Concentration - Criminal Law
Juris Doctor
Description
The School of Law offers three years of instruction leading to the Juris Doctor Degree. Also available are concurrent degrees: JD/Master's in Taxation, JD/Master's in Accountancy.
Minimum Total Credit Hours: 90
Course Requirements
Students must successfully complete 31 hours of required 1L courses, including Law 501 Contracts, Law 502 Torts, Law 503 Civil Procedure I, Law 504 Property, Law 507 Constitutional Law I, Law 514 Legal Research and Writing I, Law 515 Legal Research and Writing II and Law 568 Criminal Law.
Additionally, upper class (2L and 3L) students must complete Law 603 Legal Profession and both a skills course and a writing course as designated by the law faculty. Otherwise, students have free choice of elective courses to complete the remainder of their credit hours.
Sample Curricula for Juris Doctor Degree Description Fall Spring Any Year 1 (all courses required) Contracts Law 501 3 3 Torts Law 502 3 3 Civil Procedure I Law 503 3 Property Law 504 4 Legal Research & Writing I Law 514 3 Legal Research & Writing II Law 515 3 Criminal Law Law 568 3 Constitutional Law I Law 507 3 Year 2 Evidence Law 600 4 Civil Procedure II Law 577 3 Constitutional Law II Law 508 3 Secured Transactions Law 571 3 Federal Habeas Corpus Law 716 2 Income Tax/Individuals Law 613 3 Federal Jurisdiction Law 696 3 Criminal Procedure I: Investigation Law 635 3 Legal Profession Law 603 3 (requirement) Environmental Law 581 3 Year 3 Federal Trial Practice Law 678 3 (Skills requirement) Federal Indian Law 730 3 International Law 620 3 Local Government Law 564 3 Intellectual Property 580 3 Administrative Law 605 3 Advanced Legal Writing Law 712 3 (Writing requirement) Bankruptcy 558 3 Civil Legal Clinic 4 Individual Study Law 615 1 Pro Bono Law 713 1 *Note: Other than the required courses indicated above, students may choose from a large variety of elective courses to complete their law degree.
Other Academic Requirements
In addition to the successful completion of 90 credit hours of required and elective coursework, students must have six semesters of resident (full time equivalent) study and an overall grade-point average of 2.00 (C) or better.
Concentration - Criminal Law
Description
The concentration in criminal law is designed to provide students with broad-based exposure to concepts, topics, and skills vital to criminal law practitioners and to prepare students for careers in criminal law.
Course Requirements
A student must complete 27 credit hours in criminal law and advocacy related subjects. Four core courses (Criminal Law 568, Evidence Law 600, Criminal Procedure I Law 635 and Criminal Procedure II Law 714) are required. The remainder of the credit hours can be fulfilled by taking courses from a list of approved elective courses:
- Children in the Legal System 646
- Criminal Trial Practice 686
- Cyber Crime 718
- Death Penalty 721
- Federal Criminal Trial Practice 678
- Federal Habeas Corpus 716
- Legal Problems of Indigence 639
- Prosecution Function 685
- Sentencing 668
- Youth Court Seminar 550
- Criminal Appeals Clinic 697*
- Prosecution Externship Placement 654*
- Public Service Internship Placement (limited to public defender placements) 636*
- Innocence Project 692*
*Clinical courses
As appropriate, additional courses and Selected Legal Topic courses focusing on criminal justice may also be included in this category on a case-by-case basis.
Each student must also complete a clinical and a writing requirement. The clinical requirement is satisfied by the student taking one approved clinical course (see above), while the writing requirement is satisfied by selecting a course from the elective category that requires a graded term paper, or by writing a graded term paper as an independent study project under the supervision of a faculty member. The topic of the paper must pertain to criminal justice and must be a minimum of 25 pages.
Other Academic Requirements
A cumulative grade-point average of 2.5 in all concentration courses must be achieved in order to successfully complete the concentration. Students earning a cumulative grade-point average of 3.2 or higher in all concentration courses will have “with honors” reflected on their certificates.