What a legal education should be
Our groundbreaking curriculum and experiential learning opportunities allow you to personalize your legal education. Here, you will shape your own experiences and graduate with practice-ready skills.
Our juris doctor program is rooted in practice-oriented instruction, featuring courses taught by renowned faculty – many of whom have extensive practice experience – as well as live-client clinics and a far-reaching legal residency (externship) program that provide substantive real-world, hands-on experience. Qualified students can also take part in the Daniel Webster Scholar program, the first and only-in-the-nation competency-based bar-alternative program. DWS students hone their skills in both simulated and real settings (counseling clients, working with practicing lawyers, taking depositions, appearing before judges, and mediating), while creating portfolios of written and oral work for bar examiners to assess every semester. Successful DWS scholars are sworn into the New Hampshire Bar the day before graduation, allowing them to practice immediately upon graduation.
JD students can choose from a robust selection of courses and opt for a curricular track focused on:
Offerings also include dual degrees in partnership with UNH, including JD/MBA, JD/MSW, and JD/MPP, as well as several joint degrees, including JD/LLM in Intellectual Property, and JD/LLM in Commerce and Technology.
In addition, our curriculum allows JD or joint degree candidates to specialize further by earning a JD certificate in a specific area of study:
Courses include:
Courses include:
Beginning in the second semester of their first year, students with an interest in IP may choose from among a wide variety of courses. Each year, more than 30 IP-related courses are consistently offered. By successfully completing a specified number of IP courses, J.D. students can earn a certificate in intellectual property law; those who graduate with a total of 97 credits may earn both a J.D. and a Master of Laws in Intellectual Property in just 3 years.
This curricular advice is intended to help students interested in pursuing an IP specialty to choose among available courses. Students interested in an IP-related career should begin by electing Fundamentals of IP in their second or third semester.
Courses Include:
Among the possible types of IP careers, patent law is unique. The value of patents is primarily determined by the scope of claims granted by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO). Practitioners who wish to prosecute patents must qualify for and pass the patent bar. Opportunities to negotiate and draft licenses, sue infringers, advise on ways to protect trade secrets, and file appeals from PTO decisions do not require patent bar eligibility or admission, but the latter may increase opportunities for those types of work.
Patent practice opportunities are also tied to particular technical backgrounds. Students aspiring to a career in patent law should investigate employment prospects for lawyers in their specialties.
Essential Courses
Recommended
Essential Courses
Recommended
Useful
Practical Skills
Related Upper-Level Writing Courses
Beginning in the second semester of their first year, students with an interest in IP may choose from among a wide variety of courses. Each year, more than 30 IP-related courses are consistently offered. By successfully completing a specified number of IP courses, J.D. students can earn a certificate in intellectual property law; those who graduate with a total of 97 credits may earn both a J.D. and a Master of Laws in Intellectual Property in just 3 years.
This curricular advice is intended to help students interested in pursuing an IP specialty to choose among available courses. Students interested in an IP-related career should begin by electing Fundamentals of IP in their second or third semester.
Courses include:
Trademark law offers a variety of career opportunities. Trademark lawyers acquire federal and state registrations and maintain common law trademark rights. They also litigate to prevent the use of confusingly similar marks, draft licenses, pursue cybersquatters and counterfeiters, police competitors' uses, register and protect domain names, advise clients, and educate the media on the correct use of marks.
A student who hopes to pursue a career in trademark law should begin with Fundamentals of IP and Trademarks and Deceptive Practices. Students should consider not only those regularly-offered courses listed below, but relevant IPSI and master classes; students who aspire to a career in trademark law are encouraged to participate in either the IP and Transaction Clinic or a legal residency that will provide opportunities for hands-on training.
Essential Courses
Fundamentals of Intellectual Property
Trademarks & Deceptive Practices
Recommended
Advanced Topics in Trademarks
Antitrust
Copyright
Federal Courts
Federal Trademark & Copyright Registration Practice
Inter Partes Practice before the USPTO
Related
Practical Skills
Related Upper-Level Writing Courses
Advanced Topics in Trademarks
Remedies
Copyrights protect works ranging from books, music, and motion pictures to computer software from unauthorized copying, adaptation, distribution, and public performance. Copyright law potentially affects many individuals and businesses, as well as nonprofit organizations, such as schools. Students who aspire to a career in copyright law are encouraged to participate in either the IP and Transaction Clinic or a legal residency that will provide opportunities for hands-on training.
Essential Courses
Copyright
Fundamentals of Intellectual Property
Recommended
Cybercrime
Federal Courts
Federal Trademark & Copyright Registration Practice
IP & International Trade
Technology Licensing
Trademarks & Deceptive Practices
Related
Advanced Topics in IP
Antitrust
Entertainment Law
Intellectual Property Management
Internet Law
IP Issues in Sports & Entertainment Law
Practical Skills
IP and Transaction Clinic
Technology Licensing
Courses include:
Courses include:
Courses include:
