The transcript is the official record of coursework and grades at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School. It also displays degrees awarded, honors earned, and academic notes.

To Order Online: Request a Transcript - please link here to request your transcript

To Order By Mail: We are unable to process requests for paper transcripts. Electronic and hard copies may be ordered through the University via Path@Penn.

Cost of your order: $10.00 per transcript

For Fall: We anticipate that 1L fall grades will be released beginning Wednesday, January 24, 2024. If you need a letter from the Law School certifying this date, please find the letter here:
Penn Carey Law Fall First-Year Grade Release

The Office of the University Secretary at Penn manages all diploma requests, including requests for replacement diplomas and requests for diploma notarizations .

Link the Office of the Secretary’s Diploma Information.

To order a replacement diploma:

• A replacement diploma will be issued upon request and can be ordered by submitting an Application for a Replacement Diploma (.pdf). Please see below for name change requests.
• Penn does not issue electronic copies of diplomas. A replacement displays the signatures of the current officials but shows the original date of graduation. A statement reading “Replacement Diploma Issued on (month, date, year)” will be printed at the bottom of the diploma to indicate that it is not an original.

The fee for a replacement diploma is $100, and the processing time is between eight and ten weeks. The Law School will cover the replacement cost for our transgender, non-binary, gender nonconforming, gender variant, and non-cisgender graduates who need a replacement diploma to reflect a name and/or gender change. Please submit an Application for Diploma Name Change form (.pdf) to the Law School Registrar.

For additional questions, please contact:

Office of the University Secretary
University of Pennsylvania
1 College Hall, Room 211
Philadelphia PA 19104-6303
Phone: (215) 898-7007
Fax: (215) 898-0103
E-mail: diplomas@pobox.upenn.edu

Letter of Good Standing & Other Form Letter Requests (.pdf)

Complete the Letter Request Form for the Registrar’s Office to prepare any of the following letters or forms on your behalf:

• Letter certifying that you are currently enrolled and in good standing at the Law School
• Letter certifying you were previously enrolled at the Law School
• Letter certifying that you graduated from the Law School
• Practical Training Letter
• Loan Deferment Form (form to be supplied by student)
• Any other form you may need completed

If you would like us to send your letter directly to a third party, please provide a mailing address.

Requirement and Goals

Each J.D. student is required to participate in a scholarly research and writing project in either the second or third year. The requirement is intended to assure that every student demonstrates proficiency in scholarly research and writing under close Penn Carey Law faculty supervision. A senior writing project should provide faculty-student intellectual interchange and an opportunity for constructive faculty criticism regarding avenues of research, analysis, organization, and style. The writing may take the form of a single long paper, typically 25 pages or longer, or several shorter papers, as the supervising faculty member shall determine. The criterion that the project be “scholarly” is intended to exclude routine advocacy but not necessarily (in the discretion of the supervising faculty member) advocacy that results from a thorough and objective investigation of governing authority.

Faculty Input

It is expected that the Penn Carey Law faculty member, whether full-time or adjunct, will provide close personal supervision and comment and that the student will undertake revision and further writing in light of the critiques. The senior research and writing experience will involve the following steps, each with faculty consultation:

1. a) selection of the topic,
2. b) submission of a first draft, and
3. c) submission of a final draft that meets, to the faculty member’s satisfaction, the standard of proficiency in scholarly research and writing (after revisions in light of faculty critique of the first and any subsequent drafts that the faculty member requires).

Deadlines

It is expected that the student’s research and writing will be sustained over one or more semesters. Early and realistic deadlines should be set for initial drafts, so as to permit adequate time for faculty comment and for student preparation of a final draft.

Ways to Satisfy the Requirement

The senior writing requirement may be satisfied in a number of ways, including*: 

a) seminars (as permitted by the instructor);
b) work in independent studies;
c) papers in lieu of examinations in regular law school courses (students should confirm such an arrangement with the Registrar and faculty member at the start of a given semester);
d) Notes or Comments written for student journals;
e) work as a faculty research assistant, provided, however, that such work may not also be compensated.

*The Senior Writing Requirement cannot be fulfilled through a course that is also being counted towards a different graduation requirement, such as the experiential credit requirement or Professional Responsibility. 

A research and writing project need not be graded or receive academic credit in order to satisfy the senior writing requirement. Each student is responsible for identifying a faculty member to supervise that student’s senior writing project and for securing the faculty member’s agreement to do so. Once the student has secured a faculty member’s agreement to supervise the project, the student must notify the Registrar by submitting the Senior Writing Requirement form to the Law School Registrar, evidencing the faculty member’s agreement.

Research Assistant and Teaching Assistant Positions for Pay - fill out the online intake form to get your onboarded in Workday. You will receive further instruction from Faculty Support or Business Affairs.

Student Project Form for Academic Credit (.pdf) - Academic credit can be earned by upper-level students only; first-year JD students cannot take more than the required first-year course load (16 credits in fall and spring). Submit the student project form to the Registrar’s Office for Independent Study, Teaching Assistant, Research Assistant position for academic credit.

Independent Study work may be awarded credit under the supervision of the faculty. Such work typically involves an expository research paper, creation of a brief, or, on occasion, faculty research assistance. Independent studies usually are granted two or three semester hours’ credit.  The Student Project Form (linked above) should be submitted to the Law Registrar’s Office before the end of add/drop.

Independent Research Seminar (.pdf)

The purpose of these seminars, typically student-initiated, is to permit an interested group of highly motivated second and third year students to pursue a subject in greater depth than might otherwise be possible in the regular course curriculum, without too great a diversion of faculty time from competing curricular demands. Thus, the students bear the primary responsibility for defining the subject, preparing the syllabus and reading list, conducting research and discussion meetings and completing and criticizing any written work. Each such seminar must be conducted subject to the ultimate supervision of a member of the law faculty, whose consent will have to be secured by the student participants. The responsibilities of the faculty supervisor are to assist in preparing the seminar syllabus and reading list, to assure that the goals and conduct of the seminar are of substantial educational value, and to evaluate student performance for the record. No such independent seminar may be taken for credit unless a faculty supervisor is found and his/her approval secured for the seminar syllabus. Furthermore, unless specifically authorized in accordance with the policy on independent journals seeking official recognition, no credit will be awarded for an independent research seminar associated with the operation of a student-run journal that involves tasks such as article selection, copy-editing, cite-checking, proofreading, or other work preparing the scholarship of others for publication.