Courses at Valparaiso University Law School

Designed to give you a strong base of knowledge upon which to build your legal career, our curriculum represents a wide variety of required and elective courses. During your first year, you will be introduced to the foundations of the law, such as contracts and civil procedure, through the traditional case method of teaching. As an upperclassman, you will explore interdisciplinary connections to gain perspective on the legal system as a whole, as well as study jurisprudence, to gain a philosophical framework from which to view the law. Throughout your law school career you will work to improve your ability to perform accurate research and write effectively in classes devoted specifically to refining those skills.

Course listing by practice area

The first-year curriculum is as follows:

Fall Semester:

Spring Semester:

Year-Specific Information:

In addition to the courses listed below, 2Ls are required to take Law 203 Business Associations, Law 210 Evidence, Law 220 Legal Profession, Law 250 Constitutional Law II and one advanced legal writing course in the second year.

Advanced Writing Courses:

Students are required to take at least one course from each of the following areas during either their second or third years:

Administrative Law Courses:

Code Courses:

Property Courses:

Perspective Courses:

Third-year requirements:
300/301 Seminar (2/3 cr.) or 676/677 Law Review (2 cr.)

Pro Bono Externship Requirement
Each law student must complete forty (40) hours of pro bono service under the supervision of an attorney in order to graduate. Full-time students must perform the service after completion of their first year and before the last day of classes prior to graduation. Part-time students must perform the service after completion of thirty (30) credit hours and before the last day of classes. Students are to register online for the Pro Bono program (Law 310) for the semester in which they plan to complete the requirement. Students must register for their Pro Bono requirement prior to beginning the work. Students are prohibited from registering retroactively for pro bono services already rendered.

Part-Time Student Information
Course requirements for part-time students