Course Offerings
All courses of study in the second and third years are elective, with the exception of professional responsibility. Students are also required to complete two writing experiences after the first year of law school. Certain courses are considered foundation courses because they provide the vocabulary and structure for advanced legal work. Accordingly, the courses that provide the background necessary for most curriculum paths are recommended to, and scheduled primarily for, the convenience of second-year students.
Second-year foundation courses include administrative law; business associations; criminal procedure: investigation, evidence, income taxation, professional responsibility and trusts and estates. Third-year students are given preference in family law, federal jurisdiction, secured transactions and trial advocacy.
Students should plan a program of 10 to 16 hours of credit in each semester of the last two years. Eighty-six hours of credit are required for graduation.
Courses in Other University Departments
A student may be granted permission by the senior associate dean to take course work in other graduate divisions of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for up to three hours of credit toward the law degree upon showing the senior associate dean that the course will contribute significantly to his or her legal education. Students must obtain permission before enrolling in the course. A grade of P or better (on the basis of the usual graduate school grading criteria of H, P, L, and F) will be transferred to the student's law record on a credit basis. The grade will not be averaged into the student's cumulative grade point average. This policy is not designed to affect in any way the continuing opportunities available to law students to take or audit courses in other divisions of the University on a noncredit (toward the law degree) basis.
Interinstitutional Program
Students wishing to take law courses at either Duke Law School or North Carolina Central Law School that are not regularly offered at Carolina Law should individually determine their availability and then see the law registrar for registration procedures. There is no additional tuition charge for courses taken through the interinstitutional program during the academic year. Summer school, however, is not covered by the program. Students may not fulfill their seminar requirement by taking a seminar at these institutions.