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 School of Law 2000-2002 Academic Bulletin |
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The Curriculum
The Curriculum
The quality of a law school's curriculum is measured by how effectively it challenges students, expands their horizons, and thereby prepares them for their future careers in the law. Increasingly, that preparation must take into account not only the substantive knowledge and analytical abilities that lawyers need, but also the practical skills and professional judgment and ethics required of legal professionals.
The IU Law School's curriculum reflects an unwavering commitment to these fundamentals of legal education. But it also prepares students for an increasingly global society, the prevalence of technology in law and commerce, and the interdisciplinary nature of legal practice.
Our response to the growing number and variety of demands on the educational process involves innovative, rigorous courses and opportunities to participate in simulations, clinics, law journals, discussion groups, externships, and a variety of other opportunities.
First-Year
The foundation of a quality law school education is the first-year curriculum. The first year is largely defined by required courses, which prepare students for future electives and specialization. It provides an important introduction to the law generally, and to law school instruction, study methods, and legal research and writing. During their first year, students take required courses including Contracts, Criminal Law, Constitutional Law, Property, Torts, Civil Procedure, and Legal Research and Writing.
For most students, the first year marks the beginning of lifelong friendships with members of the first-year class, as well as with others within the law school community. And, the first year is the time when most students discover what the university and the Bloomington community have to offer.
Upper-Level
After the first year, students are encouraged to expand their exploration of disciplines and issues. The Law School offers an exceptionally broad array of courses, as well as law journals, conferences, speakers, moot courts, and other activities beyond the classroom.
Most students take courses and participate in activities outside of the classroom in a wide variety of areas. Even for students who wish to specialize in a particular area, there is no required progression of courses, and all students are encouraged to sample the full range of the upper-level curriculum.
A complete listing of courses, organized by topic, is found at the end of this bulletin. The pages that follow focus on five areas that highlight the breadth and depth of the Law School's curriculum and the important interrelationship that we encourage between course work and curriculum outside the classroom.
One enduring function of law has been the regulation and facilitation of trade and commerce. From the purchase of groceries to the raising of billions of dollars in capital, business law and business lawyers shape the world in which we live. This point is emphasized by the fact that recent surveys indicate that approximately 60 percent of all lawyers practice some form of business law.
To prepare future lawyers for this challenge, the Law School has a variety of course offerings and educational opportunities. After the required first-year course in contracts, students are able to examine the organization of business through courses in corporations, securities regulation, and corporate finance. The structure of individual transactions can be explored through the diverse offering of courses examining the Uniform Commercial Code. Course offerings in individual, corporate, and trust and estate tax supplement this selection and emphasize the planning of transactions to maximize gain to the participants. Labor and employment courses examine the rights and obligations of unions, management, and individuals. Courses in consumer and business bankruptcy round out this examination by studying the consequences of financial distress.
The Law School also offers specialized courses in discrete areas of business law. Courses examine advanced bankruptcy, real estate finance, issues in corporate governance, antitrust, insurance law, international business transactions, and the regulation of securities brokers and dealers. In addition, the school offers a joint seminar with the graduate programs in the Kelley School of Business in advanced topics in law and finance. The combination of these courses allows students to equip themselves with the knowledge and skills necessary to represent clients in a broad range of transactions, from consumer purchases to international exchanges.
The Business & Law Society provides students who have an interest in business with a forum to exchange and generate ideas. It gives them an opportunity to hear guest speakers experienced in business law and nontraditional legal positions and share information regarding business employment opportunities.
Joint Degree Programs
The School of Law and the Kelley School of Business of Indiana University have adopted two four-year programs of study leading to the combined degrees of Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D.) and Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.) and of Doctor of Jurisprudence and Master of Public Accountancy (M.P.A.). These programs permit a student to acquire two degrees in four years instead of the customary five years. Both require 77 credit hours in law, including all degree requirements. The J.D/M.B.A. requires 42 credit hours in the School of Business; the J.D./M.P.A. requires 30 credit hours in the School of Business. Each degree has required course work. Since both degrees are awarded simultaneously, all requirements in both schools must be completed in order to receive either degree.
Although students may spend their first year of the joint program in either the School of Law or the School of Business, most students begin in the School of Law. Students should apply to both schools at the same time for a combined degree. However, students already enrolled in the School of Law may apply for admission to the School of Business during the first or second year of law study; students enrolled in the School of Business may apply for admission to the School of Law no later than the end of the first year of M.B.A. study.
These programs are designed for students who contemplate a career in law and wish to acquire business skills, as well as for students who contemplate a career in business and wish to acquire legal skills. Each is an opportunity for the student to integrate the problem-solving techniques of the School of Business with the analytical skills of the School of Law. Many graduates of these programs join law firms specializing in corporate and commercial practice or take management or in-house legal staff positions with corporations.
