Juris Doctor of Laws

The Juris Doctor program at Colorado Law is a three­-year program that prepares graduates to practice law. As part of the program, entering students are assigned to a small cohort that allows students to build strong relationships and study groups with other students. First­-year courses teach students to “think like a lawyer,” and classes taught in the Socratic method encourage students to develop legal reasoning and critical thinking skills. A few of these courses include Civil Procedure, Contracts, Legal Writing, Legislation and Regulation, Constitutional Law and Torts. The second-­ and third-­year curriculum includes required courses as well as electives, and supports a balance between experiential learning and classroom studies, graded courses and non-graded courses and study within and outside of the law school. A few possible courses include Evidence and Legal Ethics, Employment Law, Introduction to Intellectual Property Law and International Law.

First Year

First-year courses lay the foundation and all JD candidates take these courses to learn to “think like a lawyer.” Common law courses taught in the Socratic Method allow students to develop legal reasoning and critical thinking skills. All first-year students are assigned to a small cohort to help build strong relationships and study groups with classmates. 

Fall Semester

• Civil Procedure: Rules governing pleading, joinder of parties, discovery, jurisdiction of courts, right to jury trial, appeals and res judicata and collateral estoppel, with emphasis on the Federal and State Rules of Civil Procedure 
• Contracts: Contract liability, offer and acceptance, consideration, frauds statute, contract remedies, the parol evidence rule, contract performance, conditions, changed circumstances
• Legal Writing: Legal analysis and document preparation, objective legal analysis techniques, legal rule synthesis, authority use to explain rules and rule application to case facts
• Legislation and Regulation: Statutory interpretation, architecture of the administrative state and interpretation and review of regulation.
• Torts: Nonconsensual allocation of losses for civil wrongs, focusing on negligence and strict liability

Spring Semester 

• Legal Writing II: Appellate brief and document preparation, oral arguments before a three-judge mock court, techniques of persuading a court to accept a client’s view of the law and facts, professional judgments within ethical boundaries and lawyer credibility
• Constitutional Law: Constitutional structure, including judicial review, federalism, separation of powers and constitutional rights of due process and equal protection
• Criminal Law: Statutory and common law of crimes and defenses, the procedures by which the law makes judgments as to criminality of conduct, constitutional limits 
• Property: Personal property, estates and interests in land, landlord–tenant, basic land conveyancing and private land use controls
• Academic Support

Second and Third Years

The elective program in the second and third years builds upon the foundation laid in the first-year curriculum. Students must take Evidence and Legal Ethics and Professionalism courses and a seminar course. Colorado Law encourages a balance between experiential learning and classroom studies, graded courses and non-graded courses and study within and outside the law school. 

Elective Courses

Business

• Accounting Issues for Lawyers
• Advanced Contracts: Commercial Transactions
• Agency, Partnership and the LLC
• Antitrust
• Auditing, Compliance and Management
• Bankruptcy
• Business Planning
• Business Transactions
• Corporate Finance
• Corporations
• Creditors’ Remedies and Debtors’ Protection
• Deals
• Deals Lab: Advanced Securities
• Deals Lab: Advanced Venture Capital
• Law Practice Management
• Mergers, Acquisitions and Reorganizations
• Payment Systems
• Secured Transactions
• Securities Regulation
• Venture Capital and Private Equity 

Criminal

• Capital Punishment in America 
• Criminal Procedure: Investigative Phase
• Criminal Procedure: Adjudicative Process
• Post Conviction Criminal Procedure
• White Collar Crime

Family, Gender and Health

• Domestic Violence
• Family Law
• Gender, Law, and Public Policy
• Health Law I: Finance, Administration and Organization of Health Care 
• Health Law II: Medical Malpractice Litigation 
• Juvenile Justice
• Parent, Child and State
• Sexuality and the Law

Government and Public Interest

• Administrative Law
• Education Law
• Election Law
• Employment Discrimination
• Employment Law
• Federal Courts
• First Amendment
• Labor Law
• Legislation
• Local Government
• Race and American Law

