First-Year Courses
First-year students share the same course load for the full academic year to establish a strong foundation in the law and expose students to various aspects of the law and lawyering. The first-year curriculum integrates practical training, legal writing, and career planning.
Fall Semester
Civil Procedure*
LAW 801 | 4 credit hours
Introduction to the process of civil litigation in federal court, including study of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and related federal statutes. Course covers the selection of proper court (jurisdiction and venue), pleading, joinder of claims and parties, discovery, trials, verdicts, judgments (including the preclusive effect of judgments), ascertaining applicable law, and appeals.
Contracts
LAW 803 | 4 credit hours
An introductory course on the law of contracts. This course takes up basic questions about the common law principles governing the formation, interpretation, performance, and enforcement of contracts, as well as the basic remedies for their breach.
Lawyering and Professionalism
LAW 811 | 1 credit hour
This course provides basic training in essential lawyering skills, introduces the values of the legal profession, and offers resources for early career planning.
Legal Process I
LAW 805 | 3 credit hours
Lawyer-like use of cases and statutes in prediction and persuasion. Analysis and synthesis of common law decisions; statutory interpretation; fundamentals of expository legal writing and legal research.
Legal Research
LAW 815 | .5 credit hour/semester (1 credit hour will be awarded after the completion of both semesters of this course)
Basics of court systems and structures and how they relate to legal sources; types of authorities and their use in the research process; formulation of research plans; basics of researching statutes, cases, and regulations; use of tools for research including indexes, digests, and keyword searching; expanding and updating research; and appropriate use of citations.
Torts*
LAW 807 | 4 credit hours
Intentional torts, defenses and privileges related to intentional torts; negligence: standard of care, professional malpractice, and liability of owners and occupiers of land; defenses based on plaintiff’s conduct: contributory and comparative negligence, and assumption of risk, failure to take precautions, and avoidable consequences; causation, proximate cause; duty rules; questions of joint and several or several liability; vicarious liability and related concepts; strict liability for dangerous animals and abnormally dangerous activities; products liability; and damages.
*First-year students enroll in an “In Practice” section of either Civil Procedure or Torts . The “In Practice” sections include three graded, simulation-based assignments. Each simulation places students in the role of lawyer, raises professionalism issues, requires students to perform a lawyering skill, and results in a written and/or oral work product. In addition to a final examination, the course also includes a midterm exam that includes at least one essay question.
Spring Semester
Criminal Law
LAW 809 | 3 credit hours
Substantive aspects of criminal law; general principles applicable to all criminal conduct; specific analysis of particular crimes; defenses to crimes.
Legal Process II
LAW 806 | 3 credit hours
Continuation of Legal Process I. Formal legal writing, appellate procedure, and oral advocacy.
Legal Research
LAW 815 | .5 credit hour/semester (1 credit hour will be awarded after the completion of both semesters of this course)
Basics of court systems and structures and how they relate to legal sources; types of authorities and their use in the research process; formulation of research plans; basics of researching statutes, cases, and regulations; use of tools for research including indexes, digests, and keyword searching; expanding and updating research; and appropriate use of citations.
Property
LAW 810 | 4 credit hours
Introductory course treating issues of ownership, possession, and title in the areas of: landlord-tenant relations; estates in land and future interests; co-ownership and marital property; real estate sales agreements and conveyances; title assurance and recording statutes; servitudes; and selected aspects of nuisance law, eminent domain and zoning.
Elective
3 credit hours
In the spring semester, first-year students will take a 3-credit upper-level elective from a specially designated list of courses. Possible electives may include Administrative Law, Advanced Civil Procedure, Business Associations, and Investigatory Criminal Procedure.