Juris Doctor

• New students are accepted only in the Fall semester.
• Three academic years (six semesters) of resident study are required.
• The majority of required credits for graduation must be earned at Emory Law.
• JD students must complete all juris doctor degree requirements within 84 months of initial matriculation.
• For all JD students who are expected to graduate in or after the Spring of 2019, six of the required 90 semester hours of course credit must be experiential learning credits as defined by ABA Standard 303.
• Regular, professional curriculum of the law school is a full-day program leading to the juris doctor (JD) degree.
• The JD degree is conferred on a student who has completed 90 semester hours of course credit as prescribed by the faculty, with a minimum overall grade point average of 2.5.
• Joint-degree JD students must earn a minimum of 79 law school hours.
• Students who transfer to Emory Law from another US JD program who wish to earn a joint degree must earn 79 to 90 hours from the law curriculum. (Exceptions are made at the discretion of the vice dean.)
• Students who achieve a semester average of 3.45 are designated on the Dean’s List that semester.
• The JD with Honors is conferred on each student whose scholastic average for his or her entire law school program is 3.45 or higher.

Our curriculum is designed to help you take advantage of every opportunity and overcome any challenge. As a practitioner of the law, you’ll be entrusted with the care of society’s laws—an important, impactful, and rewarding responsibility.

That’s why you can expect discipline, integrity, and excellence in every classroom and learning environment at Emory Law. When you study with us, you attain insight into the world’s institutions and values along with the power to think clearly and carefully.

Get one-on-one attention in foundational research, writing, and appellate advocacy courses. We have one instructor for every 35 students, so you’ll never feel lost or overlooked.

Instruction is based on the case method so you can develop analytical thinking skills that apply to the real world. Finish your first year with the solid groundwork needed to solve legal problems with research and learn how to best present those solutions in writing and orally.  

With few exceptions, all courses are elective after the first year. All students must successfully complete Evidence (632), Legal Profession (747), and Trial Techniques (671).

Every student must fulfill the writing requirement prior to graduation. Research a topic in depth and submit drafts to an instructor for revisions before completion. A minimum grade of C is required. For other ways to complete the writing requirements, please contact the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs.

Overview 

JD students must enroll for six semesters with a minimum of 10 hours each semester.  Students must be enrolled 12 hours per semester to be considered full-time and must remain in good standing with a minimum GPA of 2.5 to continue at Emory Law. 

Dean's List 

Non-joint students must earn a GPA of 3.45 or higher on at least 10 graded law hours to be on the Dean's List.

Joint-degree students must earn a GPA of 3.45 or higher on at least five graded law hours to be on the Dean's List.

Graduate with Honors

JD students must earn a GPA of between 3.45 and 3.79 to graduate with Honors. Students must earn a GPA of 3.80 or above to graduate with High Honors. 

The First Honor Graduate

The student who earns the highest overall GPA for all three years (with the exception of summer school) will be the First Honor Graduate. 

Emory University School of Law’s Learning Outcomes for JD Candidates 

(as of 2/2/17)

Note: What follows is a statement of learning outcomes established under ABA Standard 302 (“Learning Outcomes”). These learning outcomes also identify the skills and professional values embodied in the required curriculum, pursuant to New York’s Rule 520.18 (“Skills Competency and Professional Values Bar Admission Requirement”).

Note Also: This is an evolving document, subject to continuing review and change by the law school faculty.

Each student graduating with a J.D. from Emory University School of Law must have demonstrated –

(a) Knowledge and understanding of substantive and procedural American law; specifically:

1. Competence in the subjects covered in Emory Law’s first-year curriculum: Civil Procedure, Constitutional Law, Contracts, Criminal Law, Legislation and Regulation, Property, and Torts;
2. Competence in the subjects required in Emory Law’s upper level curriculum: Evidence and Legal Professional Responsibility;
3. Exposure to advanced areas of substantive law in Emory Law’s upper level elective curriculum.

(b) Competence in legal analysis and reasoning, legal research, and problem-solving in a legal context; i.e. identifying legal issues; researching federal and state legal authority; determining the law pertaining to legal issues; applying the law to specific facts; citing to legal authority.

1. Ability to analyze basic elements of a legal idea, experience or theory, by examining a particular fact situation in depth and considering its components in light of substantive law;
2. Ability to synthesize and organize information, ideas and/or experience;
3. Ability to apply legal authority, theories or concepts to practical problems or new factual situations.

(c) Competence in written and oral communication and advocacy in a legal setting.

1. Completion of curriculum in introductory legal research, analysis and communication;
2. Ability to complete an original legal research paper, meeting specific length and content requirements detailed by faculty policy;
3. Ability to analyze, understand and advocate a legal position, including skills in interviewing, fact investigation, negotiation, counseling, problem-solving, and legal strategy.

(d) Understanding and exercise of proper professional and ethical responsibilities to the law school, to clients and to the legal system.

1. Commitment and adherence to the Professional Conduct Code of Emory University School of Law;
2. Understanding of and compliance with the rules and values governing attorney conduct, including honesty and candor toward clients, other lawyers, courts and institutions;
3. Competence in the practical application of legal knowledge and learned legal skills, including multiple forms of legal drafting and legal advocacy;
4. Understanding of bar admission requirements and how to meet them;
5. Understanding of the increasingly diverse and global nature of modern legal practice.

(e) Other professional skills needed for competent and ethical participation as a member of the legal profession.

1. Reflect on the value of all legal practitioners engaging in various forms of public, community and/or legal service;
2. Reflect on the concept of forming a professional identity by combining doctrinal knowledge, ethical understanding, understanding of self and internalization of legal ethical standards;
3. Identify value of information technology as it relates to the roles and tasks of modern lawyers;
4. Experience making judgments about the value of information, arguments, or methods, such as examining how others gathered and interpreted data and assessing the soundness of their conclusions.
5. Students enrolled in the following programs or courses must also demonstrate competence in the learning outcomes specified for those programs and courses, including:

• Clinics
• Externships
• TI:GER
• Transactional Law
• Trial Techniques