Juris Doctor Degree

Requirements for J.D. Degree

To be eligible for a Juris Doctor degree, a student must have:

• Received course credit for at least 90 credit hours, with a minimum of 65 credit hours in regularly scheduled class sessions;
• Satisfactorily completed all required courses; 
• Satisfactorily completed the Upper-Level Writing requirement;
• Satisfactorily completed the Experiential Courses requirement;  
• Attained and maintained a cumulative grade point average of at least 2.0;
• Completed at least 50 hours of pro bono work under the Pro Bono program;
• Fulfilled the Professional Identity Formation (Professionalism) Series requirement;
• Completed the Diversity Training Requirement, for students entering in Fall 2023 and thereafter; and, 
• Conducted himself or herself as a fit candidate for admission to the bar.

For students in the full-time enrollment option, the sequence of required courses is as follows:

First-Year Courses

• Contracts I & II
• Property I & II
• Torts I & I
• Legal Research, Analysis and Writing I & II; and,
• Civil Procedure I and II

Please note: 

• Students who entered prior to fall 2024 are required to take the Academic Skills course.
• Students who entering Fall 2024 and thereafter, are required to take the Academic Skills course in their second semester if their cumulative GPA is below 2.2. 

Second-Year Courses

• Business Organizations
• Constitutional Law I & II
• Criminal Law
• Criminal Procedure
• Evidence
• Legal Skills
• Professional Responsibility

Third-Year Courses

• Sales
• Secured Transactions (see note below)
• Students who entered prior to fall 2023 are required to take Secured Transactions.
• Students who enter in fall 2023 and thereafter, are not required to take Secured Transactions. 
• Wills, Trusts & Estates; and

Bar Preparation Course (taken in the final semester; students who are planning to graduate at the end of summer should take the course in their final spring semester)

Students receiving the distinction of Presidential Honors after successfully completing 27 credit hours of the first-year courses may apply to be exempt from this course requirement.

Elective Course Credit

Students may choose from a list of elective course offerings to complete the remaining credit hours required for graduation. Elective course offerings vary from year to year. Many of the electives offered at the Law School are listed in the Course Description section.

Experiential Courses Requirement

Pursuant to ABA Standards, students are required to take at least six credit hours in experiential courses.  An experiential course provides substantial experience in one or more legal skills such as: interviewing, counseling, negotiation, fact development and analysis, trial practice, document drafting, conflict resolution, organization and management of legal work, research skills, collaboration, cultural competency, and self-evaluation.

Under Charleston School of Law requirements, students satisfy this standard by successfully completing each of the below course requirements and a total of at least six credits:

• The Skills Course requirement.
• The Drafting Courser requirement

An experiential course must:

Require at least three opportunities for students to complete an exercise involving one or more of the legal skills taught.

For each opportunity, the professor must provide each student individualized feedback, the opportunity to incorporate the feedback, and the opportunity to be re-assessed on the specific exercise.

For each requirement, students may choose which course in which to enroll, but may not use one course to satisfy more than one requirement.  Courses satisfying each requirement will be so noted in the registration materials for a particular semester or session.

Skills Course Requirement

A course will be designated as satisfying the Skills Course Requirement when there is substantial instruction on one or more of the legal skills noted above. 

Drafting Course Requirement

A course will be designated as satisfying the Drafting Course Requirement when there is substantial instruction on some form of legal document drafting, such as drafting litigation documents, drafting various types of transaction documents, or drafting other legal documents used in law practice.