Contact

Assistant Dean for Academic Services and Law School Registrar: Becky McAlister

Program Overview

Northwestern Law is one of the first law schools in the country to offer a Two-Year JD program for foreign-educated attorneys. Students who are admitted to the program receive one year of credit (28 general law credit hours) for their foreign law degree. Two-Year JD students exclusively complete the 1L curriculum required for JD students during their first year. The second year is spent taking elective courses. Two-Year JD students are completely integrated with students in the regular JD program, but they are not eligible to participate on law journal staffs. Graduates of the Two-Year JD program receive a Juris Doctor degree from Northwestern Law.

Curriculum

Required First-Year Courses

Legal Ethics 

6 credits of Experiential Learning

Students must complete at least 6 credits in courses that count toward the Experiential Learning requirement, designated as such at the time of registration.

US Legal Doctrine Electives 

Writing Requirement

2-Year JD students will complete the Advanced Writing Requirement by completing either a Research Writing or a Professional Writing course, designated as such at the time of registration.  2-Year JDs may not double count a course toward the Advanced Writing Requirement and another graduate requirement, such as Experiential Learning.

Curricular Limitations

• May enroll in no more than one research seminar over the course of their program, and may not enroll in a research seminar if enrolled in Senior Research.  A research seminar is a course carrying the Research Writing attribute.
• May enroll in either a maximum of four credits of clinical work or a maximum of four credits of senior research (in extraordinary cases, the Director of Research may approve an additional two credits)