Prof. Steven Jamar's Recommendations for Advisees

Please note that these are personal recommendations, not recommendations of the faculty as a whole or of any part of it.  Other faculty may well have other suggestions.  Think about what you want to accomplish in law school; ask questions; use your own best judgment in preparing yourself for your legal career starting with passing the bar exam.

General Recommendations

• Each semester take at least two "bar courses" (see below for a general listing). Be sure to check the bar requirements for the state where you plan to take the bar. Most states now use the UBE. Some states still have an additional bar exam which covers additional topics.
  
• Try to take as many bar courses as possible before you graduate -- do not rely on learning the material in a bar review course. Be very cautious about choosing not to take bar courses. Bar review courses are designed to review and refresh, not to do first-time instruction.
• If you have an area in which you are very interested or in which you wish to concentrate, e.g., international law, criminal law, family law, commercial law, intellectual property, environmental law, etc., try to take one course in that field in the fall of your second year.
• Each semester try to take one "fun" course.
• At some point take at least one course you think you would have no interest in. You could be surprised to find you want to practice in that area.
• Plan what skills courses you wish to take, and for what purpose (litigation, ADR, negotiation, planning, drafting, etc.).
• Plan how you are going to satisfy the LW III requirement (preferably in the third year) (seminar, Law Journal, independent study).
• Take at least one international law course. So much law these days has an international component that knowing even a small amount of international law is useful.
  
• Take at least one intellectual property course. Almost all areas of law are affected by intellectual property today.
  

Basic courses you should take.

The subjects covered in the listed courses are on on the UBE and many state bar exams and/or are in some sense core courses. The first group are typical 2L courses (though you will likely take a few of them in your third year due to scheduling priorities). Remedies and Conflicts are good 3L course because they bring together property, contracts, and torts from a different perspective which allows you to review those critical first year subjects.

Standard 2L courses; some would likely need to be put off until the third year.

• Administrative Law
• Business Organizations
• Commercial Law
• Constitutional Law II (required 2L)
• Criminal Procedure
• Evidence (required)
• Family Law
• Federal Income Tax
• LRRW II (required 2L)
• Professional Responsibility (required)
• Property II
• Wills and Trusts

Useful reinforcing/review courses in the third year

• Remedies (reinforces and deepens understanding of aspects of Torts, Contracts, Property law concepts)
• Conflicts (reinforces and deepens understanding of aspects of Civil Procedure (especially jurisdiction), Con Law I)
• Federal Courts (reinforces and deepens understanding of aspects of Civil Procedure, Con Law I)

Course Sequences

When you meet with your advisor, you should be prepared to discuss sequencing courses in your area of interest and ask about courses you should consider taking because they are related to or at least useful for practicing in your area of interest.

HUSL courses in general have few formal prerequisites. This allows the student more flexibility in course selection and sequencing. Nonetheless, there are some courses that are in some sense precursors to others. For example, Administrative Law provides a foundation for subjects that are heavily regulated by administrative agencies such as Environmental Law, Securities Law, Labor Law, and Federal Communications Law. Business Organizations provides a firm foundation regarding the concept of fiduciary duty which arises in every field of law and most especially in Corporations, Wills and Trusts, and Professional Responsibility.

Some courses are important for certain areas of practice, but are not central to the law in that area. For example, someone practicing commercial law or someone practicing corporate law would be well advised to take the Introduction to Intellectual Property because so many commercial transactions involve licensing IP and many corporate acquisitions involve IP and many businesses are built around exploiting IP.

last update 2 April 2019