Requirements for the Juris Doctor Degree

All requirements for the degree are subject to change at any time by the faculty. No increase in the number of semester hours required are made effective for students enrolled at the time of such change who remain in continuous attendance. Students who are not in continuous attendance or who transfer from another law school are subject to the requirements in effect at the time of their reentrance or admission.

Academic Credit

All candidates for the Juris Doctor degree must successfully complete a minimum of eighty-six (86) credits and pass all required courses. Full time students must complete all coursework for the Juris Doctor degree within five years; part-time students must complete coursework within six years. The Petitions Committee may grant an extension of up to seven years for good cause shown.

As a general rule, students are required to be enrolled in academic credits in this law school during their last year of study.

Grade Point Average

All candidates for the Juris Doctor degree must have a cumulative grade point of 2.30 for all work undertaken at the Law School. In computing the average, no consideration is given to grades received for work completed at other schools, including other law schools, even though transfer credit has been given for such work. Credit may not be given for work taken before a student's regular matriculation in the first degree in law program.

Residence Credit

Students must satisfy the residence requirement.

Three year day division students must complete a minimum of six semesters in residence, or the equivalent thereof, at this or another accredited law school. Evening division and four year day division students must complete a minimum of eight semesters, or the equivalent, at this or another accredited law school.

Residence credit per semester is determined by dividing 100% by the number of semesters a student must complete in residence (six semesters for students in the three year day program; eight semesters for students in the four year day program or in the evening division program). In order to earn full residence credit for a semester, a student in the three year day must satisfactorily complete at least ten credit hours for that semester; students in the four year day program and the evening program must satisfactorily complete at least eight credit hours for that semester.

If a student is not enrolled in, or fails to receive credit for, the minimum number of credit hours indicated above, he/she may receive partial credit. In order to make up the shortage of residence credits, students are required to (1) receive academic credit in one or more June/July Terms, (2) enroll in approved summer courses outside the School of Law, or (3) attend law school for one or more additional semesters.

Special Note: Students transferring from a part time (four year) program to the full time (three year day) program and whose goal is to complete their law studies in three years, must complete a minimum of 6 credits (including the 3 credits received for Moot Court) during one or more summers. These additional credits cannot be made up in the Fall and Spring terms.

Students are not permitted to reduce the time requirements by combining day and evening instruction. As a general rule, students are required to be in residence at this School of Law during their last year of study. No course credit is counted for graduation unless presented within eight years of the time it was earned except with the approval of the Petitions Committee.

In no event may extra residence credit described above reduce the residence required for graduation to less than five semesters for the three year day program and seven semesters for the evening and four year day programs. No residence credit is given for "F" grades.

Any student seeking credit for individual courses at another accredited American law school taken prior to his/her admission to the School including a student who has applied unsuccessfully to the Admissions Committee for admission with advanced standing, may apply to the Petitions Committee for the award of credit for individual courses. The Petitions Committee will not consider any such application for credit until the student has satisfactorily completed one year of work at the School of Law. However, the Committee will consider an application for exemption from required courses at any time.

Required Courses

For Students Who Begin Their Studies in the Day Division:

• Civil Procedure: 4 Credits
• Constitutional Law, An Introduction: 4 Credits
• Contracts: 4 Credits
• Criminal Law: 3 Credits
• Lawyering Process: 5 Credits
• Property: 4 Credits
• Torts: 3 Credits
• Moot Court: 3 Credits
• Legal Profession: 3 Credits
• A course designated as a Statutory/Regulatory ("stat/reg") Course.

For Students Who Begin Their Studies in the Evening Division:

• Civil Procedure I: 2 Credits
• Civil Procedure II: 2 Credits
• Constitutional Law I: 2 Credits
• Constitutional Law II: 2 Credits
• Contracts I: 2 Credits
• Contracts II: 2 Credits
• Criminal Law: 3 Credits
• Lawyering Process: 5 Credits
• Property I: 2 Credits
• Property II: 2 Credits
• Torts: 3 Credits
• Moot Court: 3 Credits
• Legal Profession: 3 Credits
• A course designated as a Statutory/Regulatory ("stat/reg") Course.

