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The Juris Doctor Program strives to prepare students to be superb lawyers
who combine the highest analytical ability with ethical sensitivity. The Law
Center Faculty recently laid out its aspirations for Law Center graduates
in the 1999-2000 Long Range Plan.
First, as lawyers, they should be capable of addressing imaginatively and constructively novel problems arising from new institutional arrangements and technologies, based on familiarity with the theoretic foundations of legal materials. Second, as leaders in their profession, they should enjoy and have the capacity to assess, criticize, and reform laws and institutions. Third, as citizens with the capacity to lead public debate, they should pursue social justice with wisdom, knowledge and integrity.
The diverse interests of the Law Center's extraordinary faculty and the rich curriculum they offer uniquely equip Georgetown University Law Center for this ambitious task.
In addition to a wide variety of courses in more than 25 traditional
legal fields, the Law Center curriculum provides numerous opportunities
in courses and clinics for students to develop the problem-solving, negotiation
and mediation skills modern legal practice demands. The Law Center's extensive
international law curriculum and numerous multidisciplinary courses and
programs also enable students to prepare themselves for a profession that
is increasingly global and interdisciplinary.
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First Year Requirements
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Upperclass Requirements
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| Full
Time Program |
31 credit hours
of required course work. |
Course in professional responsibility.
Upperclass legal writing requirement.
12-16 credits per semester. |
| Part
Time Program |
24 credit hours of required course work.
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Second year requirements of Criminal Justice and "perspective elective."
Course in professional responsibility.
Upperclass legal writing requirement.
8-11 credits per semester |
Students may pursue their legal education
through the Full Time Program or a Part
Time Program curriculum (see the comparison chart at right). Full
time faculty teach in both divisions and the same standards of performance
are required of day and evening students. The Law Center also draws
on the rich community of practitioners in Washington, DC, who teach
specialized courses in both divisions and help to bridge the gap between
legal theory and practice.
Several joint
degrees are offered, through which students may combine their
legal education with a business degree, the study of international
affairs, public health, public policy, government, or philosophy.
Full time students devote substantially all
of their time during the academic year to the study of law. The program
is six semesters long (three academic years). Classes meet between 8:30
a.m. and 5:30 p.m. Day students may take courses in the part time program on a space-available basis.
During their first year, full time students take 31 semester hours of required course work. Beyond the first year required curriculum, students are required to take a course in Professional Responsibility and fulfill the Upperclass Legal Writing Requirement. In upperclass years, students enroll in 12-16 credit hours. The essays in
the Upperclass Curriculum Guide suggest how
upperclass students might design their upperclass curriculum.
The Georgetown University Law Center has a long tradition of providing
quality legal education to working students. In fact, Georgetown's Law
School was founded as an evening program. In 1870, the first catalog announced
that "[t]he exercises will be held in the evening in order to facilitate
the attendance of gentlemen who are engaged in the service of the Government."
Twenty-five students attended the Law School's first lecture.
This tradition continues more than 125 years later. Today, many men and
women employed full time by the federal government, law firms, trade associations,
and other organizations are able to attend one of the nation's best law
schools while working full time. Former Senator George Mitchell is just
one of many well known graduates of the Part Time Program. Professor
Mitt Regan on the Law Center's full time faculty was a part time student
not too long ago. The Part Time Program ordinarily takes eight
semesters and one summer session of study. In certain circumstances,
a student enrolled in the Part Time Program may complete all requirements
for the degree in seven semesters plus two eight-week summer sessions.
Classes in this program generally meet from 5:45 p.m. until 7:45 p.m.
on weekdays. In the first year of the Part Time Program, students attend
class until 8:50 p.m. on two weekday evenings. A limited number of
upperclass
electives are offered on Saturdays between 9:30 a.m. and 1:40 p.m.
Most elective courses meeting during the full time hours are open to
part
time students.
During the first year, students in the Part Time Program pursue a 24-semester-hour required program of study. During the second year, students pursue a program of 7 semester hours of required courses together with elective courses. During the third and fourth years, part time students pursue an elective program of study. Helpful advice about formulating an upperclass evening curriculum is
contained in the Part
Time Student Handbook (in PDF format) and the Upperclass
Curriculum Guide.
There are two first year curricula available to Georgetown students, curriculum "A" and curriculum "B". Both are designed to provide students with the foundation for upperclass studies by introducing the major areas of substantive law while developing the analytical, research and writing skills required of all lawyers.
