Courses at Valparaiso University School of Law

Designed to give you a strong base of knowledge upon which to build your legal career, our curriculum represents a wide variety of required and elective courses. During your first year, you will be introduced to the foundations of the law, such as contracts and civil procedure, through the traditional case method of teaching. As an upperclassman, you will explore interdisciplinary connections to gain perspective on the legal system as a whole, as well as study jurisprudence, to gain a philosophical framework from which to view the law. Throughout your law school career you will work to improve your ability to perform accurate research and write effectively in classes devoted specifically to refining those skills.

Complete listing of courses... 

The first-year curriculum is as follows:

Fall Semester:

Contracts, 4 Cr
Criminal Law, 3 Cr
Civil Procedure, 5 Cr
Legal Writing & Reasoning I, 2 Cr.
Legal Research, 1 Cr

Spring Semeter:

Constitutional Law 1, 3 Cr
Property, 5 Cr
Torts, 4 Cr
Legal Writing & Reasoning II, 2 Cr.
Legal Research & Appellate Advocacy, 1 Cr.

Year-Specific Information:

In addition to the courses listed below, 2Ls are required to take Law 203 Business Associations, Law 220 Legal Profession and one advanced legal writing course in the second year.

Advanced Writing Courses:

235  Legal Drafting            2 cr.  
    A- Real Estate
    B- Business Law
    C- Local Government
    H- Estate Planning
    J- Juvenile/Child
    K-Litigation
241 Adv. App. Advo-Civil            2 cr.
242  Adv. App. Advo-Criminal        2 cr.
243  Adv. Legal Research             3 cr.
245   Pretrial Skills             3 cr.

Students are required to take at least one course from each of the following areas during either their second or third years:

Administrative Law Courses:

    441 Administrative Law        3 cr.
    448 Environmental Law        4 cr.
    480 Immigration Law            3 cr.

Code Courses:

    407 UCC                3 cr.
    408 Secured Transactions        3 cr.
    420 Bankruptcy            3-4 cr.
    421 Individual Tax            4 cr.
    429 Consumer Protection Law        3 cr.   

Property Courses:

    439 Trusts and Estates        3 cr.
    437 Intellectual Property        2-3 cr.
    434 Land Use            3 cr. 

Perspective Courses:

    260  Legal Process             2 cr.
    265 American Legal History        2 cr.
    270  Comparative Law:Europe        2 cr.
    271 Comparative Law: Latin America    2 cr.
    272 Law & Society            2 cr.
    280  Law & Economics        3 cr.
    295 Jurisprudence            2 cr.
    477 Intro. to Public International Law    3 cr.
    479 International Law: Human Rights    3 cr.

Third-year requirements:

300/301 Seminar (2/3 cr.) or 676/677 Law Review (2 cr.)

Pro Bono Externship Requirement

Each law student must complete twenty (20) hours of pro bono service under the supervision of an attorney in order to graduate. Full-time students must perform the service after completion of their first year and before the last day of classes prior to graduation. Part-time students must perform the service after completion of thirty (30) credit hours and before the last day of classes. Students are to register online for the Pro Bono program (Law 310) for the semester in which they plan to complete the requirement. Students must register for their Pro Bono requirement prior to beginning the work. Students are prohibited from registering retroactively for pro bono services already rendered.

Part-Time Student Information

Course requirements for part-time students