Required Courses

J.D. Degree Requirements 

Each student is responsible for fulfilling the J.D. degree requirements. Students should track their academic record and progress by consulting with their assigned faculty advisor, the Registrar’s Office, and other administrative personnel.

To earn the Dickinson Law J.D. degree, a student must:

• earn at least 88 credits;
• complete with a passing grade all first-year required courses;
• complete with a grade of at least “C” the course labeled Legal Analysis & Writing I: Objective;
• complete with a grade of at least “C” the course labeled Legal Analysis & Writing II: Persuasive;
• complete with a grade of at least “C” one course designated as a Seminar course (“SEMNR”);
• complete with a grade of at least “C” the course in Professional Responsibility;
• complete with a grade of at least “C” one course beyond the first-year required courses, designated as having subject matter focused on civil rights, equal protection, or social justice;
• complete with a grade of at least “C,” or a grade of Credit in Credit/No Credit courses, 12 credits in Experiential Learning from the upper level curriculum. The student must earn at least 6 of the required 12 credits in an in-house legal clinic (“EXPCL”), an externship (“EXPIN”), or a semester-in-practice (“EXPIN”). The student may earn the remaining experiential learning credits in an in-house legal clinic (“EXPCL”), an externship (“EXPIN”), a semester-in-practice (“EXPIN”), or in courses designated as simulation courses (“EXPSK”);
• comply with the Semesters-in-Residence Requirement; and
• comply with the Academic Standing Rules.

Contingent J.D. Degree Requirements

Students who rank in the bottom quarter of their class after the second semester of law school and who earned a grade below “C” in any first-year course have the following additional requirements for graduation:

• must take and pass at least six substantive doctrinal bar courses (“BAR”) in order to graduate; and
• must take and pass the Fundamental Skills for the Bar Examination during the final semester of law school.

J.D. Degree Requirements for Transfer Students

As part of the transfer admission process, the admissions committee and academic deans will evaluate transferable credits and completion of the J.D. degree requirements. See additional information on the J.D. degree requirements for transfer students.

Fall 1L Required Courses

Like every law school, our first-year curriculum includes a set of courses that establish the core doctrinal, theoretical, and policy foundations of law. But our 1L curriculum uniquely includes a series of courses that are designed — from the first day of law school — to fulfill our mission of producing practice-ready lawyers.

Through the Law Practice in the fall, lawyers will expose you to the diverse practice settings and substantive areas of practice in which you may choose to use your law degree. As a result, you will be able to make more informed choices about your elective courses and better position yourself for success in the job market.

• Civil Procedure (4 credits)
• Criminal Law (3 credits)
• Law Practice: Contexts & Competencies  (2 credits)
• Legal Analysis & Writing I: Objective (2 credits)
• Legal Research I (1 credit)
• Race and the Equal Protection of the Laws (0.5 credit)
• Torts (4 credits)

Spring 1L Required Courses

The second semester introduces an additional set of lawyering skills. You will begin your training on the challenging art of conveying complex legal analysis in writing. You will write a memorandum of law, the lawyer’s primary tool for communicating objective legal analysis.

In the spring semester, the Law Practice course will provide an opportunity to work with practicing lawyers and law school faculty to acquire the skills that lawyers use to begin and maintain relationships with individual, corporate, and governmental clients.

• Constitutional Law I (3 credits)
• Contracts (4 credits)
• Law Practice: Critical Skills (2 credits)
• Legal Analysis & Writing II: Persuasive (2 credits)
• Legal Research II (1 credit)
• Property (4 credits)
• Race and the Equal Protection of the Laws (0.5 credit)

Experiential Learning Requirement

The capstone of our educational mission to ready you for the workplace is the upper-level experiential learning requirement. You will practice law in a real-world setting as a certified legal intern in our in-house legal clinics; as an intern with a government agency, federal or state prosecutor or public defender’s office, or nonprofit entity; or by full immersion in a legal setting in our semester-in-practice program.

Students must earn at least 6 of the required 12 credits by practicing law in an in-house legal clinic, an externship, or a semester-in-practice. The student may earn the remaining credits by enrolling in courses designated as experiential learning courses. For more information, see the above J.D. Requirements.

J.D. Degree Requirements

To earn a J.D. degree a student must:

1. Earn at least 88 credits, including all first-year required courses. The maximum number of credits permitted per semester is 17.
    
2. Be in residence for six semesters.  To be in residence, the student must enroll in at least 12 credits, at full tuition, and not work more than 20 hours per week during the semester.  Credits earned through the Semester in Washington Program, the Semester in Harrisburg Program, the Externships Everywhere Program, and authorized Penn State Law semester-long study abroad programs may be used to fulfill this requirement.  Credits earned during the summer months may not be used to fulfill this requirement.
    
3. Complete with a grade of at least C one course designated as an Upper Level Writing Seminar course.
    
4. Complete with a grade of at least C the course in Professional Responsibility. 
    
5. Complete with a grade of at least a C one or more experiential course(s) totaling at least six credit hours.
    
6. Complete the Professional Development program that takes place in January of your first year. Please see academic calendar for dates of the program. 
    
7. Starting with the Class of 2026, complete with a grade of at least a C one course approved by the faculty to comply with ABA 303(c).

Each student is responsible for fulfilling the above graduation requirements. Students should track their academic record and progress using their Degree Audit (Academic Requirements report), and should seek clarification as needed from the faculty, deans, registrar and other administrative personnel.

Complete List of Required Courses

Semesters of Residence