JD Program
The 3-year JD program at Illinois Law provides students with a first-rate legal education. The curriculum is both timely and robust, exposing students to a healthy blend of doctrinal law, theoretical perspectives, and real-world skills.
First Year
First-year students take a core curriculum that provides them with a solid grounding in essential elements of legal practice. Each first-year student is assigned to a small – half the usual class size – section of a substantive course taught by a full professor, allowing greater opportunities for expanded discussion with noted scholars in these legal areas. After the first year of core legal courses, an exceptionally liberal approach to course scheduling offers students the ability to custom tailor their schedules to meet individual needs and interests.
Law 601 : Contracts
Law 602 : Property
Law 603 : Torts
Law 604 : Criminal Law
Law 606 : Constitutional Law I
Law 607 : Civil Procedure I
Law 609 : Legal Writing and Analysis
Law 610 : Introduction to Advocacy
Law 627 : Legal Research
Law 792 : Fundamentals of Legal Practice
Second and Third Year
During the second and third years, students must complete both an upper level writing requirement and a course in professional responsibility. Beyond these requirements, they may choose from more than 100 course offerings. Students also may receive up to six hours of credit for study in another discipline, complementing their legal education with advanced coursework in top-ranked University departments, such as accounting, engineering, computer science, and social work.
All upper level courses can be found on the Courses page.