ADR Honor Society: A student-run organization geared towards fostering an interest in Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) at WCL. ADRHS is comprised of several competition teams focusing on Arbitration, Mediation, and Negotiation. Teams are open to a select number of WCL students who serve as ambassadors in competitions both nationally and internationally. Members are selected during the Spring Qualifying Tournament and then slated according to their background and interests.

Alvina Reckman Myers Moot Court Tournament: The Alvina Reckman-Myers First Year Moot Court Competition gives first year students the opportunity to test their appellate oral advocacy skills in a competitive environment while receiving substantive feedback from Moot Court Honor Society members.

ALR: Administrative Law Review; published four times annually by the students of the Washington College of Law in conjunction with the American Bar Association's Section of Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice.

Alternative Dispute Resolution: ADR; The use of methods such as mediation and arbitration to resolve a dispute instead of litigation

ASAC: Academic Support and Access Center. Located on main campus with an embedded staff member dedicated to WCL, ASAC supports the academic development and educational goals of AU students and approves formal classroom or testing accommodations under the ADA.

AULR: American University Law Review. The oldest and largest law review at WCL, the American University Law Review is the only law review in the country to publish an issue exclusively dedicated to the Federal Circuit.

Bar Exam: The examination intended to test whether a candidate is qualified to practice law in a particular jurisdiction. The most common testing configuration is the UBE (Uniform Bar Exam), offered in 41 jurisdictions. The two day exam has one day that tests writing through the Multistate Performance Test (MPT) and Multistate Essay Examination (MEE) and one which is devoted to the Multistate Bar Examination (MBE), a standardized 200-item test covering seven areas (Civil Procedure, Constitutional Law, Contracts, Criminal Law and Procedure, Evidence, Real Property, and Torts). (See NextGen Bar)

Bar Prep: Intensive bar exam study, typically done during the summer after graduation in May for the July administration of the bar exam. Most students choose a bar prep company to structure their study program.

BLR: Business Law Review. The newest WCL journal, BLR provides legal analysis for the business community.

Brief: A smaller publication than a journal or law review, typically focusing on a more specific area of law. These include: American University Criminal Law Brief, Human Rights Brief, Intellectual Property Brief, the American University National Security Law Brief, and the Sustainable Development Law and Policy Brief.

Canvas: Canvas is one of the two Learning Management Systems used by WCL. Your first year classes will all use Canvas for your course announcements, readings, and assignments. Some offices and programs have Canvas pages with information and resources. You can access Canvas at canvas.american.edu.

CareerLink: OCPD's online job and event board. This is also where you can schedule appointments with a career counselor.

Clinical Program (Clinic): The Clinical Program at American University Washington College of Law is a fully operational law firm within the law school. The program is divided into eleven in-house clinics. Our students represent low-income and under-represented clients or groups in litigation, administrative, and transactional matters. Most of our clients are in the District of Columbia or suburban Maryland.

Compass: An initiative of the Office of Academic Excellence, the goal of the AUWCL Compass program is to empower first-year students to take advantage of our law school's vast resources and outstanding programs in a way that makes the most sense for their individual goals. Compass collaborates with student facing offices to deliver tailored information throughout the first year at the most pertinent times with programming on professional development, academic skills, academic planning, and extra-curricular offerings.

Dean’s Fellows: Upper-level students working with either an office/program or in support of a professor’s scholarship. Sometimes also called Research Assistants, Dean’s Fellows are paid.

The Docket: Weekly email newsletter with packed with information about AUWCL events, reminders, resources, & on-campus gatherings.

Dual Degree: Most commonly refers to the International Dual Degree Programs where students prepare for practice in both the US and abroad by studying at WCL as well as an international partner university to obtain individual law degrees from both. (See Joint Degree)

Eagle Service: American University’s web-based platform where students can view their class schedule, add and drop classes as an upper-level students, and view and pay your student account bill.

EJF: Equal Justice Foundation. EJF provides scholarships to WCL students who have obtained unpaid summer positions with public interest organizations in the United States and abroad. During the academic year, EJF raises money from students, faculty, staff, and the business community to fund grants for WCL students who have secured positions with public interest organizations.

EMS: Event Management System. EMS is the process by which students, faculty, and staff can reserve time and space for events (including tabling).

Experiential Learning: Opportunities for students to gain proficiency in advocacy skills, learning-by-doing simulation courses, clinical programs, a rich variety of externships available in the Washington, D.C. area and other opportunities to learn through first-hand experience. Students are required to complete at least six upper level elective credits in coursework designated as experiential as a requirement to graduate.

Externship: An externship allows students to earn academic credits for working in government agencies, public interest organizations, courts and law firms engaged in pro bono work. Similar to internships, Externships must meet specific requirements for students to earn credit.

