First-Year Curriculum

Each first-year student will take a set curriculum of 16 credits each semester.  The courses are as follows:

Fall Semester Classes

Contracts I (2)
Property I (3)
Torts I (2)
Constitutional Law I (2)
Civil Procedure (4)
Lawyering Skills I (3)

Spring Semester Classes

Contracts II (3)
Property II (2)
Torts II (3)
Constitutional Law II (3)
Criminal Law (3)
Lawyering Skills II (2)

Civil Procedure

Processes that courts use in resolving civil disputes from pleadings through trial, as well as the jurisdictional doctrines that determine the proper court to hear the action.

Constitutional Law I & II

The constitutional system of the United States and the modes of thought and criticism appropriate to constitutional law. Constitutional Law I focuses on three major themes of constitutional law: the role of the Supreme Court (“judicial review”), the relationship between the national government and the states (“federalism”), and the structure of the national government (“separation of powers”). Constitutional Law II focuses on three major themes of civil rights and civil liberties: the right of privacy, equal protection, and free speech.

Contracts I & II

Promises enforceable in our legal system with emphasis on private consensual transactions. Includes discussion of societal limitations upon, and third party interests in, these otherwise private transactions.

Criminal Law

General doctrines of criminal liability and the relationship between those doctrines and the moral and social problems of crime, including definitions of crimes, defenses to criminal prosecution, and limitations on the use of criminal sanctions.

Lawyering Skills I

Fundamental skills of legal research, analysis, and writing, as well as the rudimentary principles of the American legal system. Focus on how to research, analyze, and predict the likely outcome of any legal problem and then how to communicate through clearly written law-office memoranda. The first one-third of the course is taught during Orientation Week prior to the first day of regularly scheduled classes.

Lawyering Skills II

Building upon the skills acquired in Lawyering Skills I by shifting from objective, predictive analysis to persuasive analysis, further developing research and analytical skills by advocating a hypothetical client’s position through clear written and oral communication, researching and drafting an extensive brief for an appellate case, then arguing the brief against a student opponent in an appellate moot court.

Property Law I & II

Origins and contours of modern property law in the United States. Property I includes major topics of the acquisition and extent of rights in real property (land and buildings) and personal property (everything else), private and governmental limits on owners’ uses of real property, methods of transferring interests in property, the nature and extent of current and future interests in real property, co-ownership, and marital interests in real property. Property II examines rights and responsibilities of concurrent owners of real property, covenants and easements on real property, contracts for the sale of land, land deeds and titles, and landlord-tenant law.

Torts I & II

The law aimed at civil redress of harms inflicted by one individual (or individuals) upon another. Torts I includes intentional torts and negligence. Torts II adds strict liability, products liability, vicarious liability, joint tortfeasors, wrongful death and survival, defamation and privacy, affirmative defenses, and remedies.