association and Dean’s Office to provide funding through a combination of an annual budget, the Special Fund, and conference funding.
  • Providing short-term counseling and other assistance with academic and personal problems, leaves of absence, and other issues that affect a law student’s life.
  • Acting as the liaison between the Student Disability Resource Center (SDRC) and the Law School, and overseeing the process of providing accommodations to students with disabilities.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is the Law School's official lost and found office?

The Law Library is the official keeper of lost and found. If you are missing an item or if you find a lost item, please contact the Reference Desk of the Law Library 723.2477.

How can I make long distance calls or faxes on campus?

Faxes or calls are free to anywhere in the United States including Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. International and specialty toll calls or faxes like 411, 900 and 976 numbers are placed using a code called a Personal Billing Number or PBN; this provides a personalized invoice for each student's billable long distance calls. The PBN can be ordered on axess.stanford.edu at your My IT Services Site.

Students and student organizations can use the fax machine on the first floor of the Law Library as well as the machine in room 79N. The number to the fax machine in room 79N is 650 723.0501. The fax number to the machine in the Law Library is 650 724.2983.

How can I get funding for a speaker event?

Student groups can obtain funding for a speaker event by submitting a Special Fund application no later than three weeks before the event. Please visit the student organization resources webpage for more information on funding.

How can I reserve a room at the Law School?

Reservations can be made online (www.law.stanford.edu/students under "Student Life") and typically generate a response within 48 hours. An organization may not reserve space for an event until the event has been added to the Law School's main calendar. To add event to the calendar, contact your student organization's calendar administrator. For questions about room reservations, contact Frank Muniz, Senior Facilities Technician (Room 146) or send a message to facilities@law.stanford.edu.

How can I reserve a room outside the Law School?

Students who wish to reserve rooms outside the Law School, including Kresge Auditorium should contact Chidel at chidel@law.stanford.edu.

How can I post an event on the Law School online calendar?

To post events on the on-line calendar, students organizations must contact their organizations's calendar administrator. The calendar administrator is the member of your organization who has been given authorization by the Webteam to post events to the calendar.

For more information on posting events on the calendar, please contact Chidel at chidel@law.stanford.edu or the Webteam at webteam@law.stanford.edu.

How can I get parking passes for guest speakers?

Chidel has a limited number of parking passes that student organizations can purchase for guest speakers and charge the fee to their account numbers. You can also buy individual passes at the Parking and Transportation Department, located at 340 Bonair Siding, 723.9362. Hours of operation are 7:30 to 5:00 PM. A day pass for an "A" sticker costs $11; a "C" sticker is $4.50.

Where can I find a typewriter?

Students are welcome to use the typewriter currently stationed in the copy room of the law library.

Is there a scanner I can use?

Students have access to two scanners: one is in the computer area of the reading room and one is in the computer area on the second floor of the library.

What is the code to get into the building after hours?

Contact Chidel in room 113, Cathy Glaze in room 108 or facilities (Room 146) to get the code.

Is there a Notary Public at the Law School?

Below is a list of Notary Publics at the Law School. Law school related documents (such as bar applications) are notarized at no cost to the student, faculty or staff. There is a $10 fee for notarizing personal or non-law school related documents.

Chidel Onuegbu
Office of Student Affairs
Room 113
650 725.0764
chidel@law.stanford.edu

Judy Gielniak
Basement Clinic Area
650 736.8213
jgielniak@law.stanford.edu

Rita Le Mon
Second Floor Library
650 723.4959
rle_mon@law.stanford.edu

How can I gain access to the Taper Center?

To gain access to the Taper Center, you have to submit a copy of your ID card to Facilities (Room 146) so that they can enter you into the system. Once your ID card has been entered into the system, you can use it to access the Taper Center.

How do I get into the Nursing Room?

Any student (male or female) with a newborn is entitled to use the nursing room, which is located on the first floor of the classroom building. You can get the door code from the Office of Student Affairs or the Facilities office.

How do I get information about Writing Competitions?

The Office of Student Affairs receives a great deal of information for writing, moot court and alternative dispute resolution competitions during the year, most of which include money prizes up to $5000 for winners. These competitions span a wide range of topics, from international law to environmental law to minority rights and so on. Stanford students have been successful in the past in winning these types of competitions, and we have collected those applications in a binder currently housed in the first floor information desk of the law library. If you are interested and would like to learn more, please stop by the first floor information desk of the law library. The website lists other writing competitions for law students.

How can I enter the lottery for the Faculty Lunch presentations?

Ten students are allowed to attend the Wednesday weekly lunch presentation with faculty. If there are more than ten students interested in attending a lunch presentation, priority will be given to the speaking professor's legal assistants, and to those who have not attended a presentation so far. The presentations are all held Wednesday afternoons (12:15 to 1:30 PM) in the Manning Faculty Lounge on the second floor of the breezeway. Lunch starts at 12:15 and the presentation follows at 12:30. Students interested in attending a particular presentation should notify Chidel either by e-mail or in person. Winners will be notified via e-mail the next day, Tuesday morning.

