Harvard JD Requirements
After reading this title, you might have thought - “huh? Didn’t you just finish 2L? Isn’t it summer?? Why do we care about this now?
Well, hi there. It’s me, 3L Course Registration Anxiety. How are you? Sure you’re gonna graduate?
👀👀👀👀👀👀👀
Seriously though - grad requirements always lurk in the back of people’s minds, but didn’t become a real concern for me until a few weeks ago. The HLS Registrar shot us an email with dates for course registration and a big ole reminder to “CHECK YOUR DEGREE AUDIT ASAP.” Many plans were altered due to COVID, and some of us (hint: me 🙋♀️) have several boxes left to check.
So - what exactly do I still need to do? In this post I’ll describe Harvard’s requirements for earning a Juris Doctorate, as well as where I personally stand as of 30 May 2021.
1L REQUIREMENTS
The first-year requirements for the J.D. degree are:
The required first-year courses: Civil Procedure, Constitutional Law, Contracts, Criminal Law, Legislation and Regulation, Property, and Torts;
A required first-year winter course: 1L January Experiential Term course, beginning with the class entering in Fall 2018;
First-Year Legal Research and Writing which includes the First-Year Ames Moot Court Program;
A spring upper-level elective course of a minimum of two and a maximum of four Law School classroom credits.
The school basically takes care of us here - schedules, professors, classes, etc. are all assigned for your first year. I actually did not complete the First-year Ames Moot Court Program due to COVID, but it’s been waived for my class. So yes - my 1L requirements are a ✅.
UPPER LEVEL - 52 credits
After satisfactory completion of the first-year Law School requirements, all J.D. students must earn no fewer than 52 additional credits in upper-level work.
Split over four semesters, this requirement is roughly 13 credits per semester - doable, but not easy. And I’ve consistently had 2-3 credits during my winter term so it’s really an average of 12! I’m on track to check this box, but we haven’t completed AY ‘21-’22 Registration yet so it’s not a done deal. And, I mean, I still have to pass…
CLASSROOM REQUIREMENT - 36 credits
Students must complete no fewer than 36 credits in Law School classroom work, which includes courses, seminars and reading groups.
Contrary to popular belief, law school isn’t all classrooms and cold calls. There are tons of alternatives, including student practice organizations (SPOs), clinical work, cross-registration to other schools, and writing long research pieces for credit. This 36-credit requirement ensures that we still take some classes, not just the hands-on clinics or writing outside the classroom. Since those activities should supplement, not replace, the traditional classroom training, the “extra activities” have maximums and classroom credits have minimums.
I’m in good shape here. When I learned 2L would be totally virtual, I chose to forego all clinics until 3L (I didn’t mind “class from home,” but “work from home” is really not my style). I’m very close to this number before we’ve even registered for 3L classes, so hitting 36 won’t be a problem.
EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING - 6 credits
In accordance with ABA requirements, beginning with students matriculating into the J.D. program in Fall 2016, students must earn no fewer than six credits qualified as "experiential learning" courses.
I actually didn’t know this was an ABA requirement - huh! HLS sets a minimum requirement of classroom requirements for our own well-being, it also wants to set us up for success by making us dip at least a toe into “real world” law. Clinics are not required (most people use them to fulfill the pro bono requirement, see below, but there are other ways to knock that out).
I’ve gone above and beyond the call of duty on experiential learning - my 1L J-term, 2L J-Term, and Mediation all count - so this requirement is ✅✅.
INTERNATIONAL/COMPARATIVE LAW COURSE
Students entering fall 2019 must complete an approved upper-level International/Comparative offering.
Fall 2019 is my class!! And luckily, I knocked this out during second semester of 1L. Not that anyone asked my opinion, but I think this is a great requirement. It’s not a heavy lift - only a few credits at most - but it helps American law students understand where American law fits in with other legal systems around the world, or on the international plane.
Both my 1L Comparative Legal Institutions course and last year’s Public International Law meet this requirement, so again - nailed it ✅.
PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY
All students must complete a minimum of two classroom credits to satisfy the Professional Responsibility requirement.
This is an interesting one. Professional responsibility in the legal world is obviously very important - failure to adhere by the rules of ethics is a quick way to no longer be a lawyer. HLS gives us a few options for this, including actual classes called “Professional Responsibility” and classes or clinics that satisfy this requirement by virtue of their contents. The idea is to help us prep for the Multistate Professional Responsibility Exam (MPRE), a part of the bar exam that specifically tests us on the ethics of being an attorney.
There’s just one problem. These classes and clinics are only open to 3Ls, and I’m scheduled to take the MPRE this August - a month before 3L classes even start. Womp womp wooooooomp.
As a result, I tried to avoid the “Professional Responsibility” classes and find a class or clinic that simply counted towards the school’s requirement. Luckily, it worked!! I found a clinic to check this box, as well as the pro bono and possibly written work requirements as well. Three birds, one massive 3L stone.
WRITTEN WORK
All students are expected to pursue serious written work in their upper-level years. The minimum requirements can be satisfied by a substantial research paper (Option 1) or by two smaller projects (Option 2).
Remember that disastrous attempt at the Ames Moot Court last fall? Well, one good thing came out of it - I’m halfway done with Written Work Option #2. I recently found out that my 30-pg research paper for my 1L elective cannot count for the second half, so I’m a bit miffed about that…but I do need to buckle down and figure out that second half.
Part of me is trying to pluck up the courage to ask if this blog can count. You don’t know if you don’t ask, am I right?!
PRO BONO REQUIREMENT - 50 hours
As a condition for graduation, Harvard Law School requires all J.D. students to complete at least 50 hours of uncompensated, pro bono legal work.
I have zero (official) hours right now, but that will be remedied by December 2021! Most people satisfy the pro bono requirement through one of our school’s legal clinics, which allows us to do legal work for real clients (for free!) in a specific area of practice.
We just finished the clinical round of /21-’22 course registration and I’m signed up for the Criminal Justice Institute, a defense clinic involving real cases of criminal and juvenile delinquency. I plan to write a separate post about CJI because I am absolutely THRILLED - it was my first choice of clinic, and will take up much of my time this fall and winter.
RESIDENCY - 10 to 15 credits/semester
Not fewer than 24 nor more than 35 credits each year in each of the 2L and 3L years, regardless of the number of credits needed to complete the required 52 upper-level credits;
Not fewer than 10 nor more than 16 credits in each fall and spring term, no fewer than 8 of which each semester must be for Law School work. No fewer than 4 of the 8 Law School credits must be for classroom or clinical work.
Not fewer than 2 nor more than 3 credits in each of the two upper-level winter terms.
This final requirement is meant to ensure HLS students don’t frontload their courses to 2L, then coast during 3L. I am “HLS students” here; even with these limits, I’m still trying to ‘frontload’ my fall semesters so my spring semesters can be slightly more chill.
The “no fewer than 10” credits is the easy part of this equation; the “no fewer than 24” promises for a rough second semester if I’m not careful with my first semester classes. And all of this depends on which classes I’m actually enrolled in post-registration!
MAY 2022 OR BUST
Thanks to the CJI clinic, and notwithstanding the unresolved second half of my writing credit, I AM on track to graduate. Hallelujah. That doesn’t mean 3L will be a cakewalk - in fact, I anticipate that CJI will be as exhausting as it is rewarding. HLS definitely doesn’t let us slack off in the last year, but I’m optimistic that this strategic planning will yield my favorite year yet.
