The Study of Law
The faculty's primary emphasis is to provide a quality education for each of its students through a meaningful classroom experience. Teaching at Toledo begins with the construction of a solid foundation in basic legal rules and principles and progresses to an examination of difficult concepts and theories. Students are taught to think and write clearly, to reason abstractly, and to be effective advocates. The faculty, therefore, blends an emphasis on "practical" learning with a concentration on "theoretical" analysis needed for a successful career and essential for intellectual growth and stimulation. An extensive curriculum covers the traditional subjects of legal education and incorporates the development of professional legal skills and values.
Required Courses
The College of Law requires the successful completion of 89 semester hours for graduation. Because of a favorable student faculty ratio and wide-ranging interests of the faculty, the College of Law is able to offer a great variety of courses. The curriculum in the first year of the full-time program and the first two years of the part-time program consists of required courses.
To become eligible for recommendation for the Juris Doctor (JD) degree, a student admitted or readmitted or reinstated on a fresh start basis to the College of Law for the 1998 fall semester or thereafter must complete 89 semester hours of credit; a student admitted or readmitted or reinstated on a fresh start basis prior to the 1998 fall semester must complete 87 semester hours of credit.
Sequence of Basic Required Courses
Full-Time Students
All full-time students must take the Basic Required Courses in the following sequence in the Day Division:
| FIRST YEAR | |||
| Fall Semester | Spring Semester | ||
| Civil Procedure I | 3 | Civil Procedure II | 3 |
| Contracts I | 3 | Contracts II | |
| Property I | 3 | Property II | |
| Torts | 4 | Constitutional Law I | 3 |
| Legal Research Writing & Appellate Advocacy I |
3 | Criminal Law | 3 |
| Legal Research Writing & Appellate Advocacy II |
1 | ||
Constitutional Law II - 3 hrs. A student admitted, readmitted or reinstated to the College of Law for the 1999 fall semester or thereafter is required to take this course. First Amendment (2 or 3 hours) may be substituted for Constitutional Law II.
Part-Time Students
All part-time students must take the Basic Required Courses in the following sequence in the Evening Division:
| *FIRST YEAR | |||
| Fall Semester | Spring Semester | ||
| Civil Procedure I | 3 | Civil Procedure II | |
| Contracts I | 3 | Contracts II | 3 |
| Torts | 4 | Criminal Law | 3 |
| *SECOND YEAR | |||
| Fall Semester | Spring Semester | ||
| Constitutional Law I | 3 | Constitutional Law II | 3 |
| Property I | 3 | Property II | 3 |
| Legal Research Writing & Appellate Advocacy I |
3 | Legal Research, Writing & Appellate Advocacy II |
1 |
| Elective | 2-3 | ||
*This sequence is modified for a limited number of students admitted to a part-time program in the Day Division.
Advanced Required Courses
All students must complete Evidence, Legal Ethics and successfully complete the Advanced Writing Requirement or the Upper Level Writing Requirement.
Part-time students admitted, readmitted or reinstated prior to the 1998 fall semester and full-time students admitted, readmitted or reinstated prior to the 1999 fall semester must complete the Advanced Writing Requirement.
Part-time students admitted, readmitted or reinstated for the 1998 fall semester or thereafter and full-time students admitted, readmitted or reinstated for the 1999 fall semester or thereafter must complete the Upper Level Writing Requirement.
Upper Level Writing Requirement
After completing at least 30 hours, each student is required to satisfy the upper level writing requirement. To satisfy the requirement, each student must earn five writing units. 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 - 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.
12/05/00
