JD Curriculum, 2012 and Later

89 credits required to graduate

General Law Program

Although George Mason offers a number of structured specialization options, students are not required to specialize in their legal studies.  Many students enter law school without a clearly defined area of interest.  Those students may pursue a general course of study, choosing electives as their interests develop.

JD Course Requirements

All George Mason law students, whether pursuing a specialty track or the General Law Program, are required to satisfactorily complete 89 credit hours for graduation.  Forty credit hours are in general courses; the remaining credit hours are in elective courses.  In addition, students must complete the School of Law’s upper-level writing requirement.  (See Academic Regulation 3-3.3)

Required General Law Courses

Course Name	Required Time	Semester Traditionally Offered
Introduction to LRWA	1st Yr.	Fall
Contracts I	1st Yr.	Fall
Torts	1st Yr.	Fall
Economic Foundations	1st Yr.	Fall
Property	FT: 1st Yr./PT: 2nd Yr.	Fall
Trial-Level Writing	1st Yr.	Spring
Contracts II	1st Yr.	Spring
Civil Procedure	1st Yr.	Spring
Legislation and Statutory Interpretation	1st Yr.	Spring
Criminal Law	FT: 1st Yr./PT: 2nd Yr.	Spring
Appellate Writing	2nd Yr.	Fall
Constitutional Law I: Structure of Government (formerly Constitutional Law I)	2nd Yr.	Fall
Legal Drafting	2nd Yr.	Spring
Professional Responsibility	Before Graduation	Fall/Spring

General Electives should be taken to reach the remaining credit hours needed to graduate and to fulfill the School of Law's upper-level writing requirement.

Chart of JD Course Requirements in PDF form.

Scheduling Considerations:

• After the first year, students in the full-time division must maintain a credit load of 10-17 hours per semester, and students in the part-time division must maintain a credit load of 8-12 hours per semester. (See Academic Regulation 3-6.5)
• In order to earn a JD, a student must be in residence for a minimum of six semesters. A student is in residence for a semester when he/she earns at least 10 hours of academic credit in a fall or spring semester. (See Academic Regulation 3-5)
• All students must complete 89 credit hours to graduate, 77 of which must be "in-class" credit hours, and no more than 12 credit hours may be graded "CR." (See Academic Regulation 3-3.1)

Schedule of Required Courses for the General Law Program 2012 and Later

Full-Time Division	Part-Time Division
First Year -- Fall	First Year -- Fall
Introduction to LRWA	Introduction to LRWA
Contracts I	Contracts I
Torts	Torts
Economic Foundations	Economic Foundations
Property
First Year -- Spring	First Year -- Spring
Trial Level Writing	Trial Level Writing
Contracts II	Contracts II
Civil Procedure	Civil Procedure
Legislation and Statutory Interpretation	Legislation and Statutory Interpretation
Criminal Law
Second Year -- Fall	Second Year -- Fall
Appellate Writing	Appellate Writing
Constitutional Law I: Structure of Government	Constitutional Law I: Structure of Government
Electives	Property
	Elective
Second Year -- Spring	Second Year -- Spring
Legal Drafting	Legal Drafting
Electives	Criminal Law
	Electives
Third Year -- Fall	Third Year -- Fall
Electives	Electives
Third Year -- Spring	Third Year -- Spring
Electives	Electives
	Fourth Year -- Fall
	Electives
	Fourth Year -- Spring
	Electives

Professional Responsibility and the upper-level writing requirement must be completed before graduation.

Schedule for the General Law Program in PDF form.