Intellectual Property, Technology and Telecommunications

• Computer Crimes
• Copyright
• Introduction to Intellectual Property Law
• IP Counseling
• IP and Technology Contracting
• Patent Law
• Patent Litigation
• Privacy and Security in the Digital Age
• Telecommunications Law and Policy
• Trademark and Unfair Competition

International

• Conflict of Laws
• Law and Development
• Immigration and Citizenship Law
• International Business Transactions
• International Dispute Resolution
• International Environmental Law
• International Human Rights
• International Law
• International Legal Order: History and Foundations
• International Trade Law
• Refugee and Asylum Law

Jurisprudence and Perspective

• Class and Law
• Critical Theory Colloquium
• Economic Analysis of Law
• Gender and Law
• Jurisprudence
• Philosophy of Law

Litigation

• Advanced Appellate Advocacy
• Advanced Evidence
• Complex Civil Litigation
• Evidence
• Federal Litigation: Everything but the Trial
• Litigation Drafting
• Motions Advocacy
• Trial Advocacy

Natural Resources, Energy and Environmental Law

• American Indian Law I
• American Indian Law II
• Climate Change Law and Policy
• Energy Insecurity and Sustainable Law 
• Energy Law and Regulation
• Environmental Law
• Foundations of Natural Resources Law and Policy
• Jurisdiction in Indian Country
• Mining and Energy Law
• Oil and Gas
• Public Land Law
• Toxic and Hazardous Waste
• Water Law
• Wildlife and the Law

Practice—Clinical

• American Indian Law Clinic
• Appellate Advocacy Clinic
• Civil Practice Clinic
• Criminal Defense Clinic
• Entrepreneurial Law Clinic
• Extern Program
• Family Law Clinic
• Juvenile Law Clinic
• Natural Resources Litigation Clinic
• Technology Law and Policy Clinic

Practice—Simulation

• Advanced Trial Advocacy
• Alternative Dispute Resolution
• Appellate Advocacy Competition
• Arbitration
• Legal Negotiation 
• Mediation
• Motions Advocacy
• Trial Advocacy
• Trial Competition

Property

• Advanced Real Estate Transactions
• Construction Law
• Estate Planning
• Land Use Planning
• Real Estate Planning
• Real Estate Transactions
• Wills and Trusts

Research and Writing

• Advanced Legal Research
• Advanced Legal Writing
• Independent Legal Research: Journal of International Environmental Law and Policy
• Independent Legal Research: Journal on Telecommunications & High Technology Law
• Independent Legal Research: Law Review
• Judicial Opinion Writing 

Taxation

• Corporate Taxation
• Estate Planning
• Federal Estate and Gift Tax
• Federal Tax Politics
• Income Taxation
• Partnership Tax
• Tax Policy
• Taxation of Conduit Entities

Seminars

• Advanced American Indian Law
• Advanced Criminal Procedure
• Advanced Natural Resources Law
• Antidiscrimination and First Amendment 
• Class and Law
• Comparative Constitutional Law
• Computers and the Law
• Constitutional Theory
• Consumer Empowerment
• Counseling Families in Business
• Gender Law
• Information Privacy 
• Jurisprudence
• Law and Economics of Utility Regulation
• Law and Literature
• Media, Popular Culture and Law
• Oil and International Relations
• Power, Ethics and Professionalism
• Securities Litigation and Enforcement
• Separation of Powers
• Tax Policy
• Theory of Punishment

Note: Not all courses are offered each semester. This is a composite list of the last three years of course offerings.

Requirements

1. Register for the Law School Admission Council (LSAC) Credential Assembly Service (CAS) and pay all appropriate fees
2. Register, prepare for, and take the Law School Admissions Test (LSAT)
3. Submit all official undergraduate and graduate transcripts to LSAC
4. Submit two letters of recommendation to LSAC
5. Submit your application, personal statement and resume electronically through LSAC
6. Submit the In-State Tuition Classification Application to apply for in-state tuition if you believe you qualify. Even if you are already a Colorado resident you must submit this form to show documentation of your Colorado residency.
7. Pay the $65 application fee
8. The minimum TOEFL score requirement is 100 iBT / 250 CBT / 600 PBT.

Scholarships

• Merit awards
• Global Education