Our Curriculum
The Law School curriculum consists of over 150 courses covering everything from Criminal Law to Contract Drafting, from Energy Law to Evidence, and from First Amendment Law to Federal Income Tax. The first-year curriculum and upper-level required courses are designed to introduce students to the fundamental skills and knowledge necessary for legal practice. Beyond these courses, our curriculum offers scores of additional opportunities for student specialize in a particular area of law or instead survey different areas of interest.
Courses & J.D. Requirements
General Requirements
The 87 semester hours necessary for graduation must include the successful completion of the following courses and requirements:
Sixty-four credits from courses that require attendance in regularly scheduled classroom sessions or direct faculty instruction; such course will be explicitly identified as "Classroom Courses" by the faculty.
Six credits from experiential courses, which include simulation courses, clinics, and externships; such courses will be explicitly identified as "Experiential Courses" by the faculty.
The courses listed below as "Required First-Year Courses".
The courses listed below as "Required Upper-Level Courses".
A "Writing in Practice" course.
The "Upper-Level Writing Requirement" set forth below.
Required First-Year Courses
The following courses totaling 33 semester hours are required.
LAWR-515 Civil Procedure
LAWR-503 Constitutional Law
LAWR-513 Contracts
LAWR-506 Criminal Law
LAWR-517 Legal Analysis and Writing I
LAWR-518 Legal Analysis and Writing II
LAWR-520 Legal Research
LAWR-519 Legislation and Regulation
LAWR-522 Professional Identity Formation I
LAWR-523 Professional Identity Formation II
LAWR-516 Property
LAWR-514 Torts
Required Upper-Level Courses
The following upper-level course is required in the fall after completing the first year.
LAWR-598 Trial Advocacy
Required Upper-Level Courses
Writing in Practice Courses
One of the following upper-level courses is required:
LAWE-768 Advanced Legal Analysis and Writing
LAWE-748 Advanced Legal Research
LAWE 597 Appellate Advocacy
LAWE-699 Selected Topics: Art of the Argument
LAWE-753 Children's Defense Clinic
LAWE-679 Contract Drafting
LAWE-790 Intellectual Property and Transactional Law Clinic
LAWE-756 International Business Practice
LAWE-601 Pre-Trial Litigation Skills
LAWE-639 Public Policy Research and Drafting
LAWE-660 Regulatory Law Practicum
LAWE-711 Workers Compensation
Upper-Level Writing Requirement (ULWR)
During either the second or third year of law school, each J.D. student must satisfactorily complete a substantial paper requiring in-depth research of a specific area of law. The paper must evidence a sophisticated knowledge of the law and provide a rigorous, thoughtful analysis of an unsettled area of the law, issue of first impression, or other legal topic requiring substantial original thinking. A paper meeting this requirement will be at least 5,000 words in length, not including citations. Any paper approved by the professor may satisfy this requirement, as long as above criteria are met, but examples of a qualifying paper include:
A scholarly paper.
An appellate brief (including an amicus brief).
A policy memorandum.
The paper must be written as part of a course or independent study of at least two credits, designated as ULWR on BannerWeb, and the paper must constitute a major part of the assessment in course. In addition, faculty must require certain input measures of student performance, including:
Predrafting requirements (e.g., topic proposal and detailed outline).
At least one full draft, on which the professor provides individualized feedback (e.g., one-on-one conferences, extensive written comments, etc.) that addresses both student writing and analysis.
A final draft.
Second- or Third-Year Elective Courses
Note: A course in professional responsibility and the elective course Evidence must be satisfactorily completed by the end of the second year if the student wishes to qualify to appear in a Virginia court as a third-year student under the Third-Year Practice Rule. Students may obtain a Third-year Practice certificate after they have completed 56 credits, plus courses in Civil Procedure, Criminal Law, Evidence, and Professional Responsibility. This certificate allows a student to appear in some courts under the supervision of a licensed attorney.
LAWE-607 Administrative Law
LAWE-776 Advanced Clinical Practice: Children
LAWE-772 Advanced Clinical Practice: Intellectual Property
LAWE-775 Advanced Clinical Practice: Wrongful Conviction
LAWE-786 Advanced Legal Analysis and Writing
LAWE-748 Advanced Legal Research
LAWE-632 Advanced Trial Advocacy
LAWE-699 Selected Topics: Advising the Entrepreneur
LAWE-612 Agency and Partnership
LAWE-766 Aging and Disability Law Practicum
LAWE-709 Animal Law
LAWE-699 Selected Topics: Anti-Bribery Law in International Business
LAWE-613 Antitrust
LAWE-669 Art of the Argument
LAWE-704 Bankruptcy and Corporate Reorganization
LAWE-699 Building Blocks of Starting a Small/Solo Practice
LAWE-602 Business Associations
LAWE-616 Children and the Law
LAWE-753 Children's Defense Clinic
LAWE-631 Civil Litigation Fundamentals
LAWE 626 Civil Rights History
LAWE-686 Civil Rights Litigation
LAWE-699 Selected Topics: Civil and Criminal Litigation Research
LAWE 682 Civil Trial Advocacy
LAWE-699 Selected Topics: Commercial Transactions and Emerging Technology
LAWE-699 Selected Topics: Comparative Constitutional Legal Systems
LAWE-694 Comparative Public Law of the U.S. and U.K.