Students may also acquire a minor in business designed for those who wish to take an intensive course in the study of accounting. More information on this program can be found under Special Programs.
Clinical, Skills, and Ethics Courses
The Law School advocacy programs provide graduates with the skills necessary to meet the demands of a successful law practice.
As a part of the advocacy program, the Law School provides a rich array of opportunities to develop practical lawyering skills and professional values. A wide range of courses are offered in advocacy, litigation, dispute resolution, and the legal profession, including courses on advanced legal writing, negotiations, and mediation.
Courses in trial process involve intensive exercises in all phases of preparing for and conducting trials. This Law School is among a small group of schools that offers both beginning and advanced trial process courses.
Appellate exercises are part of the first-year research and writing program. In addition, the student Moot Court Board administers the Sherman Minton Moot Court Competition for second-year students. Board members create, and competitors brief and argue, a problem involving a cutting-edge legal issue. Most second-year students participate in the competition. Successful participants in internal competitions are selected to represent the school in national and regional competitions. Typically, the school participates in several trial and appellate competitions each year, including the Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition.
To aid in skills development, the IU Law School is one of relatively few schools with separate trial and appellate courtrooms, each equipped with videotaping facilities. More than 200 lawyers and judges participate as judges in the moot court program, reflecting the extensive involvement of judges and attorneys in our skills program.
The Law School offers a number of clinical opportunities for second- and third-year students. These all provide important opportunities for students to work on real cases under the supervision of members of the faculty, practicing attorneys, and/or judges.
Client Service Clinics
In the Community Legal Clinic, an in-school law office, third-year students have an opportunity to develop practice skills by representing clients under the Indiana Student Practice Rule. Students are introduced to client interviewing and counseling, fact investigation, drafting, negotiating, trial techniques, and preparing for and conducting trials or administrative hearings.
The Child Advocacy/Litigation Clinic trains students to represent the interests of children in custody, guardianship, and termination of parental rights cases. Training focuses on basic legal skills (interviewing, motion practice, discovery, negotiation, and litigation) and relevant social science information (child development, family systems, parental conflict, mental illness, and addiction).
Client Service Projects
The Inmate Legal Assistance Project provides the opportunity for students to work under attorney supervision on intra-institutional problems of federal prisoners at the Terre Haute penitentiary.
The Protective Order Project brings together law students, members of the bar, and a local shelter for abused women, to assist victims of abuse in obtaining protective orders from the courts. Students and attorneys represent clients in civil cases.
The Legal Services Organization Project permits students to work with low-income clients at the Legal Services Corporation Office in Bloomington. Students interview clients and prepare them for administrative hearings under the supervision of Legal Services attorneys.
The Environmental Law Research Group aids attorneys working on pro bono environmental law issues. Students work with volunteer attorneys on litigation, administrative decision making, and legislative initiatives.
External Clinics
The Federal Courts Clinic allows students to work as law clerks in the chambers of federal judges or U.S. magistrates in Indianapolis. The students participate in the drafting of opinions, perform legal research, help prepare jury instructions, and screen motions in order to advise the judge. Their work is supervised by the judge's senior law clerk, reviewed by the faculty member supervising the clinic, and directed by the judge.
The Independent Clinical Project permits students to arrange a supervised clinical project under the direction of a faculty member. Examples of projects include working with the U.S. Attorney General, State Attorney General's Office, Department of Environmental Management, Public Defender's Office, Prosecutor's Office, City Attorney's Office, and various judges.
After a quarter century of evolution, modern environmental law now pervades business, government, and personal decisions. Our global economy shares a global environment that demands increasing attention from the law. Clients call on environmental lawyers to grapple with difficult legal and scientific questions.
In response to these developments, the Law School has built on Indiana University's strong academic tradition to offer an environmental law program. For the student who is interested in specializing in environmental law, the program provides a solid foundation of core classes, challenging advanced studies, and a wide array of enrichment offerings. For the student entering a general, litigation, or business practice, the program provides useful background and skills applicable to many areas of law. The environmental law program sharpens students' analytical skills to deal with difficult questions involving law, science, technology, and policy.
The core curriculum consists of Administrative Law and basic courses in environmental law that closely examine federal legislation. Beyond these basics, students may take advanced seminars in areas such as environmental justice, conservation of biological diversity, and Superfund, as well as courses in environmental policy and toxic and hazardous substances.
The environmental law program serves a broad group of students with enrichment courses including International Environmental Law, Water Law, Public Natural Resources Law, and Environmental Issues in Business Transactions.
