2024-2025 Student Handbook

As guidance for approximating the length of time to complete reading assignments, faculty may choose to rely upon academic literature indicating that, on average, a law student can read ten to thirty pages in 60 minutes, depending on the difficulty of the material. This estimate of time to complete a reading assignment does not include time to complete additional study and preparatory work typically required to understand and analyze the reading, such as briefing of cases, review of supplemental material, outlining, practice questions and examinations, CALI exercises, and participation in study groups and review sessions. All course instructors shall ensure that their course syllabi describe all required out-of-classroom work in sufficient detail to support a determination that such coursework meets the requirements of Standard 310(b)(1) as specified in section 2(a) of this policy. The Associate Deans for Academic Affairs shall keep all course syllabi on file and review them periodically to confirm that the amount of work assigned in each course complies with those requirements. All proposals for new courses must include a paragraph justifying the number of credit hours to be awarded. The Associate Deans for Academic Affairs shall keep these justifications on file. If a new course requires approval by the Curriculum Committee, the Committee shall make a determination of whether the number of credit hours sought for the proposed course complies with Standard 310(b). Clinics and externships consist of a classroom component and a casework component (in the case of in-house clinics) or fieldwork component (in the case of externships). With respect to the classroom component for both in-house clinics and externships, a credit hour may be awarded for 55 minutes of classroom or direct faculty instruction per week, while students are expected to spend, on average, a minimum of 2 hours on out-of-class work per week during the semester performing clinic or externship work, preparing for class, completing class assignments or other academic work related to the course assigned by the supervising faculty member and supervising attorney. For the casework component of in-house clinics or the fieldwork component of externships, students must complete, at a minimum, 42.5 hours for one credit; 85 hours for 2 credits; 127.5 hours for 3 credits; and 170 hours for 4 credits. Students enrolled in an in-house clinic or for-credit externship must complete the required hours and submit detailed time logs or otherwise document their time for review by their supervising attorney or faculty instructor in accordance with established clinic and externship policies. (c) Credit for Clinics and Externships Students enrolled in an independent Directed Study may be given one or two credits. Students must complete a minimum of 42.5 hours of research and writing work for one credit and 85 hours of research and writing work for two credits. Students are responsible for keeping a detailed log of their hours and submitting the log to their primary supervising faculty member at the end of the semester. Students will be evaluated on a credit/no credit basis. (d) Credit for Directed Study

(e) Credit for Student-Edited Law Journals

Student members of law journals are eligible to receive one credit per semester for performing at least 42.5 hours of journal-related work, which may include completion of a note or comment, reading and evaluating journal submissions, and editing and cite-checking articles.

Students are responsible for documenting this time in a manner approved by the faculty advisor of the journal. Students will be evaluated on a credit/no credit basis.

(f) Credit for Moot Court and Mock Trial Competitions

Depending on the competition, students who participate in mock trial or moot court competitions are eligible to receive up to two credits per semester for competition-related work, such as brief writing, appellate advocacy, trial advocacy, arbitration advocacy, negotiation or mediation. Students are

13