Examinations

Law School examinations are conducted in accordance with the University's Honor Code, under procedures described more fully in the Student Handbook. Here are some things you need to know.

If you have any questions about exams or during your exam or are too sick to take an exam, contact either:

Cathy Glaze
Associate Dean for Student Affairs
650 723.6203
cglaze@stanford.edu
Kim Borg
Registrar
650 725.0145
klborg@stanford.edu

All examinations are graded on a "blind" basis. This means that students cannot contact the instructor during the examination or about the exam at any time before receiving a grade. If questions arise regarding interpretation of the examination, contact the Registrar. The Registrar will contact the instructor, as needed. If you have concerns about the exam at any time, contact Cathy Glaze. Any attempt to contact an instructor about an exam between the regularly scheduled exam date and the date the exam grades are posted may be interpreted as a violation of the Honor Code and/or the Fundamental Standard.

Students are not permitted to access any digital sources during in-class exams. Even if your exam is open book, any source you consult (including your outline) must be in printed or handwritten form. Digital sources are not allowed. Students may not log on to the internet or access other documents on their computer during an examination.

One-Day Take-Home Examinations are handed out and returned on the same day, usually beginning at 8:30 a.m. and ending at 4:30 p.m. The Registrar's Office distributes and collects the take-home exams. One-day take-home examinations are open-book, but students may not discuss a one-day examination among themselves unless the instructor specifically grants permission to do so.

Extended Take-Home Examinations are taken over a much longer period of time. The student picks up the examination from the Registrar no later than the last regularly scheduled day of classes. The examination is due back to the Registrar's Office no earlier than 24 hours following the last scheduled day of examinations for courses open to second- and third-year students. Extended take-home examinations are open-book and instructors must permit full discussion among students about the examination if it is an extended take-home examination.

Failure to sit for an exam. A student who is absent from an examination session without prior permission from the Associate Dean for Student Affairs will receive a failing grade of F or NK for the course.

Advance exam rescheduling is possible where students have a conflicting examination schedule (i.e., examinations occurring at the same time) or a burdensome examination schedule (i.e., three exams in three or fewer consecutive calendar days, a religious conflict on the scheduled exam day, or one-day take home examinations on two consecutive calendar days. In most instances, if a single examination is moved, it will be scheduled for the makeup examination day. Rescheduled examinations will not be given prior to the regularly scheduled examination date. Therefore, if a student needs to reschedule more than one exam, it is possible that he or she will need to take exams after the normally scheduled make-up day.

Exam administration procedures. Stanford Law School has specific exam procedures in addition to those already mentioned. Students are expected to be aware of and to follow all these procedures.

Specific Exam Procedures

Course Evaluations

These files are in Microsoft Excel format.

Key

No in Class: Number of students taking course
No. Resp.: Number of responses
% Resp.: Percentage of students responding
Hrs. Week: Workload. Average hours spent per week on course.
Q1: Readings and lectures were well integrated
Q2: Readings were appropriate and useful
Q3: Lectures were intellectually stimulating
Q4: Course as a whole was intellectually stimulating
Q5: Instructor was accessible and helpful outside class
Q6: Instructor was clear in presenting material
Q7: Overall: Instructor was effective as a teacher

Student Life Committee

Stanford Law School has established a Student Life Committee whose mission is to address issues of concern to members of the student body. The committee is comprised of students, faculty and staff and endeavors to both respond to concerns and undertake programs to improve the quality of life at Stanford Law School. Please feel free to contact the committee members at studentlifecommittee@law.stanford.edu. The members of the committee for 2007 - 2008 are:

Cathy Glaze cglaze@stanford.edu
Allen Weiner aweiner@stanford.edu
Elizabeth McBride (3L) ecm@stanford.edu
James Poole (3L) aphelion@stanford.edu
Tamika Butler (2L) tlbutler@stanford.edu
Amy Morgenstern (2L) amym2@stanford.edu
Brian Goldman (1L) bgoldman@stanford.edu
Irene Hahn (1L) ihahn@stanford.edu
Alvaro Huerta (1L) ahuerta@stanford.edu

Graduation

Three years of intense learning and hard work culminate in the law school graduation ceremony.

Recorded & Past Events

April 2008

February 2008

  • TGIF
    February 15, 2008 from 4:00 pm - 6:00 pm

November 2007

  • TGIF
    November 9, 2007 from 4:30 pm - 6:00 pm

September 2007

August 2007

May 2007

April 2007

March 2007

February 2007

September 2006

Contact Information

Office of Student Affairs
Stanford Law School Room 113
Crown Quadrangle
559 Nathan Abbott Way
Stanford, CA 94305-8610
650 725.0764

Student Resources

The Weekly Brief

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