Class of December 2017 and Subsequent Classes

General Juris Doctor (J.D.) Requirements for Members of the Class of December 2017 and Subsequent Classes

The Law School requires 90 credit hours for graduation. Students must pass all required courses in order to graduate. At least 65 of the 90 credit hours required for graduation must be earned by attendance in regularly- scheduled law school class sessions.³ This does not include externships, moot court, trial competitions, law review, directed research programs, or courses taken in parts of the University outside the Law School for which credit toward the J.D. degree is granted.

Full-time students are required to take a minimum of 10 credit hours each trimester and are limited to a maximum of 14 credit hours per trimester. The Law School’s academic year consists of more than 140 days on which classes are regularly scheduled. The academic year is approximately ten months long, consisting of an August Term, Fall Trimester, optional December Term (in the second year), Winter Trimester and Spring Trimester. In the first-year Fall Trimester, most class sessions last 60 minutes, with 12 class sessions required for one credit, exclusive of exams. In all other trimesters, most class sessions last 75 minutes, with 10 class sessions required for one credit.

To graduate from Elon, students generally must be enrolled as full-time students in residence for a minimum of seven trimesters.⁴ A cumulative grade point average of 2.00 or higher is required for graduation.

Program of Study for Students in the Class of December 2017 and Subsequent Classes

The First Year

The required first-year program consists of 42 credit hours. The first-year class at the Law School is divided into six sections of approximately 20-22 students. Other than small break out groups for the first-year leadership course (Lawyering, Leadership & Professionalism) and the lab component to the first-year Criminal Law course, all first- year courses are taught by full-time faculty.

* Lawyering, Leadership & Professionalism continues during the Fall Trimester, but credit for the course is awarded at the end of the Winter Trimester.

** The Legal Research course starts in the Fall Trimester but is not completed, and credits are no awarded, until the end of the Winter Trimester.

³ If approved by the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, these 65 hours may include coursework at

⁴ The Law School’s residency requirement excludes August Term, December Term, and Summer Sessions. Students who transfer to Elon after their first year at another law school are deemed to satisfy this requirement upon completion of four trimesters at Elon. An Elon student who visits another law school with the approval of the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs shall also be deemed to be “in residence” for that visit term.

The Second Year

The second-year under the Law School’s new curriculum combines required courses, elective courses, and experiential learning through a residency-in-practice requirement. Second-year students return from an 8-week summer break to take Professional Responsibility and Public Law & Leadership, the Law School’s 2L leadership course, during a 3-week August Term. During the Fall or Winter Trimester, second-year students must take Business Associations and Evidence. One trimester of the second year, students must complete a Residency-in- Practice, which is a full-time field placement combined with an accompanying course offered by the Law School. Residency-in- Practice placements may include a position in a judge’s chambers, with a non-profit legal organization (such as Legal Aid), with a district attorney or public defender’s office, in a corporate counsel office, or in a private law firm. In the Residency-in-Practice, students work approximately 30-35 hours/week, while taking a related accompanying course at the law school (either in person or via distance learning depending on the proximity of the student’s Residency-in-Practice placement).

During each trimester that a second-year student is not doing a Residency-in-Practice, the student must take at least one “communication” course, selected from a group of such courses as designated by the Law School faculty. These courses continue the communications focus of the first-year curriculum.

The second-year curriculum also includes an optional two-week December Term, during which students may elect to take short, intensive courses.

The chart below shows a sample second-year schedule, though a student’s actual second- year schedule may differ substantially, as the Residency-in-Practice may be taken in one of the other trimesters, and Business Associations and Evidence may be taken in either the Fall Trimester or the Winter Trimester:

* Students are required to satisfy a “Communications Requirement” in every second-year term that is not the student’s Residency term. This may be done through courses designated as “Communications Courses” at the Law School or through various activities such as moot court or mock trial.

** The December Term is a two-week elective term. Students may opt to take short-courses during this term.

The Final Trimester

The final trimester under the Law School’s revised curriculum is intended to prepare students to pass the bar examination and to transition to practice. As such, students return for August Term to take the Law School’s Bar Foundation’s course. This course reviews core bar-tested subjects.

In the Fall Trimester of the third year, students are required to take a “Bridge-to- Practice” course, selected from a list of such courses as designated by the Law School faculty, which serves to transition students from the study of law to the practice of law through the use of simulations and other practice-focused teaching techniques.

The chart below shows a typical final- trimester schedule for students under the Law School’s new curriculum:

Upper-Level Writing Requirement: All Classes

The faculty has approved an Upper-Level Writing Requirement which must be completed by all law students during their second or third year as a graduation requirement. The goals of the Upper-Level Writing Requirement are:

1. To provide students with an opportunity to analyze, synthesize, and organize a substantial body of knowledge; and
2. To provide students with an opportunity for in-depth engagement in a narrow legal subject area.
3. To further develop students’ basic writing and research skills;

A student satisfies the Upper-Level Writing Requirement by completing one or more written projects that require rigorous intellectual effort. Projects must be completed under the active and regular supervision of a faculty member who provides instruction, guidance, and feedback on the student’s work, and who is available for individual meetings to discuss the student’s progress toward successful completion of the Upper-Level Writing Requirement.

The requirement can be met by writing, among other things, a scholarly paper, a law review note or comment, legal briefs or memoranda, or other legal documents. Generally, the length of the documents to be drafted in order to complete this requirement should be at least twenty (20) pages of text in the aggregate, but the professor supervising completion of the project or projects shall have the discretion to determine the required length.

The courses that may be used to satisfy the Upper-Level Writing Requirement are noted in the registration materials sent to students each term.

In addition, a student may satisfy the Upper- Level Writing Requirement in the context of an Independent Study course for credit, as approved in advance by the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. Absent extraordinary circumstances, the Upper-Level Writing Requirement may not be satisfied outside a regular course offering in the spring of a student’s final year.

An Intent Form must be submitted to the Law School Registrar within one week of the first day of the term when the student intends to complete the requirement. To receive credit for satisfactorily completing the Upper-Level Writing Requirement, the student must submit a Completion Form, signed by the faculty member supervising the Requirement, which certifies that the Requirement has been satisfactorily completed.