Curriculum "A" is the traditional first year
curriculum which parallels those at all major law schools. Curriculum
"B" was developed in 1991 by a faculty committee charged by the Dean
to comprehensively rethink the first year of law school and offers an
innovative and integrated approach to the study of law. A more detailed
description of the two first year curriculums is available below. Three
full time sections and the part time first year program section are
instructed under curriculum "A". One full
time section is instructed under curriculum
"B".
Students in both curricula take 31 credit hours during the first year. First year students typically have two to three classes Monday through Thursday and at least one class on Fridays. The courses in each curriculum are described below. The first year classroom instruction is complemented by "Maximizing
Learning in the First Year," a series of presentations by faculty, administrators
and upperclass students that address such topics as note-taking, participating
in the law school classroom, outlining, and taking law school exams. Each
session is offered twice, at 3:30 p.m. and at 8:00 p.m.
First Year Small Section Program
First year classes at the Law Center meet primarily in sections
of 110-116 students. In one semester (usually the fall), however, each
student is assigned to a smaller group of approximately 30 students for
one required course. This smaller class is intended to encourage class
participation and allow faculty to use teaching techniques that are not
appropriate in larger classes. The small sections of the legal research
and writing courses are formed from these same sub-groups of students
so that students have all of their first year classes with a consistent
group of 28-32 peers.
This structure provides each student with
a smaller cohort of peers with whom they share a common first year
experience. Study groups as well as close friendships often form within
the small
sections and the faculty members who teach the small sections often
become informal advisors to the students in their section. Each small
section professor hosts an annual dinner for the small section, which
provides an opportunity for the students to interact with this faculty
member and each other outside of the classroom.
Tutorial Program
The tutorial program primarily provides academic support to first
year students. Each of the first year sections is assigned an upperclass
tutor who meets with students on a weekly basis. The topics covered include:
case analysis, case briefing, course outlining, substantive review sessions
and exam preparation, as well as general advice on the law school experience.
Students are admitted to the program on a voluntary basis. Individual
tutors are also available for first year and upperclass students.
First Year Courses
During the first year, students are enrolled in either
the "A" or the "B" curriculum.
All students in the "A" curriculum begin their legal studies with eight courses,
including a 3-credit elective in the spring semester chosen from a group
of "perspective" courses. The perspective electives for the current year
are listed below.
Full time students take all eight courses
during their first year.
Part time students take Civil Procedure, Constitutional
Law I: The Federal System, Contracts, Legal Research and Writing, Property, Torts, and Week One: Law in a Global Context during their first year and Criminal Justice and the "perspective"
course in their second year, along with other elective courses.
First year full time students register for
the "perspective" elective during the fall semester of their first year.
Part time students register in the spring of their first year in conjunction
with course planning for the second year.
The "B" curriculum, available to one section of full time students,
requires eight courses different in emphasis from those in the "A" curriculum:
Bargain, Exchange, and Liability; Democracy and Coercion; Government Processes;
Legal Justice Seminar; Legal Practice: Writing and Analysis; Process; Property in Time; and Week One: Law in a Global Context. The "B" section emphasizes the sources of law in
history, philosophy, political theory, and economics. It also seeks to
reflect the increasingly public nature of contemporary law.
First year students in both Curriculum A and Curriculum B take the 1-credit intensive course "Week One: Law in a Global Context" during the first week of the spring semester. Through lectures, discussion sections and simulation exercises, Week One allows students to address complex problems of international and transnational law.
Curriculum "A" Courses
- Civil Procedure
Professors Abernathy, Perdue, Schrag, Solum
4 Semester Hours
- Constitutional Law I: The Federal System
Professors Cashin, Dinh, Goldberg, Gottesman, Katyal, Lederman, Pitofsky, Schneiderman, Vazquez, Wales
3 Semester Hours
- Contracts
Professors Barnett, Klass, Oldham, Patterson, Spann, Vukowich
4 Semester Hours
- Criminal Justice
Professors Cole, Forman, Harris, Rubin
4 Semester Hours
- Legal Research and Writing
Professors Bonneau, DeLaurentis, Donahoe, Girard, Golden, McCabe, Shulman, Tiscione, Wolitz
4 Semester Hours
- Property
Professors Cashin, J. Cohen, Ernst, Gottesman
4 Semester Hours
- Torts
Professors Feldman, Mikhail, Page, Spann, Rothstein, West, Zeiler
4 Semester Hours
- Week One: Law in a Global Context
1 Semester Hour
Curriculum "A" Elective Courses
Curriculum "B" Courses - Description
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