The certificate in Law & Public Policy requires course work at both the Law School and the Department of Public Policy (DPP) in West Hartford. To be eligible for this certificate, students must make formal application to, and be accepted in, the Law & Public Policy program. (Law students do not need to be admitted to the DPP.)
All candidates for the certificate in Law & Public Policy must complete:
- A 3-credit course in Administrative Law, which is a pre- or co-requisite for the program.
- 12 credit hours of course work, which must include 2 courses at the DPP and 2 policy-related courses at the Law School.
- Either a supervised writing project (sufficient to fulfill the Law School's upperclass writing requirement) on a public policy-related topic, or a supervised externship in public policy, with a significant writing component.
Law & Public Policy courses
Rather than selecting from a menu of designated courses, students in the Law & Public Policy program design their own curricula in consultation with, and subject to the approval of, a Faculty Advisor. All courses at the DPP are eligible for credit toward the certificate, as are all law school courses with a significant public policy component.
Courses taken at the DPP are graded under ordinary DPP standards but recorded on a student's Law School transcript on a pass/fail basis. Up to 6 credits of DPP course work may be counted toward the 86 credits required for graduation. Such credits are not included when calculating a student's GPA and do not count as against the 12-credit limit on pass/fail grades. Students may request a transcript from the DPP with their actual (letter) grade on it, which upon request will be included in the student's Law School academic record.
Application Procedure
Interested students should submit an application to the Law & Public Policy Faculty Advisor, preferably before the start of registration for their third semester—i.e., by late March of their first year. The application should consist of a brief essay describing why the student is interested in public policy or non-profit management and laying out a proposed course of study that satisfies the requirements for the certificate. A current transcript is also required. Students are strongly encouraged to consult with the Faculty Advisor (and/or his or her counterpart at the DPP) before planning their application.