Approximately 30 students are enrolled in a joint degree program with the highly regarded School of Public and Environmental Affairs (SPEA), where they earn a Master of Science or Master of Public Affairs degree while they are in law school. Whether or not they are enrolled in the joint degree program, students are encouraged to sample the many offerings in environmental science and policy at SPEA.
The Environmental Law Society (ELS) is one of the largest student groups in the Law School. The society serves as a hub for environmental activities including a pro bono research group, speaker series, and community service. In 1999, ELS sponsored-for the second time-the annual meeting of the National Association of Environmental Law Societies, drawing law students and speakers from across the country.
Every summer, students participate in externships, for academic credit, with governmental and nongovernmental environmental organizations in Indiana, Washington, D.C., and elsewhere. Recent placements have included the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Indiana Department of Environmental Management, U.S. Department of the Interior, Environmental Law and Policy Center of the Midwest, Environmental Defense Fund, National Wildlife Federation, and Indiana Farm Bureau.
Joint Degree Programs
The School of Law and the School of Public and Environmental Affairs (SPEA) have two joint degree programs. Each permits students to take a four-year sequence of courses leading to combined degrees of Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D.) and Master of Science in Environmental Science (M.S.E.S.), or degrees of Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D.) and Master of Public Affairs (M.P.A.).
Applicants for the J.D./M.S.E.S. must have a bachelor's degree in a physical or life science, engineering, or mathematics. Applicants for the J.D./M.P.A. have an opportunity to specialize in several interdisciplinary areas including environmental and natural resources management.
The student should apply to both schools at the same time; however, a person already enrolled in the School of Law may apply for admission to the School of Public and Environmental Affairs up to the completion of the second year of law study. A student enrolled in the School of Public and Environmental Affairs may seek admission to the School of Law up to the end of the first year of the master's program in environmental science.
Students customarily spend the first year in the School of Law and thereafter divide the second, third, and fourth years between the two schools, taking an average of 4 to 8 credit hours of law courses and 4 to 8 credit hours of SPEA courses each semester. Graduation requirements for the joint degrees are 77 credit hours in law and 36 credit hours in SPEA courses.
Fields of concentration for the joint M.S. degree are offered in applied ecology, environmental chemistry, hazardous waste management, and water resources. Fields of specialization for the joint M.P.A. degree include comparative and international affairs, environmental policy and natural resource management, nonprofit management, policy analysis, public management, and urban management.
Communications, Information, and Intellectual Property Law
Information services and products constitute the world's largest and fastest growing economic sector. The importance of information is reflected not only in the dramatic growth of computer hardware and software, telecommunications, and media industries, but also in the dominance of computers, computer networks, and digital information in business, government, education, and entertainment.
The Law School has responded to this dynamic field by offering a nationally recognized curriculum in communications and information law. This curriculum is designed to allow all students to explore their interest in the field, while preparing interested students for careers in communications and information law.
The Law School offers both basic courses, which provide an introduction to the field, and advanced courses, which provide more specialized training. Students are also encouraged to enroll in relevant courses offered by Indiana University's nationally ranked Department of Telecommunications and School of Journalism.
Interested students may apply for a position on the Federal Communications Law Journal, which is published by the Law School, and on the school's Telecommunications National Moot Court Team. Law students have competed successfully in national writing competitions, such as those sponsored by the American Intellectual Property Lawyers Association and the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers.
Joint Degree Programs
Combined Doctor of Jurisprudence—Master of Arts/Master of Science in Telecommunications
The Law School and the Department of Telecommunications offer joint Doctor of Jurisprudence—Master of Arts/Master of Science degrees. Under the program, students may complete both the J.D. and the M.A. or M.S. in telecommunications in eight semesters.
Interested students usually apply to the Law School and the Department of Telecommunications at the same time; however, a person already enrolled in the Law School may apply for admission to the Department of Telecommunications up to the completion of the second year of law study. A student enrolled in telecommunications may seek admission to the School of Law up to the end of the first year of the master's program.
Students customarily spend the first year in the School of Law and thereafter divide the second, third, and fourth years between the two units. Requirements for graduation are 77 credit hours in law (including all degree requirements) and 27 credit hours in telecommunications courses.
Combined Doctor of Jurisprudence—Master of Arts in Journalism
Students may apply to the School of Journalism on the Bloomington campus at the same time they apply to the School of Law on the Bloomington campus. Students already enrolled in the School of Law may apply to the School of Journalism up to the completion of their second year of law study. Students enrolled in the School of Journalism may apply to the School of Law up to the end of their first year of the master's program. Students would customarily spend the first year in the School of Law and thereafter divide the second, third, and fourth years between the two units. The joint program requires a minimum of 77 hours in law and 30 hours in journalism, including a thesis.
