Course Scheduling and Sequencing - The University of Toledo College of Law

April 2007

TO:       Students Admitted, Readmitted or Reinstated to the College of Law for the 2000 Fall
            Semester and Thereafter

FROM: Associate Dean Daniel J. Steinbock

RE:       Course Scheduling and Sequencing

This memo is intended to acquaint you with general information which will be helpful to all upper class students who intend to register for courses during the 2007-2008 academic year. You should also consult the College of Law Academic Rules and the College of Law Catalog for more detailed information concerning all aspects of degree requirements and curriculum provisions.

If you have any questions, please contact (in no particular order) your advisor, any member of the faculty, the College of Law Registrar Valerie Parra, or one of us.

REQUIREMENTS FOR GRADUATION

The number of credit hours required for graduation is 89. In addition to the Basic Required Courses (Civil Procedure I, II; Contracts I, II; Legal Research and Writing and Appellate Advocacy I, II; Criminal Law; Torts I; Property I, II; and Constitutional Law I), only the following upper-level courses are required for graduation:

1.	Legal Ethics (LAWA-9000-00x)
2.	Evidence (LAWG-9310-00x)
3.	Constitutional Law II (LAWD-9120-00x)
4.	Upper Level Writing Requirement
5.	Professional Skills Requirement

UPPER LEVEL WRITING REQUIREMENT

Each student is required to satisfy the upper level writing requirement. To satisfy the requirement, each student must earn five writing units, to be taken after they have completed 30 credits. A unit is earned by completing a faculty supervised writing assignment. At least two of the units must include a research component. Writing units are graded on an “honors, satisfactory, or unsatisfactory” basis. To earn a writing unit, the student must achieve a grade of “satisfactory” or “honors.” A student’s faculty adviser will maintain a portfolio of all work submitted to earn writing units and will certify to the College of Law Registrar that the student has met all writing unit requirements with either “satisfactory” or “honors” achievement.

Writing Units may be earned by satisfactorily completing a written assignment for a faculty member. For example, a student may write a will or trust agreement in Trusts and Estates. In other courses, e.g., Estate Planning, the student’s final project may earn a writing unit. In skills or practice courses, the motions, memoranda or briefs written by the student may earn a writing unit. Seminar papers, independent research papers, honors research papers and law review papers may qualify for writing units. Briefs written for Advanced Brief Writing may qualify. Please consult website for Upper Level Writing Regulations. Contact your academic advisor or us with any questions or concerns.

While there is no required schedule for completing writing units, it is a good idea to spread them out over your upper class semesters. Leaving a substantial portion of the writing units to the last semester or two is inadvisable.

PROFESSIONAL SKILLS REQUIREMENT

Students who began law studies in or after August 2006 are required to complete successfully at least two credits in a “professional skills” course to graduate. These courses involve substantial instruction in professional skills and include clinics, simulation, and legal drafting courses. A current list of professional skills courses appears on the website under academic information for current students and is available from my office. Please consult this list to determine if a course counts as a professional skills course.

STANDARD PROGRAM COURSES

Although not required for graduation, the College of Law has designed a standard program of upper-level courses to give students basic course material coverage. You should be aware that most of the essential standard program courses cover subjects that tend to be tested on the Ohio and other state bar examinations. In the past, students who have avoided essential standard program courses have had more difficulty passing the Ohio and Michigan bar exams. If you intend to take the bar in another jurisdiction, you should determine what subjects are covered on that bar and take those courses.

A. Essential Standard Program Courses (tested on Ohio and most other bar exams)

LAWG-TBA-00x	Business Associations
LAWG-9110-00x	Commercial Paper
LAWG-9210-00x	Criminal Procedure-Investigations
LAWG-9610-00x	Secured Transactions
LAWG-9710-00x	Trusts & Estates

B. Recommended Standard Program Courses (necessary for the practice of law)

LAWG-9030-00x	Administrative Law
LAWG-9500-00x	Federal Income Tax

SEQUENCING AND SCHEDULING

A normal full-time load includes not less than 10 or more than 16 hours per semester. A normal part-time load includes not less than 8 or more than 10 hours per semester. Remember 89 hours are required for graduation, although many students complete more than 89 hours. You must finish law school within seven years of the date you started law studies.

The College of Law does not require any particular schedule or sequence of courses. However, students must satisfy all requirements for graduation and students are encouraged to take all standard program courses before graduation. In addition, students should endeavor to complete all required upper class courses before their last semester of study in that failure to earn a grade of C or better in those courses will prevent a student from graduating. The College also suggests that students select electives each semester to complement required and standard program courses.

With respect to scheduling, students may find it advisable not to take more than one Uniform Commercial Code course (e.g., Commercial Paper, Secured Transactions, Sales and Leases of Goods) per semester. In addition, many students prefer to take only one or two statutory courses per semester (e.g., UCC courses, Evidence, Federal Income Tax).

With respect to sequencing, students generally select Evidence and Trusts and Estates during the second year (full-time) or third year (part-time), as Evidence is strongly recommended for Clinic and Trial Practice courses and Trusts and Estates begins the estate planning sequence. Likewise, students interested in other areas of study should take the survey course (e.g., Business Associations, Natural Resources Law, Federal Income Tax, Intellectual Property, International Law, Labor Law) before selecting more advanced courses in an area of concentration. Please consult the schedule and Course Descriptions for course prerequisites.

The College offers five Certificates of Concentration (Environmental Law, Home Security Law, Intellectual Property, International Law, Labor Law). Students should consult the Requirements for Certificate of Concentration before registering for classes. Because some courses are offered every other year, students should register for certificate courses when they are offered.

No more than 10 hours of Clinic work, including Interviewing, Counseling & Negotiation, may be applied to the 89 hour graduation requirement.

The College recommends that students complete the upper level writing certification before the last semester of study in that failure to satisfy the requirement will prevent a student from graduating. Students should note that they should not register for an independent research course during any summer session.

SUMMER SESSION

The summer session is designed to address the course needs of part-time students and to allow full-time students to accelerate their program. The 2007Summer Session schedule offers standard program and elective courses, including "flex" courses.

COURSE REQUESTS

Our goal at the College of Law is to provide a rich curriculum scheduled to promote the educational objectives of our students. Please notify us, preferably in writing, with any suggestions, concerns or requests with respect to scheduling.