Academic Requirements

Required Courses

Students must satisfactorily complete 93 credit hours in order to graduate, these include all courses in the first year curriculum and sixty hours must be selected from the upper class curriculum.

The following courses comprise the first year curriculum:

  • Civil Procedure (6 credit hours total; 3 credit hours per semester)
  • Contracts (6 credit hours total; 3 credit hours per semester)
  • Criminal Law (3 credit hours in fall semester)
  • Legal Analysis, Writing and Research (6 credit hours total; 2 credit hours in fall semester and 4 credit hours in spring semester)
  • International Perspectives in the U.S. Legal System: Practicing Law in a Global Legal Environment (2 credit hours in spring semester)
  • Property (6 credit hours total; 3 credit hours per semester)
  • Torts (4 credit hours in fall semester)

In addition to the first year curriculum, students are required to take the following upper class courses:

  • Constitutional Law I
  • A course or seminar in professional responsibility
  • A seminar with a substantial writing requirement
  • Professional skills (Class of 2016, 2017, 2018: 3 credit hours/Class of 2019 and later: 6 credit hours)
Grading and Grade Point Average

Law school grades are indicated by a 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, or 0. These grades are reflected on official University records as A+ for 9, A for 8, B+ for 7, B for 6, C+ for 5, C for 4, D+ for 3, D for 2, and F for 0. Grades of 0 carry no course credit. A student who receives a 0 in a required course must repeat the course and ordinarily must take the course from a different instructor.

Grade Point Averages (GPAs) are computed three times during a student’s career to determine eligibility to remain enrolled. The first grade computation occurs in the spring following the first year. If a student has a GPA of less than 4.0 (or “C” on the University scale), the student will be ineligible to continue studies at the College.

The second grade computation is made at the end of the semester of summer in which the student accumulates 27 credit hours in excess of the first year curriculum. If the student has a GPA of less than 4.0 (“C” on the University scale) for courses taken subject to the first computation will be ineligible to continue studies at the College. 

The third computation is made at the end of the semester or summer in which the student has taken and received a grade in at least 60 credit hours beyond the first year curriculum.  A student who fails to achieve a minimum Grade Point Average of 4.0 (“C”) for courses taken after the second computation will be ineligible to continue.