The law school curriculum offers many areas of concentration, together with the courses needed for an effective general legal education.

Many believe that balance is the key to effective course selection. On the one hand, most law students cannot predict with certainty that they will be practicing in a particular legal specialty. Indeed, many types of law practice, even for a particular type of client (e.g., small- and medium-sized businesses) may involve a fairly general practice of law, including, for example, corporate, commercial, tax, real estate, employment, bankruptcy, family, criminal, wills and estates, tort litigation, and various kinds of government regulation. Thus, in whatever type of practice a lawyer works, there is likely to be value in a fairly wide-ranging legal education. On the other hand, the desire for some specialization also makes sense, in part to get the experience of advanced work in some field, and in part to help students define and pursue their interests. Other aspects of balance include small and large courses; courses with papers or other writing compared to those with only a final examination; classroom courses compared with clinical, quasi-clinical, and simulation courses; and courses offering a variety of policy and theoretical perspectives, as well as vocation-oriented courses.

After completing the first year, in addition to the required upper-level course in Professional Responsibility, many students take courses that often are termed building blocks, such as Business Organizations, Evidence, Introduction to Commercial Law, Real Estate Transactions and Conveyancing, Criminal Procedure, Labor Law or Employment Law, and Administrative Law. These courses provide the knowledge needed to pursue such areas of concentration as business and corporate law, litigation, commercial law, real estate, criminal law, labor law and government, regulatory law, and public interest practice. Other courses taken by many second- and third-year students include Family Law, Decedents` Estates and Trusts, Health Law, Intellectual Property, and Introduction to International Law.

Careful selection of building block courses in the third and fourth terms (or later, for part-time students) provides a basis for exciting advanced work in subsequent terms. For example, the Business Organizations course opens the door to an array of advanced and practice-oriented courses, such as Securities Regulation, Mergers and Acquisitions, Taxation of Business Organizations, Mutual Fund and Investment Company Regulation, Small Business Counseling (with real clients), Corporate Counseling, and Business Planning. Courses such as Civil Procedure, Evidence, and Professional Responsibility support work in Complex Civil Litigation, Federal Courts, Federal Practice and Procedure, and Class Actions, as well as clinical work in the Civil Practice Clinic and the externship program. Litigation and representational skills and knowledge also can be pursued in Pretrial Advocacy, Trial Advocacy, Advanced Trial Advocacy, Interviewing, Counseling and Negotiation, and Alternative Dispute Resolution.

The law school curriculum provides a large number of such sequences. Thus, Intellectual Property leads to offerings in Advanced Problems in Trademark Law, Advanced Problems in Copyright Law, and Patent Law. Commercial Law supports work in Secured Transactions, Bankruptcy and Debtor/Creditor Rights, Commercial Paper, and Advanced Sales. Administrative Law and Statutory Interpretation and Legislation support work in Health Law and Health Care Fraud and Abuse, as well as in Environmental Law and Hazardous Waste, Toxic Torts, and Environmental Justice. Family Law can be followed with Problems in Family Law and Practice, Estate Planning, and a seminar on interstate child custody. It should be noted that in some sequences outlined above the basic courses are formal prerequisites to the advanced offerings, while in others, they are recommended only as helpful and are not required. Please check the descriptions of particular courses to determine actual prerequisites.

The curriculum also offers a rich array of courses in public international law and international human rights, comparative law, and private international law, as well as advanced courses in various areas of constitutional rights and civil liberties, legal history, biomedical ethics, social welfare law, law and economics, and jurisprudence.

The faculty has prepared academic advice memoranda, available online through the law school web site, http: //www-camlaw.rutgers.edu/, on course selection, course sequences, and various fields or concentrations of legal practice, including business and corporate law and litigation; commercial law; criminal law; environmental law; family law; health law; labor and employment law; and government, civil rights, and public interest practice. Students are urged to consult these memoranda and individual faculty knowledgeable in the various fields.