Facilities: The Facilities Office troubleshoots maintenance requests inside and outside the building, manages parking and room scheduling for meetings, make-up classes, exams and special events as well as recycling and removal of bulk trash throughout the building.

Fall Recruitment: The Fall Recruitment Program is a process that begins each summer to obtain employment for the subsequent summer and post‐graduation. Fall Recruitment employers can participate in several ways, such as: (1) Direct Application Postings on CareerLink; (2) On‐Campus Interviews (held virtually); (3) Resume Collections; and (4) Regional Interview Programs.

Financial Aid Office: The Financial Aid Office provides counseling and resources relevant to financing your legal education. We offer expert advice on maximizing your institutional aid, minimizing your federal loan borrowing, budgeting, and loan repayment.

First Year Trial Advocacy Competition: A closing argument competition for 1Ls by the Mock Trial Honor Society.

Founders' Celebration: A series of events, seminars, panel discussions, expert forums, and Continuing Legal Education (CLE) programs.

ILR: International Law Review. The American University International Law Review publishes articles, critical essays, comments, and case notes on a wide variety of international law topics, including public and private international law, the law of international organizations, international trade law, international arbitration, and international human rights.

ILSP: The International Legal Studies Program is an LLM program that also offers opportunities for JD students.

Internship: Unpaid work through which students gain work experience, though not for academic credit.

JD/MA: Allows students to earn a JD from WCL and an MA in International Affairs from the School of International Service (SIS). The program exposes students interested in international law to political, historical, and economic classes germane to their future international practice.

JGSPL: Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law. A forum for those interested in gender issues and feminist legal studies. In 1998, the Journal expanded its mission to include social policy as well as gender issues.

JJC: Joint Journal Committee. The JJC administers the Write-On and Grade-On competitions for the five WCL journals.

Joint Degree: Several programs allow students to receive both a JD and a Master’s degree over the course of four years. These include: JD/Masters in Business Administration; JD/Masters in Public Administration; JD/Masters of Public Policy; JD/Masters in Science in Justice, Law and Society, and JD/Masters in International Affairs.

Journal: A law review (or law journal) is a prestigious scholarly journal focusing on legal issues, normally published by an organization of students at a law school or through a bar association.

Law Review: See Journal.

Law Revue: The annual Law Revue is a student organized musical comedy production where students and faculty showcase their acting, singing, and dancing talents. For over 20 years, the Law Revue has served as a forum for good-natured topical satire directed at the law school and the legal profession.

Legal Careers 101: OCPD’s one-stop website where you can find all the basic information, resources, and videos about how to start your legal career.  This site is a supplement to OCPD workshops and one-on-one counseling.

LLM: The LLM (Master of Laws) is an internationally recognized postgraduate law degree. It is usually obtained by completing a one-year full-time program. Law students and professionals frequently pursue the LLM to gain expertise in a specialized field of law, for example in the area of tax law or international law.

LMS: WCL has two Learning Management Systems (LMS): MyWCL (see MyWCL) and Canvas (see Canvas). Your professors will let you know which LMS they will be using, though all first year classes are on Canvas. On the course page in either LMS, you should see the course syllabus, readings, and any asynchronous material that the professor has added. Even if a course is usually in Canvas and includes low stakes knowledge checks and formative assessments, exams that require an anonymous grading number must be submitted via MyWCL.

Master Calendar: The master calendar of events for WCL found at calendar.wcl.american.edu and the calendar that feeds to the digital signage on campus.

Marshall-Brennan Program: Selects, trains, and supervises talented upper-level law students to teach high school students in DC area public and public charter high schools about their constitutional rights and responsibilities.

Mock Interview: The opportunity to rehearse for an interview and receive feedback from an OCPD career counselor.

Mock Trial: A competitive student organization that promotes student interest and encourages skills development in all aspects of trial advocacy through training workshops and by sponsoring competitive teams for national and regional inter-school trial competitions.

Moot Court: The Moot Court Honor Society sponsors a wide range of activities designed to provide students with opportunities to practice appellate oral advocacy and brief writing. Members compete in national and international competitions on variety of legal topics including international arbitration, religious freedom, criminal law, and intellectual property. Our teams consistently win best brief and oral argument awards, as well as regional and national championships. Each year MCHS administers intra-school moot court competitions for WCL students, as well as the Burton D. Wechsler National First Amendment Moot Court Tournament, in which more than 30 teams from law schools from across the nation compete.

Myers Society: The John Sherman Myers Society, Washington College of Law’s most prestigious annual giving society, was established to honor former Dean John Sherman Myers and his wife, Alvina Reckman Myers, who committed their professional lives and personal wealth to AUWCL and its students.