There are two tracks available for the Master of Arts in Journalism:
Master of Arts Degree, Research and Teaching Track
Master of Arts Degree, Professional Tract
Information Law and Commerce Institute
The Law School also houses the Information Law and Commerce Institute, which examines a wide range of information law issues confronting business today. The institute's work not only helps lead the future development of scholarly research in commercial information law, but also contributes to global electronic commerce, reduces the costs of addressing information-related issues, and influences national governments' creation and implementation of laws in the field of information and commerce.
International and Comparative Law, and Globalization
The globalization of markets, law, politics, and culture creates challenges for legal education in the United States and around the world. The Law School has developed the Global Legal Studies Program to prepare students for practicing law in the global era and to promote scholarship that recognizes the increasingly global dimension of law.
A core aspect of the Global Legal Studies Program is the wide variety of courses offered to students in international and comparative law. The ability to understand and address international issues is a skill demanded increasingly of lawyers in all areas of practice and in all regions of the country. Basic courses in public and private international law lay the foundation for students to pursue more advanced study in international legal issues. Courses or seminars address international law related to trade, securities, taxation, communications, and the environment, with other advanced course work in European Union law, the law of armed conflict, the law and society of Japan, and the legal profession in a global society.
Another central aspect of the Global Legal Studies Program is its commitment to maintaining ongoing collaborations with other institutions providing students with additional resources in the international area. Students are offered opportunities to study abroad for a semester in London; to experience an externship in the London legal community; and to compete for the Snyder Scholarship that funds a summer internship at the world-famous Research Center for International Law at Cambridge University. In addition, the Law School has exchange programs with both the Université Panthéon-Assas (Paris II) Law School in Paris and with ESADE Law School in Barcelona, Spain, that permit a limited number of second- and third-year students to study abroad. Visiting professors from foreign law schools, including some who return on a yearly basis, enrich the study of international legal issues by offering additional courses in specialized international topics. The Earl Snyder Lectureship in International Law features a prominent scholar or practitioner lecturing on international legal topics; in addition, frequent guest lectures on international topics expose students to a broad variety of international scholarship.
Students interested in international issues may choose to join the International Law Society, one of the largest and most active student groups at the Law School. Students also have the opportunity to compete in the prestigious Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition, which is organized on campus by students in the International Law Society.
The Global Legal Studies Program is also home to a pioneering, interdisciplinary journal devoted to global legal studies. The Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies is a multidisciplinary journal that specializes in international and comparative law articles. The editorial board consists of practitioners and faculty from the law, business, and public policy schools. Student editors are responsible for all of the student work published in the journal and work closely with faculty in editing and choosing faculty articles for publication. The Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies has quickly established a reputation for publishing cutting-edge thinking from multiple disciplines about the process of globalization. The journal and the Law School regularly sponsor major conferences on issues of globalization and the law. Recent topics have included The Globalization of Law, Politics, and Business; Feminism and Globalization: The Impact of the Global Economy on Women and Feminist Theory; Migration and New Concepts of the Nation-State; and The Globalization of Baseball.
A commitment to preparing students for the global age is at the heart of the Global Legal Studies Program, and the Law School is at the forefront of meeting the challenges to legal education posed by the exciting dynamics of world politics and economics.
Joint Degree Program
Students interested in specializing in an area such as comparative and international affairs may take a four-year sequence of courses leading to the combined degrees of Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D.) and Master of Public Affairs (M.P.A.). A more thorough description of this joint degree can be found under Special Programs.
Federal Communications Law Journal
The Federal Communications Law Journal is the nation's oldest and largest circulation communications law journal. The journal publishes three issues per year, featuring articles, student notes, commentaries, and book reviews examining a wide range of U.S. and international communications and information issues, including telecommunications, the First Amendment, broadcasting, telephony, computers, intellectual property, communications and information policy making, and related fields.
As the official journal of the Federal Communications Bar Association, the Federal Communications Law Journal is distributed to the association's 3,500 members and more than 500 additional legal practitioners, industry experts, government officials, and academics. The journal is also distributed by WESTLAW, LEXIS, and the Internet. The journal is student-managed and provides an important opportunity for students to publish, edit, and participate in running a vital source of information on communications law.
Past journal contributors have included President Bill Clinton; then-Governor Evan Bayh; members of Congress; former Federal Communications Commission Chairmen Reed Hundt, Newton N. Minow, and Richard Wiley; AT&T Chairman Robert Allen; MCI Chairman Seth Blumenfeld; Larry King; White House Counsel Abner Mikva; Ralph Nader; the Reverend Pat Robertson; Bell Atlantic Corporation Chairman Raymond Smith; and ACLU President Nadine Strossen, among many others.
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