Academics
Students may take relevant courses in other programs and apply credit toward the J.D.; a maximum of 6 credits may be applied. The following joint degrees may be earned: J.D/M.P.A. (Juris Doctor/Master of Public Administration).
Clinics, conducted under the supervision of the Director of Legal Aid and other clinical instructors, include a Civil Litigation Project and a Civil Rights Project. Internships are available with the North Dakota District Court, North Dakota Legislative Assembly, Grand Forks County States Attorney, and the Office of the Staff Judge Advocate at the Grand Forks Air Force Base. Various supervised research projects are available through the Special Projects Committee. Also, Central Legal Research employs second- and third-year students to work on current legal research questions. The Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation, through grants, scholarships, seminars, and publications, promotes research in natural resources law. The Fode Lecture is a special lecture series. Students may receive credit for summer law study at the University of Oslo, Norway. The Canadian-American Law Institute encourages interchange among law students and faculty from North Dakota and several Canadian provinces. The most widely taken electives are bar courses, skills courses, and trial advocacy.
To earn the J.D., candidates must complete 90 total credits, of which 34 are for required courses. They must maintain a minimum GPA of 2.0 in the required courses. The following first-year courses are required of all students: Brief Writing and Appellate Advocacy, Civil Procedure, Constitutional Law I and II, Contracts I and II, Criminal Law, Legal Process, Property I and II, and Torts I and II. Required upper-level courses consist of Professional Responsibility. The required orientation program for first-year students lasts 1 week.
In order to graduate, candidates must have a GPA of 2.0, have completed the upper-division writing requirement, and have completed Legal Process, Brief Writing, and Professional Responsibility, have completed 2 significant writing projects, and have completed the residency requirements of the last 4 semesters of study at the school.