Just Graduated from UW Law?
Congratulations on becoming a UW Law graduate! Below is a list of resources the law library and UW Libraries provide to newly graduated students.
Have questions regarding your library account or library resources available to you? Email us at circdesk@uw.edu.
Access to the Library After Graduation
UW Law Students who graduate Spring Quarter have access to the library until the July bar exam. UW Law Students who graduate Fall Quarter will have access to the library space until the February Bar Exam. Access will be removed once the bar exam has concluded. Questions about access to Gates Hall after graduation should be directed to law facilities.
To help you prepare for the bar exam, check out our guide Washington State Bar Exam Preparation.
Library Account & Library Resources
You cannot continue to check out materials as enrolled students after your graduation quarter. However, library items may be renewed while your library account is still active. Your library account expires two weeks into the second consecutive quarter (not including summer quarter) in which you are not enrolled (ex: Last enrolled in Spring or Summer: expires Winter). Contact Library Account Services if you have questions about your expiration date.
Please return library items to one of the UW Libraries' open book drops. Check available locations here. If you are unable to return library items while you are out of state/off-campus, please email circdesk@uw.edu.
Pay your library fines or fees online. Note that overdue fines accrued during the library's closure due to the pandemic will be canceled. If you feel you have been unfairly charged a library fee or fine, you may fill out the appeals form to contest these fines.
Using Library Resouces: Once graduated, off-campus access to electronic resources is no longer available. Alumni and visitors can still use and borrow most of our physical materials and use our databases while on campus (does not include Westlaw, Lexis+, or Bloomberg, see below for more details). See Accounts and Privileges (choose your affiliation and then scroll to the bottom section “Activation/Expiration of Online Services”) for details.
UW Alumni Association Library Perks
Everyone is welcome to visit the UW Libraries (Seattle, Bothell & Tacoma) and use our books, journals, and most other materials while in the library.
Note: while your personal UW NetID itself is permanent, some services associated with it—like computer access and library borrowing privileges—expire when you graduate. Become a UW Alumni Association member! Benefits include eligibility for a UW Libraries Borrower's Card and access to the EBSCO Academic Search Alumni Edition database.
More information can be found on the UW Libraries Services for Alumni and the UW Alumni Association Members Accounts and Privileges pages.
Legal Databases
Recent Law Grads have access to Bloomberg Law, Lexis, and Westlaw for a limited amount of time after they graduate.
| Legal Database | Graduating Students |
| Bloomberg Law | Continued access for six months after graduation. |
| Lexis | Continued access for six months after graduation. Lexis IDs will stay on and will be switched from a law student account to a graduate account. Access will remain the same with the exception of Public Records (not accessible). |
| Westlaw | Continued access for six months after graduation. Grads will start receiving a pop-up message when accessing lawschool.westlaw.com 3 months prior to their stated graduate date. The pop-up will continue to appear until you agree to enter the program (Grad Elite). |
Transferring folders to new accounts.
If you need to transfer folders from your student account to a non-student account follow these steps.
Westlaw: First make sure that the account receiving the folders is registered. Then, sign in to your academic account and scroll to the bottom of the screen and choose "Transfer My Data."
On the next screen, choose what you would like to transfer. Folders are one of the listed options.
Lexis: There is no direct way for Lexis to transfer folders between accounts, however, you may use the "Share Folder" feature. When you click on the icon from the account on which you have saved documents, you may input the email address for the Lexis account with which you would like to share the contents. This would allow you to access all the same documents/folders in both Lexis accounts.
UW NetIDs
Expiration of access to IT services offered to students is based on your enrollment status. In many cases, access expires after you are not enrolled for two consecutive quarters, excluding summer quarter, which aligns with the rules for enrollment eligibility. When you are no longer a student, you can continue to sign in with your UW NetID, and you can forward your UW email address to your own personal email address.
Your personal UW NetID does not expire. Your access to specific IT services is based on your current affiliations with the UW, and access to many services —including remote access to ebooks and library databases—will expire when your affiliations change. You will occasionally receive notifications of service expiration from the UW. These notifications are for access to IT services (such as email, web publishing, etc.), and they do not indicate that your UW NetID or email forwarding is expiring. If you have questions about your service expirations, please contact the UW-IT Service Center at 206-221-5000 or email help@uw.edu.
Refer to Expiration of access to IT services to learn more about schedules and notifications for IT service eligibility and expirations.