2024-2025 Law School Catalog > Academic Rules and Regulations > Academic Concentrations > Components of an Academic Concentration

Components of an Academic Concentration

An academic concentration shall consist of the following requirements:

1. An introductory academic course or sequence of academic courses.
2. Additional academic courses (including Base Menu courses) such that the total number of academic credits under (1) and (2) in each participating student’s program equals a minimum set for the academic concentration, which shall not be less than 14 credits, as determined by the faculty proposing the concentration and approved by the Law faculty.
3. An experiential learning course or externship in an agency or law firm that has been designated by a concentration Faculty Director as providing practical experience related to the concentration.
4. Successful completion of either a concentration thesis of publishable quality or the Law School’s legal writing requirement in a concentration course. A concentration Faculty Director must approve, in writing, the topic and supervisory arrangements for all students writing a thesis. All these must be written under the supervision of a full time faculty member. If a student wishes to have an adjunct faculty member supervise a paper written in satisfaction of a concentration’s legal writing requirement, the student must obtain prior approval by a concentration faculty director and an Associate Dean. [as amended 11/30/00]

In order to qualify for completion of the concentration requirements, a student must (i) attain upon graduation a minimum cumulative average of 3.250 in concentration courses and must not have received a grade less than 2.000 in any such course; (ii) satisfy the concentration writing requirement; and (iii) in the case of the civil litigation concentration, complete an externship or clinical program approved by the concentration Faculty Director.