First Year Program
Second and Third Year Program
Introduction to Lawyering and Professional Responsibility (ILPR)
Professional Responsibility Requirement
Upper Level Writing Requirement
Graduation Requirements
See also:
Principles of Course Selection
Course Descriptions & Registration
FIRST YEAR PROGRAM
All courses in the first year are required. They include both traditional courses as well as those emphasizing the sources of law, professional responsibility issues, and lawyering skills.
Introduction to Lawyering and Professional Responsibility
Students meet in small sections to discuss the adversarial system and the professional responsibilities of the lawyer within that system. Through simulation exercises, students experience client interviewing, client counseling, case evaluation and planning, negotiation, pre-trial discovery, motion practice, and trial-level argument.
Property
This course examines concepts of property rights as well as principles of personal and real property. The rapidly changing area of landlord/tenant law is reviewed extensively, and conveyancing practices also are studied. During the second semester, the course focuses on the sources of law and the legal process, including legislative and administrative bodies and their relationships to the courts in creating, interpreting, and enforcing the law.
Legal Reasoning, Research, and Writing
Written expression of legal analysis as well as traditional and computer-assisted legal research techniques are addressed in this course. Assignments include drafts and rewrites of inter-office and advocacy memoranda, which receive intensive faculty feedback. The course is taught in small sections to facilitate teacher-student interaction.
Civil Procedure
Using the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, this course introduces rules governing the conduct of litigation. After an overview of the entire sequence of events from commencement to final disposition of a lawsuit, specific topics are considered in detail.
Constitutional Law
Constitutional Law introduces the concept of judicial review of legislation and executive action. The course also focuses on the express and implied powers of the federal government and the effect of the interstate commerce clause on federal and state power.
Contracts
The concept of what constitutes a contract is followed by detailed study of the various principles that govern the enforcement of contracts. Common law rules are emphasized, but attention is also given to the statutory changes imposed by the Uniform Commercial Code.
Criminal Law
Historically, Criminal Law was an upper-level elective. However, beginning with the Class of 2009, Criminal Law is a required first year course. The course examines the elements of crimes, defenses that the accused may assert, and the methods and rationales for punishing criminal conduct. Attention is given to the common law of crime as well as to the Model Penal Code.
Torts
This course examines non-consensual relations among individuals and emphasizes negligence law, the measure of damages, and newer developments such as products liability.
SECOND AND THIRD YEAR PROGRAM
With the exceptions of Constitutional Law II, a Professional Responsibility course and Upper Level Writing experience, all second- and third-year courses are elective. More than 70 courses, are offered each semester. Multiple courses in one or more areas broadens students' knowledge, judgment, and technical skills, ultimately strengthening their abilities as lawyers.
PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY REQUIREMENTS
All students are required to take a course in Professional Responsibility or a related subject in order to graduate. It can be taken at anytime during the second or third year. The courses that fulfill the Professional Responsibility requirement are listed below. Please note that many, but not all, Clinics satisfy the professional responsibility requirement.
Advanced Immigration Law Clinic*
Attorney General Program
Civil Litigation Clinic
Community Enterprise Clinic
Criminal Justice Clinic
Housing Law Clinic
Immigration Clinic*
Judge and Community Courts
Judicial Process
Juvenile Rights Advocacy
Legal Ethics Seminar
Legal Interviewing and Counseling
Moral Responsibility of Lawyers
Professional Responsibility (all sections)
Professional Responsibility: Prosecutorial Ethics
Semester in Practice
Women and the Law Clinic
*Students who have taken this course during the Academic Year 2004-2005 and after will satisfy the Professional Responsibility requirement. This provision is not retroactive.
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2007-2008 Courses that satisfy
Courses denoted with an asterisk are listed with a 2/3 or 3/4 credit option. Students who opt for the higher number of credits will fulfill the upper level writing requirement. Students who register for any of the asterisked courses at the higher number of credit must complete additional paperwork. Please see Theresa Kachmar, Student Records, Stuart M301.
