Early Degree Conferral Process for Students in the Faculty of Law

JD Students may request early conferral of the JD degree prior to the Spring Convocation date in June, if degree requirements were completed in the previous fall term, and if there is a valid and pressing reason to seek the early conferral as an exception to the usual conferral process.

Steps: 

  1. Complete the application to graduate in SOLUS. The Application to Graduate will be available in SOLUS on December 1st. Your record will be updated to reflect the early conferral date once your request has been processed.
  2. The Barrister's examination of the Law Society of Ontario is scheduled for February 11, 2025; the Solicitor’s examination is February 27, 2025. The deadline to register is January 2 for Barrister's and January 16 for Solicitor's. 
  3. Send a request seeking early conferral of the JD degree prior to December 15 to Margie Gordon, Director, Student Records and Enrolment. Let your fall term instructors know that you have requested an early conferral. In order to meet the January 2 registration deadline for the Barrister's Exam, instructors will need to send confirmation that you successfully completed all fall term courses to Margie no later than January 2 at noon. Margie will then send a letter lieu to the Law Society of Ontario, confirming degree requirements have been satisfied. Margie will also send a supporting letter to the Registrar's Office confirming completion of degree requirements and the underlying reason for the request. Degree conferrals will take place shortly after the grades release deadline, January 12. 
  4. If you have debts owing to the University you will need to request an exemption by emailing transcpt@queensu.ca referring to the Senate Policy on Student Debtors, so that a transcript showing the degree conferral may be released to the LSO, notwithstanding the debt. 
  5. After the degree conferred ruling has been added to your official academic record:   
  • Please enter your official transcript order via SOLUS. Select 'immediate processing', and 'digital’. Enter the email address of the law society (for Ontario: licensingprocess@lso.ca) You may view your order in SOLUS where you will see the comment added of when the transcript was emailed via secure PDF. 
  • Ensure that your mailing address is updated in SOLUS. Your diploma parchment will be mailed to that address. If you attend Convocation in the spring you will be presented with a diploma tube, however it will be empty as you should have received your diploma by mail months earlier.