University of Houston Law Center - Law School J.D. Program Overview

ACADEMIC REQUIREMENTS

The J.D. program requires 90 hours for graduation with a 2.33 minimum GPA. In addition to the curriculum required in the first year, each student must complete the following courses at the Law Center to graduate:

Professional Responsibility Course – a 3-hour Professional Responsibility course must be taken and a passing grade received.

Upper Level Writing Requirement

This requirement can be satisfied by (1) completing a writing seminar (designated by prefix “WRS”) and earning a grade of “C” or better; or (2) taking a writing course (designated by the prefix “WRC”) and earning a grade of “C” or better.

Students in a WRS-designated course must complete a paper that is original and demonstrates their research and writing skills. Regardless of credit hours, the final version of the paper must be at least 10,000 words, including footnotes. Instructors may require longer papers.

Students in a WRC-designated course complete several kinds of practical writing assignments. These may be expository exercises (e.g., drafting client letters, research memoranda, court documents, and short articles similar to those that appear in bar journals) or transactional or litigation drafting assignments (e.g., contracts and other business agreements, wills or other estate planning instruments, pleadings, and discovery documents). Assignments must be no more than 2,500 words each, when feasible. Instructors have discretion over the kind and number of assignments students complete; however, students must complete at least 5,000 words of writing over the course of the semester.

Experiential Course Requirement

Students entering prior to Fall 2016 are only required to take and pass a course that satisfies the "Practice Skills" requirement. The courses that satisfy this requirement are identified on each course schedule. There is a tab at the top of each semester's schedule that will allow you to view just the classes that meet the Practice Skills requirement. Courses that satisfy the requirement can be for two, three or four credits.

Students entering Fall 2016 or after are required to take 6 hours of Experiential Courses to satisfy the "Experiential Course" requirement. The courses that satisfy this requirement are identified on each course schedule. There is a tab at the top of each semester's schedule that will allow you to view just the classes that meet the Experiential Course requirement. Students are allowed to take a three-hour Externship, which will satisfy 3 of the 6 required skills hours.

Outline of the first year schedule:

Full-time Schedule- First Year		Part-Time Schedule- First Year

Fall Semester	Hours	Fall Semester	Hours
Contracts	4	Property	4
Procedure I	4	Procedure I	4
Torts	4	Lawyering Skills & Strategies	3
Lawyering Skills & Strategies	3	Total	11
Total	15

Spring Semester	Hours	Spring Semester	Hours
Constitutional Law	4	Contracts	4
Property	4	Torts	4
Criminal Law	3	Lawyering Skills & Strategies	2
Statutory Interpretation & Regulation	3	Total	10
Lawyering Skills & Strategies	2
Total	16	Summer	Hours
		Criminal Law	3
		Statutory Interpretation & Regulation	3
		Total	6

		Fall Semester	Hours
		Constitutional Law	4
		Electives	6
		Total	10

Note: All courses may not rotate to the Part-Time Evening Program after the first year. The core courses will be offered at night per the schedule found here. After that time, the courses will be offered as long as the student enrollment supports offering the class.