To qualify for the Doctor of Jurisprudence degree (JD), a student must meet the following requirements:

1. The student must have completed a period of resident study equivalent to at least three academic years.
2. The student must have completed and passed all courses required by the faculty of the School of Law at the time of the student's initial enrollment, except those that have been removed from the list of required courses since the student's initial enrollment.
3. Eighty-six semester hours are required for graduation. With the permission of the dean, a student may enroll in a course in another school or college of the University. To count toward graduation from the School of Law, the course must be related to a course of study offered in the School of Law. If the course is in a foreign language, it may be either undergraduate or graduate; in all other fields, only graduate courses may be counted. No more than 12 semester hours of such work may be counted. Students who complete undergraduate foreign language courses may apply one credit hour toward the JD degree per two and a half credit hours earned.
4. All students, including dual degree students must have at least 65 credit hours of regularly scheduled law courses completed to graduate, not including: Directed Research and Study, Internships, Advanced Clinic, and non-law courses.
5. The student must have a grade point average of at least 1.90 on all work taken in the School of Law.

Curriculum

Required First-Year Courses

• Law 480F or 580F, Civil Procedure
• Law 480G or 580G, Constitutional Law I
• Law 480H or 580H, Contracts
• Law 480J or 580J, Criminal Law I
• Law 280S or 380S, Legal Analysis and Communication
• Law 280T or 380T, Persuasive Writing and Advocacy
• Law 480U or 580U, Property
• Law 480V or 580V, Torts
• Such other courses as the dean and faculty of the School of Law may specify

Required Advanced Courses

• One of the following:

Law 181C, 281C, 381C, or 481C, Constitutional Law II

Law 283C or 383C, Criminal Procedure: Bail to Jail

Law 283D or 383D, Criminal Procedure: Investigation

Law 283E or 383E , Criminal Procedure: Prosecution

Law 283F or 383F, Capital Punishment
 

• Law 285 or 385, Professional Responsibility
• Law 397S, Law Seminar: Writing
• Six credits from a list of experiential learning courses approved each semester by the Dean
• Such other courses as the Dean and Faculty of the School of Law may specify