LAWE-621 Conflicts of Laws
LAWE-699 Selected Topics: Constitutional History
LAWE-651 Constitutional Law II: Individual Rights
LAWE-679 Contract Drafting
LAWE-788 Copyright Law
LAWE-619 Core Commercial Law Concepts
LAWE-624 Core Legal Concepts
LAWE-726 Corporate Compliance
LAWE-689 Corporate Finance
LAWE-721 Corporate Governance
LAWE-623 Corporate Taxation
LAWE-699 Selected Topics: Corporate and Business Law Research
LAWE-737 Corruption in International Sports II
LAWE-731 Corruption, Human Rights, and Mega Sports
LAWE-604 Criminal Defense Practice
LAWE-605 Criminal Law and Psychiatry
LAWE-625 Criminal Procedure: Adjudication
LAWE-603 Criminal Procedure: Investigation
LAWE-783 Criminal Trial Advocacy
LAWE-754 Crimmigration
LAWE-699 Selected Topics: Critical Theory Workshop
LAWE-745 D.C. Externship
LAWE 627 Diversity in Education and Employment
LAWE-785 Domestic Violence Seminar
LAWE-628 Employment Discrimination Law
LAWE-629 Employment Law
LAWE-666 Energy Law
LAWE-700 Entertainment Law
LAWE-620 Environmental Law
LAWE-633 Estate and Gift Taxation
LAWE-599 Evidence
LAWE-657 Expert Evidence
LAWE 696 Externship: Advanced
LAWE-750 Externship: Civil
LAWE-751 Externship: Criminal
LAWE-746 Externship: In-House
LAWE-752 Externship: Judicial
LAWE-749 Externship: Litigation
LAWE 698 Externship: Semester
LAWE-702 Family Law Procedure
LAWE-707 Family Law
LAWE-636 Federal Courts
LAWE 692 Federal Income Tax Lab
LAWE-600 Federal Income Taxation
LAWE-699 Selected Topics: Feminist Perspectives on Law
LAWE-676 First Amendment Law
LAWE-680 Health Law
LAWE-699 Selected Topics: Health Reform in America
LAWE-760 Housing Law
LAWE-667 Human Rights Seminar
LAWE-699 Selected Topics: Identity, Culture, & the Law
LAWE-758 Immigration Law
LAWE-781 Immigration Rights Practicum
LAWE-796 Independent Study
LAWE-641 Intellectual Property Fundamentals
LAWE-655 Intellectual Property Law and Policy Seminar
LAWE-790 Intellectual Property and Transactional Law Clinic
LAWE-699 Selected Topics: Internal Corporate & Government Investigations
LAWE-756 International Business Practice
LAWE-642 International Business Transactions
LAWE-699 Selected Topics: International Criminal Justice & Transnational Justice
LAWE-685 International Law Practicum
LAWE-643 International Law
LAWE-699 Selected Topics: Intersections of Human Identity and American Law
LAWE-670 Interviewing and Counseling
LAWE-653 Introduction to Business
LAWE-590 Jurisprudence
LAWE-699 Selected Topics: Juvenile Law
LAWE-644 Labor Law
LAWE-645 Land Use Planning
LAWE-638 Law and Literature
LAWE-693 Law of the European Nation
LAWE 652 Lawyers as Leaders
LAWE-699 Selected Topics: Leading & Managing the Business Law
LAWE-699 Selected Topics: Legal Business Design Practicum
LAWE-592 Legal History Seminar
LAWE 630 Legislative Advocacy
LAWE-779 London Externship Program
LAWE 688 Mediation
LAWE-762 Medical Malpractice
LAWE-705 Mergers and Acquisitions
LAWE-699 Selected Topics: Moot Court Competition
LAWE 634 National Security and New Technologies
LAWE-672 Negotiation
LAWE-744 Patent Law
LAWE-618 Payments in the 21st Century: How Money Moves
LAWE 650 Plea Bargaining & Sentencing
LAWE-718 Poverty Law Practicum
LAWE-601 Pre-Trial Litigation Skills
LAWE-654 Products Liability Law
LAWE-734 Professional Responsibility: Criminal Practice
LAWE-724 Professional Responsibility: Family Law
LAWE-618 Payments in the 21st Century: How Money Moves
LAWE-699 Practice Design and Innovation
LAWE-639 Public Policy Research and Drafting
LAWE-699 Selected Topics: Race, Class, Power & Privilege
LAWE 648 Race & the Constitution
LAWE-611 Real Estate Transfers and Finance
LAWE-660 Regulatory Law Practicum
LAWE-656 Remedies
LAWE-780 Research Assistant
LAWE-743 Restorative Justice
LAWE-675 Sales and Leases
LAWE-677 Secured Transactions
LAWE-658 Securities Regulation
LAWE-719 Selected Issues in Public International Law
LAWE-615 Selected Topics in Virginia Law
LAWE-728 Sentencing Law
LAWE-699 Selected Topics: Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, and the Law
LAWE-730 Spanish Legal Skills
LAWE-690 Sports and the Law
LAWE 637 State and Local Taxation
LAWE-674 Tax Policy Seminar
LAWE-635 Taxation of Partnerships and LLCs
LAWE 649 Technology Law
LAWE 646 Ending Slavery & Securing Freedom: The History of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments
LAWE-697 The Death Penalty
LAWE-699 Selected Topics: The Mindful Lawyer
LAWE-715 The Prosecution Project
LAWE-768 Trademark Law
LAWE-793 Trial Competition
LAWE-722 Veteran's Law
LAWE 695 Veteran's Law Moot Court
LAWE-699 Selected Topics: Vices-Prohibition, Registration, and Social Impact
LAWE-662 Virginia Legal Research
LAWE-664 Virginia Procedure
LAWE-683 Voting Rights
LAWE-687 White Collar Crime
LAWE-606 Wills and Trusts
LAWE-711 Workers Compensation
LAWE-699 Selected Topics: Writing for Clerks
LAWE-774 Wrongful Conviction Clinic
LAWE-770 Wrongful Conviction Seminar