Planning Form for JD Academic Requirements (PDF)
JD Students matriculating in fall 2016 or later are required to earn a minimum of 83 credits and the below requirements.
First Year Required Courses (28 credits):
- 1003-Civil Dispute Resolution (4 credits)
- 1004-Torts: The Common Law Process (4 credits)
- 1005-Criminal Law: Statutory Interpretation (3 credits)
- 1006-Contracts: Transactional Law (4 credits)
- 1651-Property: Jurisprudential and Comparative Analysis (4 credits)
- 2410-Constitutional Powers: Advanced Legal Reasoning (3 credits)
- 1415-Lawyering: Advice and Persuasion (effective Fall 2020, the title of this course will be Legal Analysis, Research, and Communication (LARC) I) (3 credits)
- 1416-Lawyering: Advice and Persuasion II (effective Fall 2020, the title of this course will be Legal Analysis, Research, and Communication (LARC) II) (3 credits)
Upper Division Requirements:
- 3200-Professional Responsibility (2 or 3 credits)
- 9550/9551/9555/9556-Advocacy (3 credits)
- 4575-Negotiation (3 credits) OR 9014-Transactions and Settlements (3 credits)
- 2421-Constitutional Liberties (3 credits)
Graduation Requirements:
- Completion of upper level Advanced Research and Writing (fulfilled through various courses, seminars, clinics, journals/law review, or independent study/research).
- Completion of Career Development Employment Survey (questions about this should be directed to the Office of Career and Professional Development)
- Completion of Financial Aid Exit Interview (questions about this should be directed to the Office of Financial Aid)
- Completion of Perkins Loan Exit Interview, if applicable (questions about this should be directed to the Student Accounts Office)
- Six total hours of extracurricular diversity programming. Of the six total hours required before graduation, at least four hours must be completed during the student’s first and second year. (questions about this should be directed to the Office of Diversity and Inclusion)
No more than 19 credits under the 83 credit requirement can be applied toward graduation from non-classroom courses:
- field placements (including externships and residencies but not clinics)
- moot court or other competitions
- Law Review or Journal
- independent studies
- teaching assistant placements, like structured study group leaders
- dual-degree (graduate school) courses
- any course for credit that is substantially based upon time expended outside a regularly scheduled class at Mitchell Hamline or another ABA-approved law school
No more than 27 credits may be earned toward the J.D. degree through courses that are designated “distance education courses.” A distance education course is one in which students are separated from the faculty member or each other for more than one-third of the instruction and the instruction involves the use of technology to support regular and substantive interaction among students and between the students and the faculty member, either synchronously or asynchronously. Source: ABA Standard 306 (a).
Standard Degree Audit Request Form (PDF)
Academic requirement information can be found in the Law School Catalog.
JD Students matriculating in spring or fall 2015 are required to earn a minimum of 83 credits and the below requirements.*
First Year Required Courses (28 credits):
- 1003-Civil Dispute Resolution (4 credits)
- 1004-Torts: The Common Law Process (4 credits)
- 1005-Criminal Law: Statutory Interpretation (3 credits)
- 1006-Contracts: Transactional Law (4 credits)
- 1651-Property: Jurisprudential and Comparative Analysis (4 credits)
- 2421-Liberties: Advanced Legal Reasoning (3 credits)
- 1415-Lawyering: Advice and Persuasion (6 credits)
Upper Division Requirements:
- 3200-Professional Responsibility (2 or 3 credits)
- 9550/9551/9555/9556-Advocacy (3 credits) – satisfies 3 credits of Experiential Courses
- 2410-Constitutional Law–Powers (2 or 3 credits)
- 6 credits in Experiential Courses
Graduation Requirements:
- Completion of upper level Advanced Research and Writing (fulfilled through various courses, seminars, clinics, journals/law review, or independent study/research).
- Completion of Career Development Employment Survey (questions about this should be directed to the Office of Career and Professional Development)
- Completion of Financial Aid Exit Interview (questions about this should be directed to the Office of Financial Aid)
- Completion of Perkins Loan Exit Interview, if applicable (questions about this should be directed to the Student Accounts Office)
No more than 19 credits under the 83 credit requirement can be applied toward graduation from non-classroom courses:
- field placements (including externships)
- moot court or other competitions
- Law Review or Journal
- independent studies
- course exchanges
- dual-degree courses
- Structured Study Group Leader, Legal Methods Student Leader, and similar teaching assistant courses
- any course for credit that is substantially based upon time expended outside a regularly scheduled class time at Mitchell Hamline or another ABA-approved law school
No more than 15 credits may be earned toward the J.D. degree through courses that are designated “distance education courses.” A distance education course is one in which students are separated from the faculty member or each other for more than one-third of the instruction and the instruction involves the use of technology to support regular and substantive interaction among students and between the students and the faculty member, either synchronously or asynchronously. Source: ABA Standard 306 (a).
*Students matriculating fall 2014 or earlier are required to earn a minimum of 86 credits plus the requirements listed above.
LL.M. Students
Mitchell Hamline’s LL.M. Program is designed for foreign law graduates who possess a law degree (LL.B. or equivalent) from outside of the United States. The program requires students to complete 24 credits including an introductory course to familiarize them with the American Legal System. Students may complete a master’s thesis. Most students complete the program in one academic year (fall and spring) of study during which they focus on a specialized area of law.