Click on a menu item below for information about various aspects of the Juris Doctor (J.D.) program at Wayne State University Law School.
First-Year Program Options
Legal Research and Writing
Upper-class Program
Degree Requirements
First-Year Program Options
To meet the diverse needs of today's law students, the Law School offers three program options for the first year of study in the J.D. program. Click on the links below for more information about each option.
Full-Time Day Program
Part-Time Evening Program
Full-Time Combined Day and Evening Program
Full-Time Day Program
The first-year day program is a full-time two-semester program which begins only in the fall. Students must take all required first-year courses. The Fall Term curriculum totals 15 credit hours and consists of the following courses:
Course Listings and Descriptions
Contracts A
Civil Procedure A
Criminal Law
Torts
Legal Research and Writing
In the Winter Term, which also totals 15 credit hours, students complete the second half of Legal Research and Writing in addition to the following courses:
Course Listings and Descriptions
Contracts B
Civil Procedure B
Property
Constitutional Law I
The entire first year consists of 30 total credit hours. Because of the significant amount of time demanded by the full-time day program, students are strongly discouraged from employment of any type during the first year.
Part-Time Evening Program
The Law School offers a part-time program that enables students to complete their J.D. requirements in four to six years. The first-year evening curriculum is mandatory and consists of two semesters each of the following courses, totaling 15 credits:
Course Listings and Descriptions
Civil Procedure
Contracts
Legal Research and Writing
In the second year of the evening program, students take the following courses totaling 15 credits:
Course Listings and Descriptions
Property
Torts
Criminal Law
Constitutional Law I
Second-year evening students also may choose additional electives. Most evening classes are held 6:10 and 8:10 p.m., Monday through Thursday; others are offered between 5:30 and 6:50 p.m. or between 7:00 and 8:20 p.m. A selection of weekday courses also is offered between 4:00 and 6:00 p.m. for easy accessibility by both day and evening students. Class size is generally smaller in evening courses than in day courses.
Full-Time Combined Day and Evening Program
The combined day and evening program is designed to meet the needs of students who wish to complete law school in three years, but who prefer to take as many classes as possible in the evening. The program may be elected by any applicant.
In the combined day and evening program, first-year students must take the following courses:
During the evening:
Course Listings and Descriptions
Civil Procedure
Contracts
Legal Research and Writing
During the day:
Course Listings and Descriptions
Property or Torts (students may elect to take both Property and Torts during the day)
During the second year of the combined program, students must take:
Course Listings and Descriptions
Property or Torts (if not taken during the first year)
Criminal Law (during the evening of the second semester)
Students in the combined program who complete all five courses open to them will have 24 credits at the end of their first year, only 6 credits short of the 30 credits completed by full-time first-year day students. These three credits can be readily made up during the summer or in subsequent academic years, allowing students in the combined program to complete the degree in three years if they so choose.
Legal Research and Writing
A major part of the first-year curriculum is Legal Research and Writing, taught in small sections by full-time legal writing faculty.
The two-semester course begins with a week-long Orientation program designed to prepare incoming students for their legal studies. Orientation introduces the precedent system, a method for reading and understanding cases, the modes of legal analysis, and the analysis of a sample legal problem.
Following Orientation, students meet with the legal writing faculty in weekly sessions and in individual conferences. In the Fall Term, the curriculum is devoted primarily to research, analysis, organization, and writing in an objective setting. Students learn to use library and on-line research materials. As the finale for the semester, students draft a complaint and answer a complaint submitted by opposing counsel.
In the Winter Term, students develop written and oral advocacy skills. They draft an appellate brief based on a current, open legal issue. In preparation for the oral argument, students practice their arguments under the mentorship of upper-level Moot Court students. The final oral arguments are delivered to three-judge panels of practicing attorneys. Toward the end of the semester, students negotiate and draft a contract.
A highlight of most Winter semesters is a visit by the Michigan Court of Appeals. Students watch real lawyers argue actual pending cases before the Court and respond to questioning from judges.
Wayne State University Law School is noted for its excellent Legal Research and Writing program. Three legal writing faculty members published textbooks while at Wayne. These textbooks and related materials are used at law schools around the country.
Upper-class Program
After completing the required first-year day, first-year combined day and evening, or first- and second-year evening curriculum, students may choose from among an extensive listing of elective courses and seminars including interdisciplinary courses covering a broad range of subjects.
Students may elect courses offered in the day or evening or a combination of day and evening courses. It is not uncommon for evening students to elect day classes and for day students to elect evening classes. Upper-class students may change from one program to the other as their schedules require, and may elect courses in the eight-week summer term to accelerate or to accommodate individual needs.
For a listing of upper-class courses that have been offered at the Law School recently, see Course Listings and Descriptions.
Degree Requirements
The following are the requirements for the Juris Doctor degree, as prescribed in the Academic Regulations of the Law School. Students should refer to a current copy of the Academic Regulations for an authoritative and updated listing of all degree requirements; students with questions should contact Michele Miller, Assistant Dean of Academic and Supportive Services.
J.D. degree requirements:
- A bachelor's or equivalent degree upon admission.
- Completion of a minimum of 86 semester credit hours with an overall average of C (2.00) or better on all credit hours completed.
- Completion (with a final grade of at least D) of each of the following required courses: Contracts A&B, Property, Civil Procedure A&B, Criminal Law, Torts, Constitutional Law I and Professional Responsibility. Additionally, Legal Research and Writing must be completed with a final grade of at least Low Pass. (Legal Research and Writing is graded on an Honors, Pass, Low Pass, Fail system.)
- Upper-class Writing Requirement. All students entering the law school in the fall of 2001 and thereafter must participate in one or more programs offering a rigorous writing experience after their first year. This upper-class writing requirement may be met in any of the following ways:
- Successful completion, with a grade of "C" or better, of a qualifying seminar, a qualifying clinic, a qualifying workshop, a qualifying course or a qualifying directed study;
- Successful completion, with a grade of "Credit" for four semesters, of Commercial Law: Directed Research;
- Satisfactory service, with a grade of "Credit" for two or more semesters, as an editor of The Wayne Law Review or The Journal of Law in Society; or
- Satisfactory service, with a grade of "Credit" for two or more semesters, on Moot Court.
- Successful completion, with a grade of "C" or better, of a qualifying seminar, a qualifying clinic, a qualifying workshop, a qualifying course or a qualifying directed study;
- Three years in residence must be completed. Students earn years in residence at the rate of 0.05 residence years for each semester hour completed. A student may not earn more than one-half year in residence for a Fall or Winter Term in which 10 or more credits are completed and not more than one-quarter year in residence for a summer term in which 5 or more credits are completed.
- The final year of study must be completed in residence at Wayne State University Law School.
