Home > Prospective Students > The Curriculum > First-Year Curriculum

First-Year Curriculum: New and Wider Choices

Starting in fall 2008, the Law School will implement its revised first-year curriculum. At almost every American law school, for more than a century, the first year of a J.D. program has traditionally consisted of mainly common law core courses that focus on reading and analyzing appellate court decisions to help students learn to think like lawyers. The Law School’s new first-year curriculum still includes those core courses and skills training, but it also adds new courses that:

  • Provide more training in interpreting statutes, the main source of law in the contemporary world
  • Begin to train students in understanding the working life of a lawyer, including practical skills needed for interacting with clients and theoretical tools that help students understand the role of lawyers within society
  • Give students wider choices in their first year, allowing them to explore international law, corporate law, or emerging scholarly understandings of laws and lawyering
  • Examine the many ethical issues that can arise for practicing lawyers, through a series of lectures and panel discussions during the first year

First-semester courses:

Civil Procedure I (3 credits). This introduces the major procedural rules that govern litigation in court, focusing mainly on the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.

Constitutional Law I (3 credits). The first semester of Constitutional Law analyzes some of the leading structural provisions of the American Constitution.

Contracts (4 credits). Contract law creates the conditions under which promises or agreements between persons become legally binding commitments.

Torts (4 credits). Torts deals principally with such non-contractual civil wrongs as assault, battery, false imprisonment, intentional infliction of severe emotional distress, negligence, and conduct giving rise to strict liability.

Legal Writing (1 credit). Students engage in exercises drafting legal documents.

Second-semester courses:

Criminal Law (3 credits). This course examines elements of criminal liability and defenses, the purposes served by criminal penalties, and the rules that limit the imposition of criminal liability and/or punishment.

Property (4 credits). Property Law examines owners’ and possessors’ rights and liabilities with respect to land and other forms of property.

Legal Writing and Statutory Interpretation (3 credits). The second semester focuses on the skills needed to write legal briefs.

Civil Procedure II (3 credits). The second semester of Civil Procedure focuses especially on the topics of subject matter and personal jurisdiction, the rules that determine in what sorts of cases a court has the authority to decide a case.

Students also choose one of the following:

The Work of the Lawyer (3 credits). This course introduces students to the theory and practice of lawyering with a focus on both transactional and dispute resolution practice skills. It provides an integrated vision of theory, doctrine, and skills in the practice of law and provides a basis for students to develop a reflective stance toward law and law practice.

International Law (3 credits). This course is an introduction to international law, examining the sources and history of the law of nations, and concepts of jurisdiction and conflicts of jurisdiction of nation states.

Corporations (3 credits). This course examines the basic state and federal legal rules that define the governing structure of corporations.

Perspectives on the Law (3 credits). Team-taught by three faculty members who study the law from differing perspectives, this course exposes students to some of the leading current approaches to understanding the law and encourages them to reflect critically upon the role of law and lawyers in society.