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, Small Business
Counseling (with real clients), and Business Planning. Courses such as
Civil Procedure, Evidence, and Professional Responsibility support work
in Complex Civil Litigation, Federal Courts, 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 Litigation, 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. Family Law
can be followed with Domestic Violence, 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.