Upper-Division Course Requirements
Professional Responsibility (3 hrs.)
This course, which is a graduation requirement, examines the legal profession and the law that governs the professional behavior of lawyers, including the Model Rules of Professional Conduct, the law of legal malpractice and the relevant rules of agency law, criminal law, civil procedure, and other law. Students will explore ethical questions relating to the lawyer’s role in the legal system and the lawyer’s relationships with clients, adversaries, tribunals, colleagues, employees, witnesses, and others. The course looks at issues that arise in the various roles occupied by lawyers, including advocate, counselor, and negotiator. The course is designed to assist students in recognizing and evaluating ethical dilemmas that they may encounter in practice. The course also aims to assist students in gaining knowledge about the legal profession, to clarify their own professional values, and to learn the ethical norms of the legal profession. The course must be taken by every student during the second, third, or fourth year of law school.
Taught by: Judge Bacon, Mr. Destro, Ms. Duggin, Mr. Goldman, Ms. Lerman, Mr. Mintz, Ms. Wortham.
Professional Skills
The American Bar Association requires that all students take at least one professional skills course prior to graduation. This requirement applies to those students who entered law school in fall 2006 and after. Professional skills courses in our curriculum include:
- Alternative Dispute Resolution Techniques
- Appellate Advocacy
- CCLS Clinics (Advocacy for the Elderly, Families and the Law, General Practice)
- Criminal Prosecution Clinic
- D.C. Law Students in Court
- Innocence Project Clinic
- Interviewing, Counseling, and Negotiating Skills
- Legal Drafting Seminar
- Mediation and Arbitration Skills
- Trial Advocacy
- Trial Practice
- Trial Skills (Criminal, Medical Malpractice)
- Vis International Moot Court
Upper-Level Writing Requirement
Each upper-level student must complete at least two substantial writing projects after the first year of law school.
Courses that may meet the upper-level writing requirement are identified as follows:
| req. QP opt. QP req. PP opt. PP E or QP E or PP WC | required qualifying course paper optional qualifying course paper required portfolio paper optional portfolio paper examination or qualifying course paper examination or portfolio paper advanced writing course |
Note: A professor may change the requirements of a course in a given semester. Information regarding whether a course will satisfy the writing requirement will be posted prior to fall and spring registration. Professors will also clarify course requirements at the beginning of the semester.
For a full description of the upper-level writing requirement, see Academic Rule X: Writing Requirement and Directed Research.