Full-Time Day J.D.
Students who choose Southwestern's traditional full-time day program are committing to three academic years of full-time study. During this time, they pursue a broad-based legal education with opportunities to focus on a particular area of the law, such as entertainment, criminal, international, commercial, family law, or tax, among others.
All first-year students participate in the designated curriculum. Second- and third-year students combine required courses with a wide range of electives and externships to tailor a program suited to their interests and goals. Students in the traditional full-time day program at Southwestern find that the program is rigorous, the sense of shared purpose is intense - and the rewards are extraordinary.
Students who enroll in the day division should be prepared to devote substantially all of their time to the study of law. Students take the designated curriculum of 31 units during their first year and a load of 10 to 16 units each semester thereafter (see chart below). A minimum of 87 units is required for graduation.
Required Courses for Full-Time Day Program
| Courses | Fall Units | Spring Units | |
|---|---|---|---|
| FIRST YEAR | |||
| Civil Procedure I & II | 2 | 3 | |
| Contracts I & II | 3 | 2 | |
| Criminal Law | 3 | - | |
| Elective1 | - | 3 | |
| Foundations of Law and Practice | - | 1 | |
| LAWS I and II2 | 3 | 3 | |
| Torts or Property | 4 | 4 | |
TOTAL | 15 | 16 | |
| SECOND YEAR | |||
| Business Associations | 4 | or | 4 |
| Constitutional Law I & II | 3 | 3 | |
| Evidence | 4 | or | 4 |
| FIRST3, SECOND, OR THIRD YEAR | |||
| Constitutional Criminal Procedure4 | 3 | or | 3 |
| Experiential Requirement5 | TOTAL | OF | 6 |
| Legal Profession4 | 3 | or | 3 |
| Upper-Division Writing Requirement | 2 or 3 | or | 2 or 3 |
Bar Readiness Curriculum6: Second or third year day7 | |||
| Remedies | 2 | or | 2 |
| Community Property | 2 | or | 2 |
| Wills and Trusts | 4 | or | 4 |
| Bar Skills and Strategies | 3 | or | 3 |
1. Elective choices include such courses as Constitutional Criminal Procedure, Copyright Law, and Legal Profession
2. Legal Analysis, Writing, and Skills
3. Spring Semester
4. If not taken as an elective in the first year (required for graduation)
5. Students must take a minimum of six credit hours of coursework that has been specifically approved and designated as meeting the Experiential Requirement
6. At the end of the second year, students with a GPA of at least 3.33 in subjects tested on the bar exam may opt-out.
7. For full-time students, the bar-tested courses used to calculate the opt-out eligibility GPA include: Contracts I/II, Criminal Law, Civil Procedure I/II, Torts, Property, Constitutional Law I/II, Evidence, and Business Associations.