Upper-Division & Graduation Requirements

FIRST YEAR CURRICULUM >>    |   UPPER-DIVISION & GRADUATION REQUIREMENTS BELOW

UPPER-DIVISION REQUIREMENTS*

In addition to the courses required in the first year, the College of Law requires upper-division students to complete a sequence of courses during the second and third year of legal studies that will ensure a well-rounded legal education. Each student is required to complete a seminar that entails a major paper, earn at least 10 hours in courses designated as skills courses and take a course that offers a perspective on American law from another legal system or discipline.

SKILLS REQUIREMENT

Each student, after completing their first year, must successfully complete at least 10 hours of instruction in designated skills courses. These courses are designed to train students in professional skills needed to practice law. All clinic courses are skills courses. Courses other than clinical offerings meet the skills requirement only if they involve multiple opportunities for assessment in drafting or simulation exercises involving problems of a type encountered in the practice of law. Skills course examples include Advanced Legal Research and Writing, Alternative Dispute Resolution, Business Planning, Civil Practice: An Introduction and Corporate Finance, among others.

SEMINAR REQUIREMENT

Each student, during his or her second or third year, must complete, with a grade of “C” or higher, a seminar designated as complying with the Upper-Division Writing Requirement. Seminar course examples include Capital Punishment, Constitutional Interpretation, Environmental Law and Intellectual Property, among others.

AVAILABLE CERTIFICATE PROGRAMS

*Subject to Change

GRADUATION REQUIREMENTS

The degree of Juris Doctor is conferred upon application to all students with six full-time semesters of residence who have successfully completed a total of 90 hours, including the courses graded with an “S” or “U,” and with an accumulative average of 2.00 for all courses in which a letter grade is given. 

Degrees are conferred at the end of the semester during which requirements were completed. Commencement exercises are held at the close of spring semester. Students who complete their work prior to the spring semester are invited to participate.

Students who graduate with an average of 3.60 or higher graduate ”With High Distinction.” Those who graduate with an average of 3.30 or above graduate “With Distinction.”