Law

Scheduling Fall Courses

All LLM students will take U.S. Legal System and LLM Legal Research and Writing in the fall semester. Beyond those two classes, you may choose an additional two or three classes. To help make your selections, I suggest the following steps.  Please think about these considerations, and we will discuss your options during our call.

Step 1
Do you plan to pursue a bar exam in the U.S.?   If so, you will want to research the bar rules for the relevant state and carefully consider what you need to do to become both eligible and prepared.  To be prepared, you should take as many classes as possible covering material that will be tested on your bar exam. View the Ohio Bar rules. 

Step 2
Do you plan to focus on a particular area of law?  

Step 3
Review the College of Law course offerings on the student intranet (UC Law Student access only). Make a list of classes you wish to take. You will want to make note of days and times to avoid conflicts. All LLM students are required to take U.S. Legal System (3 credits) and Legal Research and Writing (3 credits) during Fall semester.  All other courses during your LLM experience are your choice. 

International students on F-1 visas will be required to be enrolled in a full-time, in-person course of study. F-1 students will only be allowed to use 3 credit hours of online classes to reach the full-time enrollment threshold.

Tips on Choosing Classes for your LLM Year

If you are a full-time student, you must register for at least 12 credits, and you may not register for more than 18 credits. We recommend 15-16 credits each semester.

Some bar classes are offered in only ONE semester. This includes but may not be limited to the following:

  • Fall Only: Constitutional Law I, Civil Procedure I, Contracts, and Torts.
  • Spring Only: Constitutional Law II, Civil Procedure II,  Property, Criminal Law, and Sales. 
  • Please consult the Registrar's materials to determine when courses such as Evidence and Wills be offered.

All students who plan to take a bar exam in the US should take Legal Ethics in the fall or in the spring. 

LLM students may apply for clinics and internships (which we call “externships”) for the spring semester. Applications will be available in November. (Caution: Your externship credits might not count towards the total credits required by the Ohio Supreme Court.)

Under certain circumstances, LLM students may complete an Individual Research Project (IRP) (i.e., academic paper). Discuss this with Assistant Dean Wagner. (Caution: Your IRP credits might not count towards the total credits required by the Ohio Supreme Court.)

LLM students may audit one class. You will not earn credit for this class. You may not audit if you have already enrolled in 18 credits. You must discuss an audit with Assistant Dean Wagner, and you will need to obtain the permission of the instructor

We offer a slightly different collection of classes each year, so we do not guarantee that the same classes are offered every year. 

Occasionally, classes fill up or are canceled. Therefore, it is always a good idea to have additional, “backup” choices in mind. 

 
We look forward to your arrival in August. Please note that LLM orientation begins the second week of August. Please plan to arrive in Cincinnati around August 1st in order to get settled and ready for the beginning of the program.