MyWCL: MyWCL is one of the two Learning Management Systems used by WCL. All exams with anonymous grading numbers must be submitted via MyWCL (even if the professor uses Canvas throughout the semester). You can access MyWCL at https://my.wcl.american.edu/.

NextGen Bar: Set to debut in July 2026, the NextGen bar exam will test a broad range of foundational lawyering skills, utilizing a focused set of clearly identified fundamental legal concepts and principles needed in today’s practice of law. Not all jurisdictions will adopt the new exam format in July 2026.

OCI: On Campus Interviews; a part of the recruitment cycle that takes place the summer between the 1L and 2L year where students apply for summer and post-graduate positions. Most of the positions are from law firms, with some government employers. OCI is now a virtual process.

Office of Academic Affairs (OAA): OAA facilitates the process for adjunct hiring, curriculum planning, and course evaluations.

Office of Academic Excellence (OAE): OAE empowers students to make informed decisions to reach their academic goals and achieve bar exam preparedness. Our goal is to support student achievement from matriculation through graduation and beyond. Through workshops and individual counseling, OAE offers resources and guidance in building academic and time management skills, course planning, and navigating the pathway to bar exam licensure for those students seeking a license to practice law.

Office of Career and Professional Development (OCPD): OCPD partners with students on all aspects of their career development.  By taking advantage of OCPD's offerings, students will receive guidance on effective application materials, resources to identify potential employers in the public and private sectors, and have the opportunity to engage WCL alumni and other practitioners during internal and external networking events.

Office of Diversity, Inclusion, & Affinity Relations (DIA): Our mission is to work with students, staff, faculty, and other AUWCL stakeholders to create a sense of belonging for all students by promoting and advocating for diversity, inclusion, equity, and justice as foundational requirements for academic excellence, community building, leadership, and service.

We accomplish our mission by promoting good policy, educational programming, and collaborative initiatives.

Office of Public Interest (OPI): Learn how to get real world experience as a 1L through the Pro Bono Honors Pledge. Also, learn about loan repayment and forgiveness programs that make it possible for students to pursue whatever career calls to them (legal or non-legal, private or public, government or non-profit, etc.).

Office of the Registrar: The Office of the Registrar schedules classes, examinations, and exam deferrals as well as calculates rankings, provides documentation relating to a student's enrollment or standing, and confers degrees.

Office of Student Affairs (OSA): “The place to go when you don’t know where to go.” Student Affairs provides individual nonprofessional counseling and wellness programming, assists with life/health emergencies, and handles ADA and Title IX accommodations and general student inquiries of all types. OSA plans Orientation and Commencement and advises student organizations.

Pence Law Library: Located in the Warren building, the Pence Law Library is open 24/7 with your AUID and is where students can find private study spaces, casebooks on reserve, and WCL’s library and reference staff.

Residency: The amount of time a student has been in their course of study, not where the student is located. Fulfilling residency is a graduation requirement and the criteria change with a student's status as full-time or part-time.

SAP: Satisfactory academic progress (SAP) must be maintained in order to remain in good academic standing and to be eligible for institutional grants/scholarships and federal financial aid.

SBA: Student Bar Association; the student government body.

SCOTUS: Supreme Court of the United States. The highest federal court in the United States.

Semester Study Abroad: Opportunity to study abroad for a Fall or Spring semester and count those credits towards your WCL degree.

Short Write-on (Write-on): The process by which 1L students will prepare a legal note based on a closed universe of sources to potentially receive an offer to join a journal or law review.

Spring Qualifying Tournament (SQT): The Spring Qualifying Tournament allows students an opportunity to compete for a position on the Moot Court team. Competitors are required to submit a written brief and participate in two rounds of oral argument. WCL students who are among the top competitors in the Spring Qualifying Tournament earn the honor of representing WCL at appellate advocacy competitions across the country.

Summer Abroad: WCL Faculty-led short summer courses in locations around the world. Students earn WCL credit for programs as short as two weeks.

Summer Institutes: Intensive summer courses that run over the course of just a few days or weeks as opposed to the full summer session. These courses offer an opportunity to focus in more narrow areas than offered in semester-long classes. WCL offers summer institutes in Advocacy, Arbitration, Anti-Corruption Law, Environmental Law, Health Law, Hospitality Law, Human Rights and Humanitarian law, and Intellectual Property and Tech Law.

ULWR: Upper Level Writing Requirement; after the first year, students must complete a piece of legal writing of at least 7000 words which has been supervised and approved by a faculty member as a graduation requirement.

WCL Abroad: WCL Abroad administers overseas study programs including International Dual Degrees, Semester Exchange, and faculty-led Summer Abroad programs and advises students on how to incorporate these programs into their legal education. WCL Abroad also assists with orientation and risk management for student groups that are traveling overseas.