BS in CEAS Undergraduate Disciplines & Law

The College of Law and the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences (CEAS) have jointly developed an accelerated dual degree program in which undergraduate students from any discipline in CEAS can earn both their BS and JD degree in an accelerated time frame. Through this ACCEND program, students can earn the JD one to two semesters sooner than they would going the traditional route. 

The technical preparation and critical thinking skills obtained through CEAS undergraduate programs provides excellent preparation for skills needed in the legal profession. Having a background in engineering provides a number of opportunities for practice as a lawyer, particularly in the areas of patent law or transactional or litigation matters that center around technical issues.

Students in CEAS with a cumulative GPA of 3.2 or better and who are on track (or ahead) in the undergraduate curriculum will be eligible for the program and can apply after completing two academic semesters. 

Students must also apply to the JD program and can do so after completing 90 undergraduate credits. Those students with a cumulative GPA of 3.6 or better  are waived from submitting LSAT scores.

BS + JD students will need to satisfy the degree requirements for both programs independently. A student will have a minimum of 120 undergraduate credits and a minimum of 90 graduate credits to obtain the two degrees. Engineering students should refer to their program's degree requirements to assure the completion of the BS degree. Below are the relevant degree requirements for JD students. 

A.    Successful Completion of Orientation and All First Year Courses

In your first year, you will build a foundation of legal knowledge as you learn the legal concepts essential to an understanding of our legal system. Working closely with your professors, you will develop the skills of reading and analyzing cases including how and why the courts develop common law through the use of precedent and how to interpret and apply statutes. Professors lead students in classroom discussions that help develop the skills of legal analysis and reasoning. These skills are essential not only to the lawyer but also to you as a law student.

First-year students also develop oral and written skills crucial to academic and professional success. In the fall semester, students learn legal research and writing skills in small classes that provide frequent opportunities to practice and get personal feedback from their professors. In the spring semester, classes focus on advocating on behalf of clients in the courtroom. Students learn to write legal briefs and make arguments to a judge.

Each first year student has at least two courses in the first semester in a small section of approximately 20 students. These learning communities provide students the opportunity to be mentored by their small-section professors and form study groups that provide opportunities for students to help each other as they adapt to the study of law. In fact, many students form life-long friendships in their small sections.

Fall

• Civil Procedure I: 3 hrs
• Contracts: 4 hrs
• Constitutional Law I: 3 hrs
• Lawyering I: Legal Research and Writing: 3 hrs
• Torts: 4 hrs
• Total: 17 Hours

Spring

• Civil Procedure II: 3 hrs
• Constitutional Law II: 3 hrs
• Criminal Law: 3 hrs
• Lawyering II: Advocacy: 3 hrs
• Property: 4 hrs
• Total: 16 Hours

• Legal Ethics
  • A student who completes the first semester study or the first year of study with a cumulative average below 2.8 honor points shall take the 3-credit skills section of Legal Ethics.
• Client Counseling 
  • Students may satisfy this requirement by completing the Ohio Innocence Project course sequence in the second year. Students may also satisfy this requirement by taking the Domestic Violence & Civil Protection Order Clinic - 2L Experience. 

A student who completes the first semester of study with a cumulative average below 2.8 honor points shall:

• Participate in the first year, second-semester Academic Success Program, and
• Complete the following five bar-tested courses: Business Associations; Criminal Procedure 1 or 2; Evidence, Sales; Wills and Trusts, and
• Complete the 3-credit skills section of Legal Ethics, and
• Complete the course Legal Analysis and Drafting for the Bar Exam.

A student who completes the first year of study with a cumulative average below 2.8 honor points shall:

• Complete the following five bar-test courses: Business Associations; Criminal Procedure 1 or 2; Evidence; Sales; Wills and Trusts, and
• Complete the 3-credit skills section of Legal Ethics, and

Complete the course Legal Analysis and Drafting for the Bar Exam.

• Every student must successfully complete one seminar.

Every student must successfully complete one of the following options:

• a casenote, comment, or a series of shorter works of the same quality and aggregate quantity expected of longer papers for a law review or journal,
• the writing requirements for the Intramural Moot Court Competition,
• a Drafting course,
• an Individual Research Project, or
• a second seminar.

Every student must:

• attend three annual professional planning meetings with the Center for Professional Development; and
• implement a professional development plan in conjunction with the Center for Professional Development.

In their second or any subsequent year of law school, students will complete one of the following lawyering learning opportunities involving actual legal work under appropriate supervision:

• Ohio Innocence Project,
• Domestic Violence and Civil Protection Order Clinic,
• Entrepreneurship and Community Development Clinic,
• Indigent Defense Clinic,
• Patent and Trademark Clinic
• Sixth Circuit Clinic,
• Legal Externship,
• Judicial Externship,
• Brandery or other summer entrepreneurship experience,
• Summer Internship through the Summer Public Interest Fellowship Program or the Urban Morgan Institute for Human Rights, or
• Paid law or law-related work meeting law school requirements.

Every student must successfully complete at least 6 credits earned in experiential courses.

It is a requirement for graduation that a student complete, in an aggregate of 90 semester hours, at least 77 classroom credit hours. All required and most elective courses and seminars are classified as classroom credit offerings. Non-classroom credit offerings include, but are not limited to, Individual Research Projects, law review, moot court, journals, externship and clinical field placements.

Of the 90 credits, at least six of them must be classified as experiential credits. These credits can be a mixture of classroom and non-classroom credits.

You must have at least a 2.0 cumulative GPA to graduate.

You must have completed a residence period of three academic years or its equivalent.