Required Curriculum

The following are required for graduation.

Course Requirements Credit Hours
*Business Enterprises 4
Civil Procedure I 3
Civil Procedure II 3
Constitutional Law I 2
Constitutional Law II 4
Contracts I 3
Contracts II 3
Criminal Law 3
Evidence 4

Professional Responsibility

 3
Property 4
Research Writing & Advocacy I 2
Research Writing & Advocacy II 2
Torts 4
**Total Credit Hours for Required Courses 44
Electives 44
Total Credits Required to Graduate 88

*Not required for students entering fall 2008 or later
**Students entering fall 2008 or later take 40 credits of required credits and 48 elective credits.


Upper Level Writing Requirement

In view of the fact that lawyers and other members of the legal profession are commonly called upon to communicate their expertise in writing, the faculty of the Michigan State University College of Law has instituted an upper level writing requirement (the ULWR) in order to assure that every student who graduates from this law school will have had the experience of researching, analyzing and writing about legal issues on a more sophisticated and in-depth level than is generally possible during the first year of law school.

The benefits of the ULWR are twofold. Each College student will not only acquire enhanced research, analytical and writing skills, but also will produce a paper that may be used as a writing sample for job interviews and/or that may improve the student's credentials if the paper is published in a law review or bar journal.

Detailed information regarding the ULWR can be found in the MSU Law Student Handbook (PDF).

Professional Skills Requirement

Students who enter MSU Law in Fall 2008 or later are required, for graduation, to complete at least one upper-level course that includes instruction in trial and appellate advocacy, alternative methods of dispute resolution, counseling, interviewing, negotiating, problem solving, factual investigation, organization and management of legal work, or drafting. Such instruction must engage each student in skills performances that are assessed by the instructor, including feedback. The skills component must receive weight in the final grade for each course that is at least equivalent to one credit hour (e.g., 50% in a two credit hour course, or 25% in a four credit hour course.)