The curriculum allows, and indeed requires, all Day Division students in the three-year program to take a statutory/regulatory ("stat/reg") elective during the spring semester of their first year. Evening Division students must take this elective during the fall semester of their second year; Day Division students in the four-year program must take it during their second year of study (Fall or Spring semester). Day Division students in the three-year program, and only such students, are limited in their ability to change a stat/reg election once made. Their election may be changed only if:

1. the new stat/reg course meets on the same precise days and times as the old;
2. a student is enrolled into his or her first choice stat/reg course from a waiting list;
3. or a student obtains permission from the faculty Petitions Committee based upon a showing of compelling circumstances.

The following courses may be taken to satisfy the statutory/regulatory requirement (please note these courses are not offered every semester in both divisions):

• Administrative Law: 3 Credits
• American Indian Law: 3 Credits
• Comparative Law: Latin America Law: 3 Credits
• Employment Discrimination Law: 3 Credits
• Environmental Law: 3 Credits
• Federal Income Tax: 3 Credits
• International Environmental Law (Formerly: Globalization and the Environment): 3 Credits
• Intellectual Property: 3 Credits
• International Human Rights: 3 Credits
• Labor Law: Organizing and Collective Bargaining: 3 Credits
• Law and Institutions of the European Union, An Introduction: 3 Credits
• Development of the Regulatory State: 3 Credits
• Multistate Taxation in the New Millennium: 3 Credits
• Principles of Insurance: 3 Credits
• Taxation of American Indians: 3 Credits
• Natural Resources Law: 3 Credits
• International Business Transactions: 3 Credits

Course of Study

The scheduling and placement of students in required courses (excluding the stat/reg requirement, legal profession and the upperclass writing requirement) is done by the Registrar and students are required to complete all required courses (excluding the stat/reg requirement, legal profession and the upperclass writing requirement) in the division in which they begin their law studies. Deviations from this course of study may only be made with the approval of the Petitions Committee. Students who fail to successfully complete the first semester of study (either in its entirety or an individual course or courses) may continue to the second semester of study. However, students may not be enrolled in courses beyond the first semester that require successful completion of the first semester course as a pre-requisite to another course unless waiver of this pre-requisite is approved by the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, in consultation with the instructor of the later course. In the case of waiver of the pre-requisite of Lawyering Process to gain entry into Moot Court, students are directed to seek permission from the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs in consultation with the Director of the Moot Court program.

The outline below is for illustrative purposes, included only to indicate the semester in which required courses (excluding legal profession and the upperclass writing requirement) are usually scheduled within each division of study. This schedule may be adjusted.

First Year

Second Year 2011-2012

* Students in the four year day division may take their statutory/regulatory required course in either the Fall or Spring Semester of the second year.

Course Descriptions may be found in the Course Catalog.

You may also wish to review more information regarding transfer of divisions after completion of the first year of study.

Upperclass Writing Requirement

• a special research project of not less than two credit hours supervised by a member of the full-time faculty
• a paper for a seminar designated by the instructor as requiring writing that would satisfy the requirement
• a piece certified to be publishable or nearly publishable by the faculty advisor of the Connecticut Law Review, the Connecticut Journal of International Law, the Connecticut Public Interest Law Journal, or the Connecticut Insurance Law Journal. (Please note: Not all work for these journals will satisfy the upperclass requirement. Even if a student's work is accepted for publication, the piece must undergo multiple drafts supervised by a member of the full time faculty in order to qualify for upperclass credit. Faculty advisors are not necessarily available to supervise student journal pieces and should be consulted at or near the beginning of a project if such supervision is desired.)
• a substantial paper in a course in which the professor permits no more than five students to submit papers for course credit in lieu of an exam and which otherwise must meet the standards of the upperclass writing requirement.