LL34101 Advanced Immigration Law Seminar (Kanstroom Spring)
LL48502 Advanced Legal Writing (
LL48503 Advanced Legal Writing and Analysis (Juel Spring)
LL48501 Advanced Legal Writing: Judicial Opinions (Connors Fall)
LL48501 Advanced Legal Writing: Judicial Opinions (Connors Spring)
LL31001 Advising the Business Planner (Yen/Gennari Fall)
LL73501 American Jury (Brassard Spring)
LL34401 American Legal Education (Coquillette Spring)
LL68601 Anglo-American Legal History (Coquillette Fall)*
LL47102 Appellate Advocacy (Carey Fall/Spring)
LL44901 Art of Lawyering and Commercial Lease (Kass Fall)
LL85801 Attorney General Clinical Program Seminar (Barnico
LL76201 Business Law and Health Policy (Hashimoto Spring)
LL40101 Business Planning (Wiley Spring)
LL60101 Catholic Social Thought and the Law (Kalscheur Spring)*
LL73202 Church and State (Brown Fall)
LL33401 Civil Motions Practice (Brassard Fall)
LL48601 Civil Rights Litigation in Section 1983 (Spiegel Fall)
LL37801 Critical Race Theory (Augustine-Adams Spring)
LL39301 Death Penalty Seminar (Sack Spring)
LL99001 Elements of Law (
LL96901 Environmental Law (Fall: 4)**
LL32201 Environmental Law Seminar: Current Topics (Plater Spring)
LL94201 Family Court Practice (Ginsburg Spring)*
LL68401 Family Law Seminar: Child, Parent and State (Katz Spring)
LL96601 Globalization and International Economic Law (Garcia Fall)
LL35501 Health Law and Policy II (Chirba-Martin Spring)
LL46101 Human Rights Interdisciplinary Seminar (Hollenbach)
LL74901 Immigration Law (Kanstroom Fall)*
LL99101 Institutions and Cooperation in World Politics (Deese Fall)
LL92001 International Banking and Financial Law (Lichtenstein Fall)
LL62101 International Criminal Tribunals (ICT): Research Project (Kanstroom)
LL49601 Judge and Community Courts Seminar (Cratsley/Connors Fall)
LL83801 Judicial Process (Bloom Spring)
LL38801 Juvenile Justice Seminar (
LL67301 Law of War, War Crimes and Genocide (
LL51001
LL91001 Media Law (Papandrea Spring)
LL92501 Mediation (Gray Fall)
LL92502 Mediation (
LL68101 Moral Responsibility of Lawyers (McMorrow Fall)
LL63501 National Security Law (Wiley Fall)
LL95503 Professional Responsibility (Tremblay Fall)*
LL45901 Semester In Practice Seminar (Wells Fall/McMorrow Spring) (with paper app’d by instr.)
LL80501 Sexuality and the Law (Stowe Spring)
LL90301 Trade and the Environment (Wirth Spring)
LL41401 Trademark and Unfair Competition Law(Liu Spring)
LL91201 Understanding Urban Ecosystems (Lord Spring)
Competitions (Selection process required)
LL69001 The Conrad B. Duberstein National Bankruptcy Moot Court (Hillinger)
LL69101 Frederick Douglass Moot Court (Beckman)
LL51501 Gibbons Criminal Procedure Moot Court (Bloom)
LL50001 J. Braxton Craven Moot Court (Barnico)
LL98101 Jessup International Moot Court (Carey)
LL61801 National Environmental Law Moot Court (Plater)
LL98201 National Moot Court (Herrmann)
LL44701 Saul Lefkowitz IP Moot Court (Liu)
Publications (Selection process required)
LL79001 3rd World Law Journal (Wylie)
LL98901 Environmental Affairs Law Review (Plater)
LL98701 International and Comparative Law Review (Wylie)
LL99901 Law Review (Wylie)
LL98301 U.C.C. Reporter Digest (Hillinger)
* Students who opt for the higher number of credits will fulfill the upper level writing requirement.
**This course will satisfy the
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GRADUATION REQUIREMENTS
Students may enroll in any of the courses listed and described in the course description material, subject to prerequisite requirements for certain upper level courses and some limited enrollment courses.
In the first year, all candidates for the J.D. degree must follow the prescribed course schedule. Students must take 52 credit hours during their second and third years. Each student must take no fewer than 12 and not more than 17 hours each semester. In unusual circumstances, exceptions may be allowed with permission in writing from the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs or his/her designee.
To graduate, students must be in residence, full-time, for 6 semesters and must successfully complete a minimum of 85 credit hours. To be considered a full-time student in residence, a student must register for a minimum of 12 credit hours per semester. After the first year, students are strongly advised to take 26 credit hours per year. This will allow completion of the remaining 52 credits while maintaining a manageble course load in the last two years.
With three exceptions, all upper-level courses are electives. Constitutional Law II is a required course that must be completed prior to graduation. All students are also required to take a course in Professional Responsibility or a related subject prior to graduation. Students who entered law school in fall 2001 or later also are required to take at least one upper level course offering a substantial writing experience.
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