General Curriculum
Virginia offers more than 250 courses and seminars each year. Students pursuing interdisciplinary ideas benefit from an environment where nearly half of all law faculty also hold advanced degrees in fields such as psychology, economics, philosophy,
history, medicine and theology.
Each first-year student takes one "small-section" class consisting of 30 students during the first semester, which helps bond classmates from the start. Outside the classroom, students plan and program many of the conferences, lectures and panels that enrich the school's intellectual life.
VIRGINIA'S PRINCIPLES & PRACTICE
PROGRAM
Virginia's Principles and Practice Program, a curricular innovation that is the first of its kind in the country, is designed to give students the opportunity to apply legal theory in real-life situations. The program teams law professors with practitioners, judges and other distinguished professionals to teach courses. The program melds the insights of theory with those of contemporary practice, giving students a more sophisticated and useful understanding of a field than either perspective can yield on its own.
TRIAL ADVOCACY College
The Trial Advocacy College is an intensive eight-day experience offered annually between the fall and spring terms. Third-year students are enrolled with participants from the nation's best litigation units in an intensive practice program with a faculty comprised of some of the best trial lawyers and outstanding judges in the country. This selective program supplements the 14 sections of trial advocacy offered each academic year. More
SEMINARS
IN ETHICAL VALUES enhance
students' understanding of ethical issues and address the broader
ethical and moral responsibilities of lawyers as citizens and
leaders. With content ranging from modern literature and films
to classic fiction and philosophy, the seminars offer third-year
students the opportunity to explore dimensions of professional
life seldom found in standard legal education. The seminars
augment Virginia's required course in professional responsibility,
which focuses on the lawyer's ethical responsibilities through
the study of rules and principles of legal ethics as codified
by the states. More
The required first–year curriculum provides the foundation for all advanced legal education. In addition to the following courses, students choose two electives.
| FALL COURSES | SPRING COURSES |
Civil Procedure This course covers the procedures courts use in deciding lawsuits that do not involve criminal misconduct. Much of it is concerned with the process of litigation in trial courts, from the initial documents, called pleadings, through the pretrial process, especially the process of discovery, in which parties obtain information from one another, to trial itself. Another important topic concerns the jurisdictional rules that determine in which court a lawsuit may be brought. Contracts This course is an examination of the legal obligations that attach to promises made in a business contract or otherwise, including the remedies that may be available for promises that are not kept. The course examines the legal requirements for enforceable contracts, including consideration, consent, and conditions; and the effect of fraud, mistake, unconscionability, and impossibility. Criminal Law This course explores the basic principles of Anglo-American criminal law, including the constituent elements of criminal offenses, the necessary predicates for criminal liability, the major concepts of justification and excuse, and the conditions under which offenders can be liable for attempt. Major emphasis is placed on the structure and interpretation of modern penal codes. Torts The course in torts examines liability for civil wrongs that do not arise out of contract. It explores three standards of conduct: liability for intentional wrongdoing, negligence, and liability without fault, or strict liability. It also examines other issues associated with civil liability, such as causation, damages, and defenses. Particular areas of tort law such as battery, medical malpractice, and products liability, as well as debates about tort reform, are also part of the standard coverage of the course. Legal Writing (both semesters) The basic skills course in the first-year curriculum, the course covers fundamental legal research techniques and two styles of legal writing. The fall semester focus is on preparing objective office memoranda; and in the spring semester students produce an appellate brief. Students also present an appellate oral argument before a panel of alumni, faculty, and upperclass students. |
Constitutional Law This course is an introduction to the structure of the U.S. Constitution and the rights and liberties it defines. Judicial review, federalism, congressional powers and limits, the commerce clause, and the 10th Amendment are covered, as are the equal protection and due process clauses. Property The course is a general introduction to property concepts and different types of property interests, particularly real property. The course surveys present and future estates in land, ownership, and concurrent ownership. Leasehold interests, gifts and bequests, covenants and servitudes, conveyancing, various land use restrictions, eminent domain, and intellectual and personal property issues are also considered. Legal Writing (both semesters) The basic skills course in the first-year curriculum, the course covers fundamental legal research techniques and two styles of legal writing. The fall semester focus is on preparing objective office memoranda; and in the spring semester students produce an appellate brief. Students also present an appellate oral argument before a panel of alumni, faculty, and upperclass students. |
