Note: Students in dual degree programs must ensure that they meet the degree requirements established by those programs, and should be sure to consult the appropriate officials at the other College in addition to the College of Law. Students who have questions about whether they will meet graduation requirements should contact the Registrar or the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs.
Candidates for the degree of Juris Doctor must:
(1) 90 credit hours of courses approved by the College of Law faculty
(a) Properly applying the limits on pass-fail credits
(b) Completed over at least six semesters or five semesters and two summer terms (with enrollment in at least five credits each summer term)
(2) A cumulative grade point average of at least 2.0. Students matriculating Fall 2020 or later: a cumulative grade point average of at least 2.2.
(3) Professional Responsibility (Law 835)
(4) Substantial writing requirement - one of the following courses:
A law school seminar
Federal Appellate Advocacy and Procedure*
Advanced Legal Writing*
The Law and Business of Intellectual Property Management
Supreme Court Decision-Making*
Research Problems (Law 896) if the course is not taken in the student’s final semester and is so designated by the student and instructor.
(5) Experiential learning requirement - a total of six credits from the following courses:
Advanced Estate Planning (2 hrs.)
Advanced Legal Clinic (2-3 hrs.)
Advanced Legal Research (2 hrs.)
Advanced Legal Writing (2 hrs.)*
Alternate Dispute Resolution (3 hrs.)
Business Planning (3 hrs.)
Business Legal Research (1 hr.)
Child Advocacy Today Externship (2 hrs.)
Children's Law Center Externship (2 hrs.)
Civil Pretrial Practice (3 hrs.)
Department of Public Advocacy Externship (2 hrs.)
Depositions in Civil Cases (3 hrs.)
EKU Office of Legal Counsel Externship (2 hrs.)
Fayette County Attorney Externship (2 hrs.)
Federal Administrative & Tax Research (1 hr.)
Federal Appellate Advocacy and Procedure (3 hrs.)*
Federal Government Externship (2 hrs.)
Foreign & International Legal Research (1 hr.)
Immigration Law Externship (2 hrs.)
Innocence Project Externship (2 hrs.)
Institute for Compassion in Justice Externship (2 hrs.)
Judicial Externship (2 hrs.)
Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet Externship (2 hrs.)
Kentucky Legal Research (1 hr.)
Kentucky Refugee Ministries Externship (2 hrs.)
Law and Business of Intellectual Property Management (3 hrs.) but only if taken before Spring 2020
Legal Accounting (2-3 hrs.)
Legal Clinic (3 hrs.)
Legal Drafting (2-3 hrs.)
Lexington City Attorney Externship (2 hrs.)
Litigation Skills (3 hrs.)
Negotiating Process (2 hrs.)
Prosecutorial Externship (2 hrs.)
Supreme Court Decision Making (2 hrs.)*
UK Healthcare Risk Management Office Externship (2 hrs.)
UK Office of Legal Counsel Externship (2 hrs.)
U.S. Dept. of Energy Portsmouth Paducah Project Office Externship (2 hrs.)
* Federal Appellate Advocacy, Advanced Legal Writing, and Supreme Court Decision Making may either satisfy the substantial writing requirement, or the be applied toward the experiential learning requirement, but not both. Notify the instructor of your plans in the course, and the instructor will notify the Registrar accordingly.
If you first matriculated in law school before Fall 2016, you are subject to a different “professional skills’ requirement instead of this “experiential learning” requirement. Please contact the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs for details.
(6) Distribution requirement – Students matriculating Fall 2020 or later – six of the following courses:
Administrative Law
Business Associations
Constitutional Law II
Criminal Procedure
Evidence
Family Law
Secured Transactions
Taxation I
Trusts and Estates
Note on dual degree programs: The requirements for students enrolled in dual-degree programs differ in some respects. Students in dual-degree programs must ensure that they meet the degree requirements established by those programs and should be sure to consult the appropriate officials at the other College in addition to the College of Law. Students who have questions about whether they will meet graduation requirements should contact the Registrar or the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs.
Limits on Pass-Fail Credits:
1. No more than 6 hours of graduate courses at the University of Kentucky outside of the law school, graded on a pass‐fail basis, shall be counted.
2. No more than 9 hours of courses in the law school that are offered only on a pass‐fail basis shall be counted.
3. No more than 12 of the total number of pass‐fail credit hours, whether earned under (1) or (2) above, shall be counted.
4. No more than one graduate school course outside the law school, graded on a pass‐fail basis, may be credited in any one semester.
5. Students in dual-degree programs may only take up to nine pass‐fail credit hours in law school courses and may take no courses outside the law school for credit otherwise than pursuant to the applicable dual degree program.
6. Coronavirus special rule: None of the courses graded pass-fail in the Spring 2020 term that would otherwise have received a letter grade will be counted toward these limits.