Depth and Breadth of Curriculum

Developments in communications and information technology, the debate over health policy, ongoing concerns about terrorism and homeland security, and the economic crisis have prompted us to think carefully about our curriculum. In recent years we have added many new courses and revised the way we teach many traditional courses. We want to make sure that our students are prepared for the challenges that they will face as lawyers for decades to come.

Our rich and diverse curriculum offers students the opportunity to pursue a broad-based course of study or to focus in depth on an area of particular interest. We pride ourselves on blending the best of classical legal education with leading-edge innovations. The expansion and increasing complexity of the law; the effects of globalization on many aspects of our economy, society, and polity; and the continuing quest for a fair and effective legal system pose fundamental challenges to the legal profession. Our goal is to ensure that our graduates will be prepared to understand their clients’ problems and the economic, social, and political context in which they arise.

We seek to provide students with training in the fundamental skills that all lawyers must have and flexibility to fulfill their academic goals. Even first-year students have an elective that is chosen from a rotating menu of at least four options, and upper-class students have broad flexibility in designing their course of study. The curriculum contains extensive offerings in both emerging and traditional areas of the law, opportunities for in-depth and interdisciplinary learning, and many unique experiential learning possibilities.