SPRING 2024 – COURSE OF STUDY FOR SECOND AND THIRD YEAR STUDENTS

Course Descriptions & Program Planning Information

Graduation Requirements Checklist – Full Time Students
Graduation Requirements Checklist – Part Time Students
Students Enrolled Before Fall 2023

General Program Planning Information

Meet with your academic advisor about your course selections to can help ensure that your course of study prepares you for the particular area of practice you plan to pursue and for the bar exam. Your advisor can help you to choose wisely from among the available lawyering seminars and clinics, and to help you make your elective choices.

We recommend that you consider the following criteria in developing your program: courses that provide you with the doctrinal coverage necessary for the bar exam; courses that enhance the skills you need for the bar exam and for practice; courses that prepare you for the particular area of practice you plan to pursue; courses that enrich and round out your law studies, especially courses that will better prepare you for public interest practice; and courses that appeal to your interests and background and that will enable you to connect intellectually and emotionally to the study and practice of law.

Recommendations for the Bar Exam

Those of you who plan to take the New York bar exam should include most of the following electives in your academic program:

Real Estate is only open to students who have passed Property. Students who wish to take Wills and Trusts must have taken Property prior to enrolling, or be taking Property during the same semester as they take Wills and Trusts.

We design the class schedules on the assumption that full-time students will take, Criminal Procedure, Business Associations and/or UCC Survey in their second year, and that part-time students will take those courses either in their second or third years.

Full-time students can take those courses as third-year students, but they are often scheduled against other recommended electives that can only be taken by 3Ls.

Part-time students can take those courses in their fourth year, but they may be scheduled against recommended electives taken by 4L part-time students.

Some Sample Programs to Consider

Sample A – full-time students – This is a possible program for a student who wants to take four bar electives (including Core doctrine and ALA) before graduation and plans to take a twosemester clinic. (Required courses are in bold.)

Third Semester Fourth Semester
LAW 7292 – Evidence  4cr. Law 7251 – Public Institutions 3cr.
Law 7182 – Constitutional Structure 3cr. Law Sem III 4cr.
Bar Elective 3cr. Law 7151 – Property 4cr.
Bar Elective 3cr. Elective 2cr.
Fifth Semester Sixth Semester
Bar Elective 3cr. Clinic 12cr.
Law 779 – Core Doctrine 4cr. ALA 2cr.
Total 15cr. Elective 2cr.
2 Bar Electives 6cr.

Note: This schedule reflects the decision to take Property in the fourth semester, rather than the third semester. Many students have reported that the third semester is very difficult even without Property. Other students have carried the load including Property successfully. Because there is no lawyering seminar or required small section in the third semester, you should think carefully about your readiness to take on a difficult program without the individual and small-group learning opportunities you had in the first year.

Sample B– full-time students – This is a possible program for a student who wants to take six of the bar electives before graduation (including Core and ALA taken together) and plans to take a one-semester clinic. (Required courses are in bold.)

Third Semester Fourth Semester
LAW 7292 – Evidence  4cr. Law 7251 – Public Institutions 3cr.
Law 7182 – Constitutional Structure 3cr. Law Sem III 4cr.
Law 7151 – Property 4cr. Bar Elective 3cr.
Bar Elective 3cr. Elective 2cr.
Fifth Semester Sixth Semester
Clinic 8cr. Clinic 8cr.
Prof Resp 2cr. Law 779 – Core Doctrine 4cr.
Bar Elective 3cr. ALA 2cr.
Elective 3cr.

Note: This schedule reflects the decision to take Property in the third semester.

Sample C – full-time students – This is a possible program for a student who wants to take four bar electives (including Core doctrine and ALA) before graduation and plans to take a two semester clinic. (Required courses are in bold.)

Third Semester Fourth Semester
LAW 7292 – Evidence  4cr. Law Sem III 4cr.
Law 7182 – Constitutional Structure 3cr. Law 7151 – Property 4cr.
Law 7251 – Public Institutions 3cr. Bar Elective 3cr.
Elective 3cr. Law 738 – Professional Responsibility 2cr.
Independent Study 1cr.
Fifth Semester Sixth Semester
Bar Elective 3cr. Law 779 – Core Doctrine 4cr.
Clinic 12cr. ALA 2cr.
Total 15cr. 2 Electives 5cr.
Bar Elective 3cr.

Grades and the Credit/No Credit Option

Courses at CUNY School of Law (except Individual Skills Development, and other specifically designated courses) use the following grading scale: A, A-, B+, B, B-, C+, C, C-, D and F. These grades will be used to determine a student’s academic status.

After completing the first year, a student may elect to take up to 4 elective courses including Individual Skills Development, Moot Court, Law Review Editing for Credit/No Credit.

To elect the Credit/No Credit option, the student must notify the Office of Registration and Records Management no later than the date designated by the Academic Calendar for each semester.

Here are some factors you might want to consider when deciding to elect the Credit/No Credit option:

Keep in mind your individual career goals. Consider whether you want to be able to point to an “A” or a “B” in an elective course, in a subject matter related to the area in which you want to practice. Transcript information provided to employers will include a description of the “Credit” grade as encompassing all passing work.

Assess your total workload for the semester to determine whether electing the “Credit/No Credit” option for a particular course is likely to enhance the picture presented on your transcript or to detract from it. If “Credit/No Credit” in one course gives you the space you need to do very well in all your other courses, this is certainly a relevant consideration. On the other hand, if you’re likely to do well anyway, you may want to take courses for a grade.

You may want to save your Credit/No Credit option for a particular semester during which you will have a very heavy workload in courses, extracurricular activities, job search activities, or in outside employment.

If you are thinking about electing Credit/No Credit for a bar-related course, consider whether or not you will be motivated enough to have your work in that course translate into adequate preparation for the bar exam.