Tracks, Programs, Clinics & Exchange
Page Contents
George
Mason law students enjoy a unique opportunity to specialize
and focus their legal studies in a particular area of law
through our specialty track programs. Our specialty tracks
offer students the kind of sophisticated understanding of
particular practice areas usually gained only after years
of practice or through advanced legal study.
For students who wish to develop some expertise in a particular substantive area, but who also seek greater flexibility in terms of taking electives in a broad range of other areas, we offer specialized sequence programs. The sequence programs offer greater flexibility in students' choices of electives. There is no thesis requirement in any of the sequence programs.
Students also have the opportunity to take coursework in a specialized technology law program. In addition, George Mason's curriculum offers twenty courses in intellectual property law and over two dozen courses in the area of law & economics. Finally, law students may also take clinical courses and externships and participate in an exchange program in Hamburg, Germany.
Law Tracks
- Fall 2005 or Earlier: Corporate and Securities Law Track Curriculum
- Fall 2006: Corporate and Securities Law Track Curriculum
- Fall 2007 and Later: Corporate and Securities Law Track Curriculum
- Fall 2005 or Earlier: Intellectual Property Track Curriculum
- Fall 2006: Intellectual Property Track Curriculum
- Fall 2007 and Later: Intellectual Property Track Curriculum
- Fall 2005 or Earlier: Litigation Law Track Curriculum
- Fall 2006: Litigation Law Track Curriculum
- Fall 2007 and Later: Litigation Law Track Curriculum
Corporate and Securities Law Track
This track is designed to give students specialized preparation for practice in law firms and in-house corporate counsel offices in fields related to corporate finance and financial markets. Approximately one-third of the credits required for graduation must be in corporate and securities law courses.
Coordinator: Hutchison, Harry
Intellectual Property Law Track
This track is designed for students who intend to practice in the fields of patent, copyright, and trademark law. Approximately one-third of the credit hours required for graduation must be in intellectual property law courses. (Download our Intellectual Property Brochure).
Coordinator: Kunin, Stephen
Litigation Law Track
This track is designed to prepare students academically and practically for litigation practice or other careers relating to dispute resolution. The specialized track courses focus on the processes of dispute resolution and lawyers’ roles from an analytical perspective, as well as on practical advocacy skills.
Coordinator: Parker, Jeffery
Regulatory Law Track
This track is prepares students for practice in and before the numerous agencies that regulate business and other activities. Approximately one-third of the credits required for graduation must be in regulatory law courses.
Coordinator: Muris, Timothy
See also: The International Business Law Track, for students enrolled in Fall 2005 or earlier.
Law Sequences
For students who wish to develop some expertise in a particular substantive area, but who also seek greater flexibility in terms of taking electives in a broad range of areas, we offer specialized sequence programs. There is no thesis requirement in any of the sequence programs.
At George Mason School of Law, we offer sequences in the following legal subject areas:
- Corporate and Securities Law Sequence
- Criminal Law Sequence
- Intellectual Property Law Sequence
- International Business Law Sequence
- Legal and Economic Theory Sequence
- Litigation Law Sequence
- Personal Law Sequence
- Regulatory Law Sequence
- Tax Law Sequence
Specialty Law Programs
Intellectual Property Program
George Mason's IP curriculum includes 20 courses in patent, copyright, trademark, and trade secret law. The curriculum includes traditional IP courses such as Patent Law and Copyright Law as well as more advanced IP courses such as Chemical and Biotechnology Patent Practice.
Law and Economics Program
George Mason University School of Law is one of the nation's leading centers for the study of law and economics. Over two dozen courses are offered in the areas of economic theory, antitrust law, quantitative analysis as well as corporate and business organization
Technology Law Program
combines coursework in the fields of technology law, intellectual property law, and business law. It will provide J.D. students with the skills necessary to succeed in today's rapidly-changing legal environment. Distinguished professors and practitioners offer courses on subjects such as telecommunications policy, cybercrime, intellectual property protection, and venture capital formation.
