Set Up Your Samford Email

Within 48 hours of being accepted, admitted students should receive an email from Technology Services containing Samford login information. Once completing the steps in this email, students will be able to access their Samford email through the Quick Links tab in mySamford.

While the Office of Admission will only send emails to the primary email address on your law school application, other offices around campus will choose to communicate with you via your Samford email. Therefore, it is important to check your Samford email often.

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.

• Seat Deposit Instructions
• mySamford

Secure Financial Aid

Law students are offered financial aid to cover the full cost of attendance. Complete the FAFSA and monitor your Samford email account for next-step instructions (signing MPNs and completing Entrance Counseling). Be sure to also set up a Refund Account in your Financial Portal. Reach out to Sheri Garrett, financial aid adviser for Cumberland School of Law, with questions related to special circumstances or VA.

• More financial aid information
• FAFSA Application

Register for Summer Pre-1L Courses

Entering first-year students have the opportunity to take introductory summer courses that provide a total of five hours of law school credit. Cumberland School of Law’s first-year summer program provides incoming students with a smooth transition into law school, offering early exposure to classes and exams before their full course load starts in the fall. Throughout the summer, participants familiarize themselves with legal studies, the Lucille Stewart Beeson Law Library, Samford University, and the city of Birmingham—all before the rest of their class arrives. Summer pre-1L courses will begin the first week of June and end by August 1, giving students a little more than a week break before attending Orientation.

Request Your 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.

Submit Your Immunization Records

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.

Complete Your Summer Reading 

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:

• Case Required Reading: You will be emailed a case prior to 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.
• Required Readings: Over the summer, you may be assigned reading assignments by your future professors. Watch your Samford email throughout the summer to ensure that you don’t miss an assigned reading assignment.

Submit Your 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.

• Roommate Request Form

Read the Honor Code

All incoming students are required to have read the Cumberland School of Law Honor Code prior to the first day of orientation.

• Honor Code 

Order Your Parking Permit

In early August, students will receive an email with instructions on how to order their parking permit. This process can sometimes be delayed until the start of Orientation. In the event of a delay, Cumberland School of Law’s Office of Admission will provide updates via email.

Order Your Student ID

Cumberland School of Law’s Office of Admission will email students instructions for ordering their Samford University ID card (SUID) prior to Orientation.

First-Year Students

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.

First-Year Students

The first-year class is divided into three sections of approximately 50 students each: Sections 1, 2, and 3. Students will take all first-year courses with their section, except for Legal Reasoning & Writing, which will have around 15-20 students. Sections are randomly assigned, and students may not request changes.

First-year courses are pre-determined, but the second and third years allow flexibility in course selection. Cumberland School of Law’s Registrar will register all incoming students for their first-year courses. Entering students are typically registered for classes by the third week of July and will be notified via email once the registration process has been completed.

Once first-year course registration is complete, students will be made aware that the 1L book list is available. Students may order their books from wherever they choose.

Transfer Students

Once a transfer applicant is admitted, the Associate Dean of Academic Affairs will determine credits that will transfer and then, in conjunction with the Law Registrar, send a transfer credit letter and email to the student. Once this letter/email is received, the student should contact the law school registrar, Tami Zenker, to discuss class registration: tzenker@samford.edu | 205-726-2044

• Housing Map
• Bulldog Email
• Campus Recreation
• Office of Spiritual Life
• University Student Health Services
• Student Health Insurance
• 12Twenty Login
• Technology Services