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Graduation Requirements

Residential Juris Doctor (J.D.) Program

To be eligible for the Juris Doctor degree, a student must complete a total of 87 credits with a minimum GPA of 2.25 and must pass all required courses. Required courses are as follows:

First Year Required Courses (31/32 credits):

* Passing Grade is C-

Fall semester:

  • Contracts I
  • Civil Procedure
  • 1L Seminar (students choose from several seminar courses)
  • Torts
  • Lawyering I
  • Professional Identity Formation

Spring semester:

  • Contracts II
  • Constitutional Law I
  • Criminal Law
  • Property
  • Lawyering II

*Legal Methods May be required based on Fall GPA

Rising 2Ls will complete a Diagnostic Assessment prior to the start of their second year.

Second Year Required Courses:

* Passing Grade is C-

Fall semester:

  • Constitutional Law II: First Amendment

Other Upper-Level Courses Required to Graduate:

* Passing Grade is C-

Required for students whose GPA places them in the bottom quarter of the class at the end of the second semester:
Advanced Legal Analysis II (taken as a 3L); Business Organizations, and Criminal Procedure: Investigation OR Criminal Procedure: Adjudications.

Legal Profession or Professional Responsibility Seminar

Evidence

Administrative Law Elective from the following courses: Administrative Law, Antitrust: Trade Practices, Bankruptcy, Community Development Clinic, Employment Law, Environmental Law, Financial Crimes and Topics in Financial Market Regulation, Health Law Clinic, Immigration Law & Policy, Immigration Law Clinic, Labor Law, Land Use Planning, Public Health Law, Public Health Policy: Law, Finance & Ethics, Securities Regulation, State and Local Environmental Law, State and Local Government, State and Local Taxation, U.S. Refugee & Asylum Law.

International Law Elective from the following courses: Comparative Constitutional Law, Conflict of Laws, Indigenous & Aboriginal Law Seminar, International Business Transactions, International Child’s Rights, International Commercial and Investment Arbitration, International Human Rights Law, International Law of War & Crimes, International Organizations, Law of Climate Change, National Security Law, Public International Law, U.S. Refugee & Asylum Law.

Experiential Requirement: Two courses (for a total of at least 6 credits) offering substantial skill instruction, with at least one course taken within the Clinic from the following list:

Simulation Courses:Clinic Courses:
Alternative Dispute Resolution 
Advanced Legal Research 
Appellate Practice/Advocacy 
Applied Health Policy 
Client Interviewing & Counseling 
Court of Appeals Intensive
Crim-Just Policy & Legis
Drafting 
Drafting Wills, Revoc. Trusts, … 
Fact Investigation
Innovation Intensive Survey
Introduction to Technology for Lawyers
The Law of Social Entrepreneurship and Exempt Organizations
Legal Issues in Medicine Mediation 
Negotiating for Lawyers 
Supreme Court Watch
Sustainable Dev Code:Adv
Transactional Skills
Trial Advocacy Trial Practice I & II – Civil
Trial Practice I & II – Criminal
In- House Clinics:
Family Violence Litigation Clinic
Health Law Clinic
Immigration Law Clinic
Community Development Clinic
Hybrid Clinic:
Domestic Violence Prosecution Hybrid Clinic
External Clinics:
Mediation Apprenticeship
Attorney General Litigation Bureau
Practicum Courses with Placements: 
Innovation Intensive Practicum 
Law and Social Innovation 
Transactional and Business Law Practicum
Field Placements:
Client Advocacy Field Placement: Civil and Criminal
District Attorney Field Placements
Government Field Placements
Judicial Field Placements
Pro Bono Scholars Program
Semester/Summer/City in Practice

Upper Level Writing Requirement:

As a requirement for graduation, and by the end of his or her penultimate semester of law school, a student must produce a substantial legal research paper. A student may satisfy this requirement in one of the following ways:

  1. By successfully completing a legal research paper under the supervision of a full-time faculty member;
  2. By producing a publishable work as a member of one of the Law School’s eligible student-edited journals;
  3. By successfully completing a course taught by a full-time faculty member and designated as requiring for its completion production of a paper that satisfies the writing requirement;
  4. By producing a research paper in connection with any course taught by a full-time faculty member, if the faculty member determines that the paper is sufficient to satisfy the requirement.
  5. By producing a work product resulting from such substantial research and writing in a clinical course taught by a full-time faculty member that the product is the equivalent of a legal research paper. (Pursuant to ABA Standard 303, students cannot use the same course to satisfy both the experiential requirement and the upper level writing requirement)
  6. By producing a research report resulting from such substantial research and writing as a Sandman Fellow that the report is the equivalent of a legal research paper.