UTexas

Law (JD)

Total Hours Required: 86

Requirements

All requirements are listed below, starting with the most specialized moving to the most general. Additional requirements may follow the table, so be sure to read the entire page. Some required courses listed below may also satisfy General Education requirements, including Core Curriculum.

Degree
30 First-Year hours chosen from:30
Civil Procedure
Civil Procedure
Constitutional Law I
Constitutional Law I
Contracts
Contracts
Criminal Law I
Criminal Law I
Legal Analysis and Communication
Legal Analysis and Communication
Persuasive Writing and Advocacy
Persuasive Writing and Advocacy
Property
Property
Torts
Torts
Hours the Dean and Faculty of the School of Law may specify
Subtotal30
Minimum advanced hours chosen from:1
Topics in Constitutional Law II
Topics in Constitutional Law II
Topics in Constitutional Law II
Topics in Constitutional Law II
Criminal Procedure: Bail to Jail
Criminal Procedure: Bail to Jail
Criminal Procedure: Investigation
Criminal Procedure: Investigation
Criminal Procedure: Prosecution
Criminal Procedure: Prosecution
Capital Punishment
Capital Punishment
Subtotal1
LAW 285Professional Responsibility2
LAW 385Professional Responsibility3
LAW 397STopics in Writing: Law Seminar3
Six hours experiential learning (approved each semester by the Dean)6
Hours the Dean and Faculty of the School of Law may specify
Subtotal14
Free electives: Additional coursework to reach total hours required.41
College Requirements - Law
Subtotal41
Total Hours86

Additional Requirements and Policies

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 2.10 on all work taken in the School of Law.