First Year Curriculum

First Year Curriculum - The standard First Year Substantive Courses are offered in 15-week trimesters, with classes beginning after Labor Day and ending in May.  First year students attend class three nights a week during the first semester and four nights a week during the second semester.

First Year Courses

Criminal Law............ 1 Semester   (3 units per semester class = 3 units)

Legal Writing............ 2 Semesters (3 units per semester class = 6 units)

Tort Law.................. 2 Semesters (3 units per semester class = 6 units)

Contract Law........... 2 Semesters (3 units per semester class = 6 units)

Total: 21 Units

Criminal Law - This introductory course is an opportunity to become well grounded in the common law of crimes and the defenses to crimes, as modified by widely adopted statutory devises.  The subject matter is well suited to the development of skills in issue identification and creative problem solving.  A social and political approach is used to analyze how such factors are used in defining behavior as criminal and to examine the impact of the criminal justice system upon those who become involved in it.  This is a one-semester course.

Legal Writing - A practical approach to legal writing and legal analysis is used to cultivate the basic tools of lawyering and succeeding as a student.  Systems are taught to develop proficiency in issue spotting and analysis.  Study methods and test-taking techniques are furnished to enhance the students' performance.  This is a two semester course.

Torts - This course is the study of civil law and civil wrongs - intentional and negligent, and the responsibility for such wrongs.  Torts is the foundation for personal injury law.  The development of tort law is discussed, as it is the current state of law, in order to assist the student in understanding the objectives to be served by the body of tort law and to prepare socially conscious lawyers to represent the victims of torts effectively. This is a two semester course. 

Contracts - This is a course about legally enforceable promises that is particularly well suited to the development of skills in legal analysis.  The study of contracts includes the bargaining process, interpreting the bargain, performance under a contract, and breach of contract.  This is a two semester course.