Program Details

Admission

Admission to the Program is open to any full-time second- or third-year College of Law student in good academic standing.

Requirements

Thirty credit hours of required/core and elective courses.

Charges/Fee

There are no special or additional charges or fees associated with the Program.

Advocacy Award

A special award (and, subject to continued funding, a monetary prize of at least $500) will be presented to the outstanding Advocacy Program graduate each year. The Award will be based on evaluation by the Advocacy Program instructors and/or overall grade point average and/or grade point average in the required and elective Advocacy Program courses only.

Required core courses (effective Fall 2013)

Course Credit Hours
Any one of the Group One - Dispute Resolution Electives listed below that confers 2 or more credit hours 2 or 3
Civil Procedure II (4) or Criminal Procedure (3) 3 or 4
Evidence 3 or 4
Judicial Remedies 3
Trial Advocacy 3 or 4
The Litigation Experience 4
Total 18 - 22

Students must take all required core courses.  Because the number of credits will vary depending on which core course a student chooses when alternatives are available (and because Evidence and Trial Advocacy are offered in both 3- and 4-credit formats), satisfaction of core course requirements may fulfill as few as 18, or as many as 22, of the total 30-credit requirement under the Program. Consequently, Program participants may need to take as few as 8, or as many as 12, elective credits.  The intention is that all Program participants complete the same total number of core/required plus elective credits - i.e. 30 total credits.

If a student takes Civil Procedure II to fulfill the core course requirement, he or she may take Criminal Procedure as a Group Three elective.  Similarly, if Criminal Procedure is taken as the core requirement, Civil Procedure II may be taken as a Group Three elective.

Federal Courts (3) and Conflicts of Law (2) are recommended, but not required. They are included within the Program electives.

Electives (effective Fall 2013)

There are five elective groups. To assure appropriate balance among the elective groups, the number of credit hours within each group that will count toward satisfaction of the Program’s electives requirement is limited as described below. Even so, students may choose to take additional courses within each Group, the credits for which will count toward the requirement that students successfully complete 89 hours of academic credit to be eligible for the J.D. degree.

Group One - Dispute Resolution Electives

(No more than three credits may apply toward satisfaction
of the Program's electives requirement)

Course Credit hours
All of the following courses, except for the one used to satisfy the ADR component of the Required Core Courses listed above:  
Alternative Dispute Resolution (survey course) 2
ADR & Employment       2
Arbitration 2
International Arbitration  1
Mediation and Settlement Advocacy  2
Negotiation  3
Client Counseling  1

Group Two - Advanced Advocacy Training Electives

(No more than five credits may apply toward satisfaction
of the Program's electives requirement)

Course Credit hours
Appellate Advocacy 3
Persuasive Speech 1
Litigation & Courtroom Technology 1

Group Three - Advanced Procedural and Practice Area Electives

(No more than nine credit hours may apply toward satisfaction
of the Program's electives requirement)

Course Credit hours
Advanced Criminal Procedure 2
Attorneys’ Fees, Costs and Sanctions 1
Bankruptcy Litigation 1
Civil Pretrial Practice  2
Claims Against Governmental Entities 1
Class Actions 2
Conflicts of Law 2
Construction Law 2
Creditor Remedies 1
Federal Courts 3
Federal Criminal Practice & Procedure 3
Health Care Fraud Investigations and Litigation 1
Insurance Bad Faith Litigation 1
Jury Selection 1
Land Use Proceedings 1
Mass Tort Litigation 2
Patent Litigation 2
Products Liability Seminar 2
Professional Liability Litigation 1
Prosecuting Trademark Applications 1
Prosecutorial Decision-Making 2
Real Estate Foreclosure 1
Real Estate Litigation 1
White Collar Crime 2

Group Four - Evidence-Related Electives

(No more than six credit hours may apply toward satisfaction
of the Program's electives requirement)

Course Credit hours
Electronic Discovery & Digital Evidence 2
Fact Investigation I 2 or 3
Fact Investigation II 2 or 3
Law, Accounting & Finance 2
Law, Litigation & Science 3
Real Estate & Business Valuation 2
Scientific Evidence  2
Statistical Evidence 1

Group Five – Clinics

(No more than three credit hours may apply towards satisfaction
of the Program's electives requirement)

Course Credit hours
Civil Justice Clinic 6
Criminal Practice Clinic 6
Immigration Law & Policy Clinic 6
Indian Legal Clinic 6
Juvenile Advocacy Clinic 6
Mediation Clinic 6
Public Defender Clinic 6
Ruth V. McGregor Family Protection Clinic 6

As noted in the above listings of Program electives, a number of one-credit courses are included. These courses are generally scheduled to meet once a week (for 115 minutes) over a six-week period. Some one-credit classes are offered during the first six weeks of the semester, while others are scheduled for the last six weeks of the semester. As a consequence, students are able to take at least two of these one-credit courses, one after the other, in a single semester.

Further information

For more information contact: 
Deana S. Peck, Program Director      (Deana.Peck@asu.edu)