Application Forms & Procedures
The Juris Doctor (J.D.) Program*
First-year Applicants: The 2012 JD Application Form are no longer available for first-year applicants. Application forms may be submitted electronically via the LSAC website only during our annual application period, September 1 - February 1. Alternatively during this period, you may complete our PDF version online and then print and mail it to the address provided in the application instructions. If you experience issues with drop-down fields in Firefox, please use Internet Explorer or Safari to open the application. The first-year application deadline for the current cycle was February 1, 2012.
Transfer and Special Status Applicants: The 2012 J.D. Application Form and Instructions for transfer and special status students is now available. You may complete and submit the application form and supporting documents electronically on the Law School Admissions Council (LSAC) website. This is our recommended and preferred method. Alternatively, you may use the form below to complete and mail the application form to the Admissions Office. The deadline to apply is June 15, 2012. If you have questions, contact the Admissions Office at (510) 642-2274, or by sending email to admissions@law.berkeley.edu.
2012 JD Transfer and Special Status Application Form and Instructions
Application Fee
A non-refundable $75 application fee must be paid by a check or money order drawn from a U.S. bank, or by an international money order in U.S. currency. You may use a credit card if you apply electronically through Law Services.
The fee must accompany a completed application. We will not process your application without it. The fee cannot be used for processing applications to other law schools within the University of California System.
We will waive your application fee if you are approved for an LSAC fee waiver. The application fee will be waived automatically if you apply electronically. Please include a copy of your LSAC fee waiver approval notice with your application if you submit a paper application .
We do not offer merit-based fee waivers.
A limited number of application fee waivers are available to applicants who are current participants in public service programs (i.e., Peace Corps, Teach for America, AmeriCorps, etc.). Please submit the Fee Waiver Request Form with proof of program participation to the Admissions Office. The deadline to submit an application with a fee waiver request is January 11, 2013. Applicants who do not receive an LSAC waiver or who miss the deadline must pay the fee.
We do not offer a fee waiver program for transfer or special status applicants.
Reapplying to the School
Please read the application instructions carefully if you wish to reapply. If you took the LSAT more than five years ago, then you must take the test again. You must renew your CAS account and resubmit transcripts and recommendations if your Law Services account has expired. Please contact Law Services to determine your status and then use their system to apply online. Although a decision from a previous year has no bearing on a subsequent application, we recommend that applicants not resubmit an identical application. This may mean submitting a revised personal statement, obtaining additional work or other experiences or pursuing a graduate degree in the intervening period, and/or taking the LSAT again. We will use the highest LSAT score except when two or more scores are clustered closely together, in which case we will use the average.
Financial Aid
Please refer to the Financial Aid section of the website for more information about financial aid.
*If you are disabled and experience difficulty accessing the application and instructions on our website, please contact Minara Mordecai at (510) 642-2274 for assistance.