Legal Clinics
Students may gain a great deal of practical experience during law school by participating in one or more of our clinical programs listed below:
Clinic for Legal Assistance to Servicemembers
CLAS was established in 2004 in response to 9/11 and the desire of the law school community to help active-duty members of the armed forces and their families for whom retaining counsel would be an undue hardship. It remains unique in American legal education. Students have represented clients from all armed services in civil litigation, adjudication and negotiation regarding consumer-protection, family-law, landlord-tenant, contract, military-law and entitlement matters. Students are supervised by law school instructors or private practitioners with subject matter expertise, and receive weekly classroom instruction on legal ethics, client interviewing, and procedural and substantive issues relevant to their practice.
Domestic Relations Legal Clinic
The Domestic Relations Legal Clinic is supervised by Judge Stanley P. Klein of the Fairfax County Circuit Court and offers students a unique opportunity to assist pro se litigants in obtaining uncontested divorces. Student lawyers are assigned a mentor who is a well-known domestic relations lawyer and work in the mentor’s office 12 hours per week on all manner of domestic relations issues and cases. The student lawyers are given their own case load of clients who seek help from the clinic. The students meet with clients, draft pleadings, review documentation and appear in court for ore tenus hearings before a Fairfax County Circuit Court judge. Some students may even have the opportunity to argue motions for support or minor property determinations. To be eligible to enroll in the clinic, students must have completed and have a 3rd Year Practice Certificate. This clinic is limited to the first 10 students who apply.
Immigration Legal Clinic
The Board of Immigration Appeals, within the Department of Justice’s Executive Office for Immigration Review, is the highest administrative tribunal for the interpretation and application of immigration and nationality law in the United States. The Board selects students from George Mason School of Law to serve as interns for academic credits. Students are assigned to a Board Attorney Advisor, who serves as a mentor, and will work on a variety of projects, including drafting orders to appeals pertaining to immigration law issues and legal research. Students are recruited in the fall for participation during the spring semester.
Law and Mental Illness Clinic
The Law and Mental Illness Clinic allows students to gain experience in the judicial, legislative, academic and advocacy aspects of laws concerning the treatment of individuals with severe mental illness. The classroom component of the course studies the history and development of laws affecting the mentally ill, while also preparing the students for representation of petitioners during civil commitment hearings. Students may also represent clients and will locate and interview witnesses, appear at commitment hearings, perform direct and cross-examinations and present legal argument.
Legal Clinic
Through enrollment in this Legal Clinic, students have the opportunity to work in the Fairfax County Circuit Court Judges' Chambers, the Office of the Public Defender, the Office of the Commonwealth's Attorney or in a private attorney's office. The Honorable Stanley P. Klein of the Fairfax County Circuit Court supervises the Legal Clinic.
Legal Clinic - Practical Preparation Of GMU Patent Applications
This is a working seminar class where students write actual applications that will be filed for inventors affiliated with George Mason University. The students are each assigned an invention, and work directly with the inventor(s), who will likely be George Mason University professors or staff, to write a patent application covering the invention. Students are instructed as to best practices before meeting with the inventor(s) and drafting the application, and then are critiqued regarding their written patent applications. The patent applications will be written in stages, including invention disclosure considerations, drawings, claims, and specification, with critique on each step in the process. Multiple drafts of the complete application will be written and critiqued until it is ready for filing.
Regulatory Clinic
The Regulatory Clinic allows students to engage in the federal regulatory process, analyzing an active regulation and filing public comments (from a public interest perspective) with a federal agency. The course combines practical lectures with workshops on how to analyze regulations and effectively communicate ideas. Students will work with a Mercatus Center mentor and present their analysis through a mock hearing and op-ed, as well as the public comment.
Externships
George Mason's proximity to Washington, D.C. offers a wide range of supervised externship possibilities to our law students. The supervised externship program is designed to allow students who have completed one-third of their legal education to perform work outside of law school, for academic credit, under the supervision of an attorney. Our students have undertaken externships in such varied places as the Executive Office of the President, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, the Alexandria Commonwealth Attorney's Office, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and the U.S. Department of Justice. For more information, see Career Development: Supervised Externship Program.
Exchange Program: Studying Law and Economics in Hamburg, Germany
Through a newly established exchange program with the University of Hamburg's Erasmus Programme in Law and Economics, George Mason law students interested in the economic effects of legal rules are invited to study at the University of Hamburg in Germany. Likewise, program students from the University of Hamburg may study law from the perspective of economic analysis at George Mason. This program is for students with a solid background in law and economics interested in the interdisciplinary study of both areas. For more information, see Law & Economics Program.