Classroom Contact Hours (Formerly ABA Requirements)

The American Bar Association Standards for Approval of Law Schools require at least 65 credits “shall be [earned] in attendance in regularly scheduled class sessions” at a law school. Credits earned for work done outside the law school classroom – whether as independent studies, field work (associated with clinics, practicum courses or externships), activities for credit (e.g., law review, moot court), or approved graduate-level, law-related course work taken at another school within the University (even as part of a joint-degree program or certificate program) – will count toward the 88 credits required for graduation, but not toward this 65 credit requirement.

For courses that meet the same number of hours per week as the number of credits awarded, all credits count toward the 65 credit requirement. For courses and activities for which the number of classroom contact hours is less than the number of credits awarded, only the number of classroom contact hours per week count toward the 65 credit requirement.

Listed below are courses that will be offered during the 2008-09 academic year for which fewer than all of the credits awarded count toward the 65 credit requirement: