Concentration in Advocacy and Dispute Resolution
Our Advocacy Concentration prepares our students for future roles as advocates through a combination of coursework and experiential learning.
Led by our Center for Advocacy and Dispute Resolution, our unique curriculum features:
- instruction by experienced faculty
- state of the art courtrooms and technology
- opportunities to practice lawyering skills in our nationally recognized legal clinic and externship programs
- supportive, experiential learning environments
The concentration includes three requirements
Requirement 1
Students begin the Advocacy Concentration by taking courses in applied evidence and trial practice in the Fall of their second year. These courses allow students to learn evidentiary rules and concepts while simultaneously developing advocacy and courtroom skills: opening statements, direct and cross examination, documents and exhibits, objections, and closing arguments.
The course culminates in a simulated criminal or civil jury trial.
Requirement 2
Students take an additional twelve hours of related courses during their second and third years of study. These courses allow students to acquire skills and explore possible paths in criminal law, many areas of civil litigation, and alternative dispute resolution.
- Adjudicatory Criminal Procedure
- Administrative Law
- Advanced Appellate Advocacy
- Advanced Clinic
- Advanced Criminal Law
- Advanced Trial Practice
- Alternative Dispute Resolution
- Arbitration
- Civil Pretrial Litigation
- Civil Rights Actions
- Complex Litigation
- Conflict of Laws
- Criminal Law Seminar
- Criminal Pretrial Litigation
- Domestic Violence Clinic
- E-Discovery
- Expungement Mini-Clinic
- Federal Courts
- Field Placement*
- Interviewing & Counseling
- Investigatory Criminal Procedure
- Judicial Externship
- Jurisprudence
- Negotiation
- Remedies
- Wrongful Convictions Seminar
- Issues in the Law**
* Subject to the student receiving approval from the Director.
** The “Issues in the Law” designation is for the purpose of allowing additional or newly developed litigation and dispute resolution courses to satisfy the elective requirement for the completion of the concentration in advocacy and dispute resolution. An Issues in the Law course must be approved by the Dean or the Dean’s designee as satisfying the requirements of the concentration.
Requirement 3
As the capstone to the concentration, students complete a six-hour legal clinic or externship in either their second or third year. The clinical and externship programs provide opportunities for students to put theory into practice by representing actual clients under the supervision of skilled instructors or practitioners.
As you may imagine, many students believe this is the highlight of their law school careers. The available opportunities include:
- Advocacy Clinic
- Prosecution Externship
- Public Defender Externship
- Semester in Residence*
*Subject to the student receiving approval from the Director.
Have any questions about this concentration?
Reach out to Rodd Barckhoff, Interim Director of the Center for Advocacy and Dispute Resolution, or Tammy Rooney, Administrative Assistant