JD Course Requirements

89 credits required to graduate

General Law Program

Although Scalia Law 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 Scalia 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 the general law courses listed below; the remaining credit hours are in elective courses.  Students must fulfill the following requirements through elective courses:

• Students matriculating in or before Fall 2015 must complete the upper-level writing requirement.  (See Academic Regulation 3-3.2(b))
• Students matriculating in Fall 2016 and later must complete the upper-level writing requirement and the experiential learning requirement. (See Academic Regulation 3-3.2(b) and 3-3.2(c))

* Part-time students typically take Property in fall of their 2nd year. 

** Part-time students who started in fall 2021 or later typically take Legislation and Statutory Interpretation in fall of their 2nd year.

*** Part-time students typically take Criminal Law in spring of their 2nd year.

**** Part-time students who started in fall 2021 or later typically take Constitutional Law I: Structure of Government in spring of their 2nd year.

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 3-5.5)
• In order to earn a JD, a student must have been in residence for a minimum of six fall or spring semesters. A student is in residence for a semester during which the student earns (with a passing grade) academic credit eligible to be presented towards their Juris Doctor degree.  (See Academic Regulation 3-3.3).
• All students must complete 89 credit hours to graduate, 74 of which must be "in-class" credit hours, and no more than 15 credit hours may be graded "CR." (See Academic Regulation 3-3.1)

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

Students matriculating in Fall 2016 or later must also fulfill the law school's experiential learning requirement before graduation.

Schedule for the General Law Program in PDF form