Courses of Instruction

One of the law school's great strengths is the richness and diversity of its curriculum. It offers students the opportunity to sample a broad array of areas of the law with more than 275 elective courses offered each year. In addition to introductory-level and more advanced courses in a variety of fields, some highly specialized areas of the curriculum allow students to gain considerable expertise. These specialized areas include international law, environmental law, intellectual property law, and government regulation and constitutional law. 

The number of hours of credit given for the satisfactory completion of a course is indicated in parentheses after the name of the course. Thus, an academic-year course with two hours of credit each semester is marked (2–2) and a semester course with two hours of credit is marked (2). Some courses are offered for variable credit hours and are marked (2 or 3) or (3 or 4). Each semester’s class schedule will indicate the number of hours for which the course is being offered. The method by which students will be evaluated in the course is indicated at the end of each course description. Students should always consult the instructor’s course syllabus to confirm the method of evaluation and related details, particularly when more than one instructor is indicated in the course description. Not all courses are offered each year. Students should consult the schedule of classes to determine whether a course is offered in any given semester or summer session. The courses of instruction are described on the pages below.

JD Programs of Instruction

This section provides guidance for students on planning their course of education at the Law School. It highlights clinical programs, field placement, and public interest programs, and it describes our offerings in various practice areas, in some of which students may seek JD concentrations.

Course Descriptions

This section describes each course offered by the Law School, including information on the course content, number of credit hours for which the course may be taken, the available modes of evaluation for the course, and whether experiential credit may be offered.

Summer Session & Programs Outside DC

This section describes the Law School's summer session, as well as programs outside Washington, DC, including exchange programs with law schools around the world and the Law School's GW in New York program.