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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 Georgetown Law faculty laid out its aspirations for Georgetown Law 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 our extraordinary faculty and the rich curriculum they offer uniquely equip Georgetown Law for this ambitious task. In addition to a wide variety of courses in more than 27 traditional legal fields, the Georgetown Law curriculum provides numerous opportunities in courses and clinics for students to develop the problem-solving, negotiation and mediation skills modern legal practice demands. Georgetown Law'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.
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. Georgetown Law 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 also 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 ProgramFull 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 9:00 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, full-time students enroll in 12-16 credit hours in each semester. The essays in the Upperclass Curriculum Guide suggest how upperclass students might design their upperclass curriculum. Part-Time ProgramGeorgetown Law 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 Georgetown Law's full-time faculty was a part-time student not too long ago. The part-time program is designed to allow part-time students to complete the J.D. degree requirements in eight academic semesters. Part-time students may accelerate their program for the degree to seven semesters plus 8 or more academic credits over two or more Summer sessions. Classes in the part-time program generally meet from 5:45 p.m. until 7:45 p.m. on weekdays, but upperclass students in the part-time program may take upperclass courses that meet during the day on a space available basis. 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 2:30 p.m. During the first year, students in the part-time program pursue a 20 credit-hour required program of study. During the second year, part-time students pursue a program of 8 semester hours of required courses together with elective courses. Part-time students are also required to take a course that meets the "first-year" elective requirement in a semester of their choosing during their second, third or fourth years. Like their full-time counterparts, upperclass part-time students must also take a course in Professional Responsibility and fulfill the upperclass Legal Writing Requirement. Aside from these requirements, part-time students pursue an elective program of study in their upperlevel years. In order to better serve students for whom the part-time program was designed and to remain true to the spirit in which the part-time program was established, students will now be permitted to transfer from the part-time program to the full-time program only in cases of a demonstrated significant change in circumstances. In connection with this change in policy, the size of the part-time program will also be reduced to 80 students. Helpful advice about formulating an upperclass evening curriculum is contained in the Part-Time Student Handbook and the Upperclass Curriculum Guide. The First Year Program of InstructionThere are two first year curricula available to Georgetown Law 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. Four 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 in the full-time division 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 in an afternoon and evening version to accommodate students in the full-time and part-time divisions. First Year Small Section Program The first year class is divided into sections and students take most of their classes with their section. Sections in the full-time program are approximately 100 students. The part-time section is approximately 80 students. In the fall semester, each student is assigned to a smaller group of approximately 28-33 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 legal research and writing course is also taught in a smaller class. 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. First Year J.D. Tutorial Program The First Year J.D. Tutorial Program provides individual subject tutoring to first year students. In order to be assigned a tutor, first year students must meet with Elizabeth Ewert, Director of Academic Enhancement Programs, in order to determine the appropriate tutor assignment. Please call (202) 662-4066, email Ms. Ewert at ee3@law.georgetown.edu, or visit the Office of the Dean of Students in McDonough 210 to make an appointment. The tutoring service is designed to assist J.D. students who are experiencing difficulties in a particular subject, and is provided at no cost to them. Tutors are upperclass students who performed well academically in their first years, and who have an interest in helping current first year students do the same. They are selected through an interview process to serve as tutors for a given academic year. When possible, students are assigned tutors who had the same professor for the course at issue. The tutor and students will devise a mutually convenient schedule for meetings, and will generally meet an average of one to two hours per week. Students can be paired with tutors as early as their first semester. This pairing is done in response to the student's needs, the student's areas of concern, and assessment as to whether other assistance or intervention would better serve the student. The assessment of tutoring needs for second semester also includes an evaluation of the grades received by the student during the first semester. There is no set grade or average a student must receive in order to qualify for second semester tutoring, but the program is meant to support those who are most in need and not as a general study aid. 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 drawn from two categories: legislative/regulatory law and international/comparative/transnational law. The Spring 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, Torts, and Week One: Law in a Global Context during their first year and Criminal Justice and Property in their second year, along with other elective courses. First year full-time students register for the "Spring" elective during the fall semester of their first year. Part-time students must complete their "first-year" elective sometime before graduation. 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. Attendance is mandatory at all class sessions, Monday-Friday of Week One. Through lectures, discussion sections and simulation exercises, Week One allows students to address complex problems of international and transnational law.
Curriculum "A" Elective Courses
Curriculum "B" Courses - Description
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