What are your schools Required Courses?

[bigs5068]

I was just curious if schools had the same Required Courses. I will list the courses required by GGU  and maybe others can follow. I just really want to know how much the curriculum varies by school.

Golden Gate University Required Courses First Year
1. Property I
2. Civil Procedure I
3. Torts
4. Legal Writing & Research I
5. Contracts I
6. Criminal Law
7. Property II
8. Legal Writing & Research II
9. Contracts II
10. Civil Procedure II
11. Elective of your choosing.

Second Year
1. Con Law I & II
2. Appellate Advocacy

Other Required Courses with no set time frame.
1. Criminal Procedure
2. Evidence
3. Wills & Trusts
4. Corporations/Business Associations
5. Professional Responsibility
6. Practical Legal Writing

I believe you need to have 27 elective units to graduate.

[nealric]

Georgetown had very few required classes. Just the following:

Torts
Civpro
Lrw
Ks
Crimpro
Professional responsibility
Property

1 paper class (any subject)

[bigs5068]

That's crazy I had no idea. Do you think most T14 schools have that type of setup? I could see lower ranked schools having more bar required courses to improve bar passage, which I imagine is more of a concern at tier 2,3, 4 schools opposed to Georgetown or Harvard.

[BikePilot]

Yeah most of the T14 only set the 1L courses and students take what best suits their needs after that. IIRC at HLS we had:
property
leg-reg
torts
civ pro
crim
legal writing
contracts
property
intl law  - chose 1 of several.

then of course professional responsibility (that's required by the ABA, so not really a school specific choice) and a writing requirement.

imho property is outdated and a waste of most people's time... I'd drop it from the required list.

I don't know of anyone who didn't take constitutional law/14th amendment and most students also take fed courts.

[bigs5068]

Well we got to learn all about the rule against perpetuities at my school. I am an expert on an outdated useless extremely complicated theory from feudalist times! Are you implying knowing feudal legal theories that the state my school is in California does not even use as a waste of time? Below was a piece of our property final exam I have no idea what kind of person would draft this kind of will not to mention it is property and not wills & trusts, but what do I know. It is funny because every interview I have gone on people are like oh RAP I have never once used that in real life. If someone does want to draft an extremely complicated will that makes no logical sense I can do it! 

Tina Testator is a loyal alumna of GGU School of Law and also a supporter of the opera. Tina Testator executes a valid will in 2009 that provides in pertinent part as follows:
Blackacre shall go to my daughter Ann for life, then to the children of my son Bill for their lives, and at the death of the last of them, to the person who is then Dean of the Golden Gate University School of Law if the bar pass rate in that year exceeds 80%, and otherwise, to the San Francisco Opera Foundation (a charity).
At the time the will is executed, Tina has two children, Ann and Bill. Under the applicable laws of intestate succession, they will be her heirs if they survive her. Bill has a child, Colby, born in 2005. Tina dies in 2010. Bill has a second child, Darby, born in 2015. Bill dies intestate in 2020, leaving Colby and Darby as his heirs. Ann dies in 2025, with a valid will leaving everything “to my brother’s children.” Colby dies in 2075, with a valid will leaving everything to Darby. Darby dies in 2100. In that year, GGU School of Law has an 82% bar passage rate.
1. Classify all interests created by the conveyance and evaluate their validity under the common law Rule Against Perpetuities.
2. Redraft the conveyance, striking any gifts which violate RAP.
3. Reclassify as necessary, in light of any changes made.
4. Move forward in time, explaining who comes into possession and when. A complete answer will end with some person or persons in possession of the fee simple absolute at an identified date.

[nealric]

Yeah, the only people who ever use the RAP are Trusts & Estates and Probate lawyers. Even then, it only applies in certain states. I think there was one or two MBE questions on it with the bar, but I could have gotten away with not understanding any of it.

Note: I also forgot: Conlaw I was required as well.

[bigs5068]

That was her logic that it is on the bar. That is not even the most complicated there were some ridiculous problems she gave us as homework assignments, but we spent about 4 weeks on it. The whole logic was if you can know the stuff I am giving you the bar will be easy, which makes some kind of sense. However, she went into overkill and sadly I do not think I know everything I should about easements etc, which are more likely to come up in real life.

[bigs5068]

I noticed both of you said there was a writing requirement, but what did that consist of. Did it entail taking a course or did you just need to get something published?

[nealric]

I noticed both of you said there was a writing requirement, but what did that consist of. Did it entail taking a course or did you just need to get something published?
 

The writing requirement is that you have to take any course that requires a 30+ page paper. It has to be "publishable quality" but does not need to actually be published.

However, she went into overkill and sadly I do not think I know everything I should about easements etc, which are more likely to come up in real life.

Easements are also much more prominent on the bar.

[barond]

 1st year required: Contracts, Property, Torts, Civil Procedure, Applied Legal Theory/Analysis, Analytical Tools

Required courses you take after 1st year: Criminal Law, Constitutional Law, Evidence, Professional Responsibility, Taxation, two Law Firm Program courses, a Clinic, an International Law elective, and an upper-level writing requirement.