Curriculum

The UMass Law curriculum is the product of tradition and innovation. It combines a solid, comprehensive grounding in the subjects that form the traditional core of a legal education and a pervasive emphasis, based on the “best practices” movement, on teaching skills and values, both set in the larger context of the school’s mission to produce practice-ready citizen lawyers.

Two curricula are currently in place at the law school:

The “Original Curriculum” is in place for students in the entering class of 2010.

The "Current Curriculum" applies to the students who matriculated in the fall 2011.

It is a curriculum designed to serve the needs of our students and thereby promote the school’s mission of graduating students who are prepared to pass the bar and practice law and who are motivated to make significant contributions to their communities and the legal profession in Massachusetts and beyond.

Core program requirements

Curriculum

Contracts
Property
Torts
Civil Procedure
Constitutional Law
Criminal Law
Criminal Procedure
Legal Ethics

Skills & writing requirements

Legal Skills Program

A three-semester requirement in Legal Skills uses an innovative approach that combines instruction in fundamental lawyering skills such as:

fact-gathering
legal research and writing
interviewing
counseling
oral advocacy
negotiation

The program has a significant simulation component, sometimes called the “law firm” model. Writing skills are embedded in the legal skills courses.

Upper-Level Writing Requirement

Students must also satisfy an upper-level writing requirement by writing a paper in an elective course or as an independent research project.

Distrubution requirements

There are three 'distribution' requirements:

Code Requirement

Students are required to take at least one course (three credits) in which the primary focus is on statutory (rather than case) law. Courses that satisfy this requirement include:

Sales Law
Payment Systems
Secured Transactions
Tax

Foundational Requirement

Students are required to take at least nine credits of 'foundational' courses. Foundational courses include:

Evidence
Business Organizations
Trusts and Estates
Administrative Law
Family Law
Any elective designated as a code course that is not used to satisfy the code distribution requirement

Practice Requirement

In keeping with the school’s commitment to the necessity and value of putting knowledge into practice, the students are required to complete six credits of 'practice' courses that offer a variety of opportunities for independent work and internships:

in civil legal clinics concerned with assisting low-income clients in a variety of civil matters, non-profit corporations in the community, and immigrants’ rights
in a variety of law offices through an extensive clerking program
in an international clerking program at the International Criminal Tribunal at the Hague (working as prosecutors, defenders, and with judges directly)
in one-credit “mini-clerkships” linked to substantive law classes
in internships with judges

Bar preparation

Students are also required to complete the Bar Preparation course.

Pro Bono Requirement

All students are required to volunteer the equivalent of at least one work-week of pro bono legal or law-related work under the supervision of a licensed attorney in a: