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Juris Doctor Program

The Juris Doctor (JD) Program at Pace Law School is a three-year (full-time) or four-year (part-time) academic program that provides solid preparation for students who wish to become lawyers. The program offers an integrated curriculum designed to ensure the development of appropriate academic, procedural, and lawyering skills. 

Required courses
Required courses account for 35 of the 88 credits necessary for a JD degree for students matriculating in 2007 or thereafter. Below you will find the schedule of required courses for full-time day, part-time day, and part-time evening students. (Please note that there is no entry into the part-time evening program as of Fall 2010).

Course

Credits

Semester taken, Day Division FT

Semester taken, Day Division PT

Semester taken, Evening Division

Contracts

4

First year, Fall

Second year, Fall

First year, Spring

Property

4

First year, Spring

Second year, Fall

Second year, Spring

Torts

4

First year, Fall

First year, Fall

First year, Fall

First Year Legal Skills Program

6

First year, Fall and Spring

First year, Fall and Spring

First year, Fall and Spring

Civil Procedure

6

First year, Fall and Spring

First year, Fall and Spring

First year, Fall and Spring

Constitutional Law

4

First year, Spring

First year, Spring

Second year, Fall

Professional Responsibility

3

Second year

Second or third year

Second or third year

Federal Income Tax

4

Second year

Second or third year

Second or third year

Upper level writing requirement
All Pace Law Students must complete a writing project under the supervision of a professor. It is each student’s responsibility to register for a course or a seminar in which the professor is willing to supervise a qualifying writing project and to inform the professor at the beginning of the semester that a course is being taken to satisfy the writing requirement. The professor must certify to the Registrar at the end of the semester that all the elements of the requirement have been met. Only faculty-supervised writing may satisfy the requirement. Participation in Moot Court competitions or contests does not satisfy the requirement. The necessary permission forms can be found on the Registrar's website. 

  • The following may be used to satisfy the requirement:
    Courses – Any course that is certified by the Academic Dean as satisfying the requirement may be taken. A list of courses that have been certified will be included in the registration materials each semester. This list includes:
    • All seminars
    • The Federal Judicial Honors Program
    • Advanced Appellate Advocacy
    • Guided Research with a full-time faculty member
    • Any other upper-level course or clinic, if approved by the full-time or adjunct professor teaching the course or clinic and the Academic Dean.
  • Law review notes – Notwithstanding the requirements for other means of satisfying the upper level requirement, students who are members of any of the law reviews may satisfy the requirement by writing their note or comment. A full-time professor must review and certify that student notes and comments meet the substantive requirements for the requirement as set forth below.
  • Requirements of the written product: The written product must be in the form of a scholarly article, a legal memorandum, or a trial or appellate brief. The written product must be at least 25 pages of typed, double-spaced text. It must also demonstrate legal research and analysis, and contain ample citation to legal authority. Journals, diaries, and other writings that do not reflect such research and analysis do not meet this requirement. Except for the suggestions of editors and faculty, the written product should reflect the individual work of the student.

To satisfy the requirement, a student must:
1. Submit a draft
2. Get feedback on the draft in any combination of the following forms: oral, written, checklists, and audiotapes
3. Submit a final product

To satisfy the requirement, the written product should include:
1. A required writing text
2. Research logs (not necessarily graded)
3. An outline (not necessarily graded)
4. A self-critique or peer-critique experience
5. Either (a) a minimum of two hours of class time devoted to the teaching of writing, or (b) individual student-teacher conferences. Feedback on further drafts at the option of the professor.

Upper level skills requirement
Students who matriculate in the fall of 2006 and thereafter must successfully complete an approved upper level skills course as a condition of graduation. The following courses may be taken to meet the upper level skills requirement:

  • Live-Client Clinics
    Barbara C. Salken Criminal Justice Clinic
    Criminal Justice Clinc: Post-Conviction Project
    Environmental Litigation Clinic
    Equal Justice America Disability Rights Clinic
    Immigration Justice Clinic
    Investor Rights Clinic
  • Externships
    Criminal Justice (Prosecutorial) Externship
    Environmental Law Externship (NY only)
    Family Court Externship
    Federal Judicial Honors Externship
    Legal Services/Public Interest/Health Law Externship
  • Simulations
    Advanced Appellate Advocacy
    Advanced Legal Research
    Advanced Real Property
    Advanced Trial Advocacy
    Drafting Legal Documents
    Environmental Commercial Transactions
    Environmental Skills
    Interviewing, Counseling, and Negotiation (ICN)
    Law Practice Management
    Matrimonial Practice
    Mediation and Arbitration (3 CR option)
    Pre-trial Civil Litigation Simulation (PCLS)
    Trial Advocacy