Structure of the Required Curriculum

• Full-Time Day Division
• Evening Division

Full-Time Day Division

Typically students enrolled in the full-time day program complete degree requirements in six semesters over a three-year period. In the first year, full-time day students must take the required curriculum. In the summer prior to their first year, students are assigned at random to one of 8 or 9 first year sections of about 25-28 students. This section assignment determines the students' academic schedule for both the fall and spring semesters of the first year. Beginning with the fall semester, first-year, full-time day students take 16 credits of required classes, with meetings typically Monday through Friday between 8:45 a.m. and 5:15 p.m., except on Friday when classes seldom are scheduled to meet later than 3:00 p.m. In the spring semester these students take 13 credits of required courses and an elective – usually for either two or three credits. After the first year, full-time day students register for 11 to 17 credits in each semester, completing the required courses and selecting from a wide array of electives to develop a program which meets their academic interests and prepares them to achieve their career goals. After the first year, day students may enroll in evening division electives as long as the majority of credits in each semester are in day courses. Full-time day students should not work in their first year and may work no more than 20 hours per week thereafter.

Although semester scheduling of doctrinal courses may vary from year to year, in the fall semester 2012 students take Legal Analysis and Writing (3), referred to as LA&W, in combination with either Introduction to Civil Procedure (2), Introduction to Contracts (2) or Introduction to Torts (2). Students also take Criminal Law (3) and the four-credit versions of the two doctrinal courses which they are not taking in coordination with Legal Analysis and Writing, that is, Civil Procedure (4) and/or Contracts (4) and/or Torts (4).

In the spring semester 2013, first-year, full-time day students take the second half of the course which in the first semester was combined with LA&W [Civil Procedure II (3), or Contracts II (3), or Torts II (3)], and also take Written and Oral Advocacy (W&OA) , Introduction to Legal Research (1), Constitutional Law I: Governance (3), Property (4) and must take one (and no more than one) elective course, with most electives open to first-year students earning either two or three credits.

In addition to taking electives, in the third semester full-time day students take Constitutional Law II: Individual Rights (3). In subsequent semesters, students also must take Advanced Legal Research (1) and one of several offerings which satisfy the Legal Profession Requirement.

More on the Curriculum

• Course Catalog
• Class and Orientation Schedules
• Structure of the Required Curriculum
• Graduation Requirements

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