Next Steps to Becoming a 1L
Congratulations on your acceptance to Cumberland School of Law! We encourage you to explore our next step items in the drawers below.
The Office of Law Admission is here to make your transition to the law school as seamless as possible. Please don’t hesitate to call or email us if you have any questions or need assistance with locating information: Office of Law Admission, 205-726-2702 or lawadm@samford.edu.
Before Orientation
Pay Your Seat Deposits
To secure your seat at Cumberland School of Law, you will need to pay two non-refundable seat deposits. Your seat deposits will be credited toward your fall tuition. Online payment is highly encouraged. To pay online, please follow the instructions below. If you do not want to pay online, payment in the form of a check is accepted in person and by mail. Samford’s Student Financial Services does not accept cash. Additional information about seat deposits is included in all acceptance letters, but if you have any questions, please contact us.
Financial Aid
Official Transcripts
If you received your bachelor’s degree after you submitted your transcript with your application, you must also arrange to have your undergraduate registrar’s office send an updated official transcript to LSAC. It must clearly show the date you received your bachelor’s degree and the degree conferred. If you are taking summer classes before you begin law school in the fall, please inform us and request that your transcript be sent to LSAC as soon as possible after your degree is conferred.
Honor Code
All incoming students are required to have read the Cumberland School of Law Honor Code prior to the first day of orientation. The honor code can be found here.
Immunization Form
All incoming students are required to submit immunization records before the first day of Orientation. For your convenience, Samford has partnered with Med+Proctor to collect and verify your immunization forms. Admitted students should expect to receive an email at the beginning of Summer 2025 from Med+Proctor with instructions for creating your account and providing your health information. This email will be sent to your Samford email. Penalties for non-compliance can include registration or enrollment holds.
Roommate Request Form
If you are interested in finding a roommate for the upcoming school year, simply complete and submit this form. The Office of Admission will compile a list of entering students seeking roommates, based upon students who return this completed form. This list will be sent weekly beginning March 1 and will be updated throughout the summer. Only students who return this completed form will receive the list. Although the Office of Admission provides you with the names, preferences and contact information of your classmates also seeking roommates, you are responsible for contacting your classmates and ensuring that you select a roommate and living arrangement that fits your needs.
Registering and Preparing for Classes
Summer Pre-1L Courses
Cumberland School of Law offers its entering first-year students the option to take two elective law courses, totaling five credit hours, the summer before the first fall semester of enrollment. The summer electives start in May and the fall semester starts in late August. Learn more about first-year summer courses.
Summer Reading List
To ensure that all incoming students have a common foundation upon which to start their law school education, please read the following prior to orientation:
- Required Reading: Contempt of Court: The Turn-of-the-Century Lynching That Launched a Hundred Years of Federalism, Mark Curriden and Leroy Phillips (2001). Purchase options for the book are here. Make sure you get the 2001 edition.
- Required Reading: Case emailed to you before Orientation. Watch your Samford email in the weeks before Orientation for the case that will be emailed to you so you can read and prepare for sessions through the Academic Success Program and your Legal Research and Writing class.
- Recommended Reading: Dennis J. Tonsing, 1000 Days to the Bar - But the Practice of Law Begins Now - How to Achieve Your Personal Best in Law School, 2nd or 3rd Edition, William S. Hein & Co.
Please see the summer reading list for additional books that you may find useful as you prepare to begin law school.
Schedules, Assignments and Textbooks
First-year students are registered for classes and able to access their class schedules in early July.
Find Textbook lists for courses at the Calendars and Schedules page.
Transfer students, please download the checklist at the top of this page and refer to it for information on how to register for classes.
Parking Permit
All law students are commuter students and are required to have a commuter parking permit on their vehicle if they wish to park on campus. Changes in vehicle status must be updated with Transportation Services at parking@samford.edu.
Advance purchase of permits will be available online. Students who purchase their parking permit in advance may pick up their permit during orientation at the Transportation Services Office, located in room 302 of Seibert Hall.
To receive a parking permit during orientation, students must register online in advance. Students are strongly encouraged to complete parking permit registration online prior to the start of orientation. Parking permits are $60.
To register, log into the Samford portal and click on the Transportation header.
Student ID
All students will need to obtain a Samford University Student ID card. There is no cost. To expedite the process, please refer to the instructions below on uploading your photo. You may upload your photo upon admission.
Students are strongly encouraged to pick up their parking permits and student IDs during orientation and will be provided with free time to do so. Be sure to upload your photo two weeks prior to the start of orientation.
Samford One Stop Office Hours: 8 a.m.–4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday. The number is 205-726-2905, and the email is onestop@samford.edu.
Orientation
First-Year Students
Information regarding orientation will be emailed to your primary email address listed on your law school application.
Transfer Students
Transfer students will not attend Orientation prior to the start of the school year. Instead, transfer students will receive necessary information via the primary email listed on your law school application. Transfer students will be assigned a 2L student to help with their transition to Cumberland and will attend a “Meet and Greet” with the Office of Admission the first week of school.
