Upper Level Curriculum

Upper-Level Writing and Research Courses

After the first-year ALAW and Legal Research Tools and Strategies courses, students can continue to work on becoming excellent legal writers, researchers and, ultimately, successful lawyers by taking upper-level research and writing courses.  These courses enable students to refine oral and written communication skills in a way that employers value.

Upper-Level Research and Writing Courses (Courses that focus on the research and writing that lawyers in practice regularly do):

• Civil Pre-Trial Practice and Advocacy
• Intensive Legal Writing & Drafting 
• Research and Writing for Judicial Clerkships
• Researching Administrative Law
• Strategic Legal Research 
• Trial Advocacy
• Winning Written Advocacy

Clinics and Externships (Opportunities that help students to hone their research and writing skills while working with real clients):

• Arts, Sports & Entertainment Law Clinic
• Center for Immigrants' Rights Clinic
• Civil Rights Appellate Clinic
• Entrepreneur Assistance Clinic
• Family Law Clinic
• Indigent Criminal Justice Practicum
• Intellectual Property Clinic
• International Sustainable Development Projects Clinic
• Rural Economic Development Clinic
• Veterans and Servicemembers Legal Clinic
• Semester in Washington Program
• Externships Everywhere

Upper-Level Courses with Writing Components (Substantive courses, other than seminars, that include writing assignments)​:

• Energy Law and Policy
• Federal Courts
• Mediation of Environmental and Public Conflicts
• Modern In-House Counsel
• National Security Law II
• Negotiation and Dispute Resolution Design
• Professional Responsibility
• Sports Law
• Street Law
• Veterans Benefits Law
• Water Law and Policy

Advanced LL.M. Writing Courses (A second semester optional writing course for LL.M. students):

• Advanced LL.M. Legal Analysis, Writing and Research