Graduation Requirements

Required Curriculum 

To receive a J.D. degree, students must earn at least 90 credits with an overall grade point average of 2.3 or higher. Students must complete all required courses in the sequence outlined in the Academic Rules. 

Students who will graduate in May 2027 or later must take Business Associations. 

Upper Level Writing 

All students must complete at least one rigorous extended piece of legal writing (in addition to those in RWA).  The Upper Level Writing Requirement requires each student to demonstrate his or her ability to apply each of these skills in producing one substantial, cohesive piece of legal writing prior to graduating from law school.

Policy and Perspectives

Each student is required to take at least one course from selections designated by the Law Faculty or the Curriculum Committee which are grounded in jurisprudential, historical, and public policy concepts. 

Experiential Learning

The ELR consists of three components: 

1. the law school’s existing five-credit hour, required Lawyering Skills sequence; 

2. one of the law school’s one-credit hour required upper-level specialized legal research courses; 

3. at least three credit hours in the law school’s legal clinic, externship, or practica programs

Upper-Level Research 

The requirement is satisfied by either Advanced Legal Research or Specialized Legal Research. Students may only take one upper-level research course.

Bar Exam Preparation Skills Requirement

Students who enrolled after July 1, 2020 must complete the Bar Preparation Skills Requirement to graduate if they fall into any of the following categories: full-time students with a cumulative GPA of 2.8 or lower after their first two semesters, part-time students with a cumulative GPA of 2.8 or lower after their first three semesters, or transfer students who were ranked in the bottom 25% of their class at their previous law school.

Students subject to this requirement must enroll in and pass Writing for the Bar Exam, Advanced Bar Preparation, and all bar-tested courses applicable to their graduation year. Students graduating in 2026 must complete Sales, Business Associations, and Remedies. Students graduating in 2027 or later must complete First Amendment, Remedies, Sales, and Family Law.

Professional Development Requirement

A student who matriculated at the law school after September 1, 2022, must complete at least 12 hours of Professional Development Programs.  A schedule of PPD programming for the 2025-2026 academic year is located here.