Family Law
Preparing you for any form of family law practice.
Family Law Concentration
Your Experience
You have the opportunity to specialize in three different tracks - Family Law Practice, Children’s Law, and Elder Law – or pursue a general family law concentration.
Your Courses
The Family Law Concentration is designed to help you become practice ready in any of the three tracks offered, but you are not required to specialize in a particular track, particularly if you choose to take only the courses required. You must earn 21 credits from a group of five required courses and by choosing one course in each of two required areas, Track Direction and Lawyering Skills. The required courses are Family Law Practice, a 3L spring simulation course; its two prerequisites, Marriage & Divorce and Federal Income Tax; Children, Families & the State; and Elder Law. Several additional courses comprise the Track Direction options: selected externships (listed below at the drop-down menu), Estate Planning, Juvenile Offender Law, and the Milton Abrahams Clinic. The Lawyering Skills component includes courses focused on the skills that family lawyers use in their practices: Client Interviewing & Legal Counseling (CILC); Legal Interviewing, Negotiating, & Counseling (LINC); Mediation; and Negotiation.
The recommended courses, listed below, round out the 3L year in ways intended to create a solid foundation of information and skills necessary for successful family law practice. Suggested course planning guides are also listed below. The concentration advisor, Professor Catherine Brooks, assists students in planning careers in family law and can help you put together a two- to four-semester plan of coursework to prepare you for what you want to do in family law practice.
Family Law Practice, the capstone practice-readying course limited to 3L students in their final semester, is required of all students who seek to complete the Family Law concentration. The prerequisites for that course are two elective courses, Marriage & Divorce and Federal Income Tax (the latter of which may be taken concurrently with Family Law Practice), and all required courses of the first and second years. Marriage & Divorce and Federal Income Tax, therefore, are included as required core courses; the other required core courses are Children, Families & the State and Elder Law.
Additional course requirements are laid out in option plans that will allow a student to choose a particular track of family law work. The Track Course options are designed to allow students discretion in directing their education through their second and third years. For example, a student may opt for a more experiential education by choosing the Milton Abrahams Clinic, an externship selected from a list of available family-practice-oriented externships, and Advanced Legal Writing & Drafting; or a student may opt for a progression of classroom-based courses that focuses on elder law, such as Estate & Gift Tax and Estate Planning.
Students are also required to take at least one course that develops the skills most commonly needed in a successful family law practice; their options are Mediation; Negotiation; Legal Interviewing, Negotiating & Counseling (LINC); and Client Interviewing & Legal Counseling (CILC). (Students are reminded that they cannot take both Negotiation and LINC for credit, due to the overlap of material covered in those courses). Client Interviewing & Legal Counseling has no overlap with Negotiation; therefore, students may take both CILC and Negotiation to develop their skills more intensively – for interacting with clients and for negotiating with other counsel.
Students can progress through a track in many ways to meet their scheduling needs. Here’s a suggested progression of coursework for the Family Law Practice track:
Second Year
FALL
Business Associations (4)
Conflicts of Law (3)
Evidence (3)
Legal Research and Writing III (2)
Marriage & Divorce* (3)
SPRING
Commercial Law (3)
Criminal Procedure (3)
Client Interviewing & Legal Counseling (3)
Professional Responsibility (3)
Trust & Estates I (3 or 4)
Third Year
FALL
Bankruptcy I (3)
Children, Families, & the State (3)
Elder Law (3)
Mediation (3)
Milton Abrahams Clinic** (4)
SPRING
Bankruptcy II (3)
Family Law Practice (3)
Federal Income Tax (3)
Juvenile Offender Law (3)
Negotiation (3)
*Marriage & Divorce is also offered in the summer, usually in the second session, beginning in July.
** Or Selected Externships (4)
Students who plan on representing children and adolescents in law practice – or parents, the State, or state agencies involved with families – can progress through the Children’s Law Track in a number of ways that meet their scheduling needs. Here’s a suggested progression of coursework to consult:
Second Year
FALL
Business Associations (4)
Children, Families, & the State (3)
Evidence (3)
Legal Research and Writing III (2)
Trust & Estates I (3 or 4)
SPRING
Commercial Law (3)
Criminal Procedure (3)
Juvenile Offender Law (3)
Professional Responsibility (3)
ADR (2)
Third Year
FALL
Conflicts of Laws (3)
Elder Law (3)
Federal Income Tax (3)
Marriage & Divorce* (3)
Milton Abrahams Clinic (4)
SPRING
Education Law (3)
Client Interviewing & Legal Counseling (3)
Family Law Practice (3)
Mediation (3)
Selected Externships (4)
*Marriage & Divorce is also offered in the summer, usually in the second session, beginning in July.
For students who want to prepare to engage in an estate planning or elder law practice, here is a suggested progression of courses to guide planning their 2L and 3L semesters:
Second Year
FALL
Business Associations (4)
Children, Families, & the State (3)
Evidence (3)
Legal Research and Writing III (2)
Trust & Estates I (3 or 4)
SPRING
Commercial Law (3)
Criminal Procedure (3)
Federal Income Tax* (3)
Professional Responsibility (3)
Selected Externships (4)
Third Year
FALL
Bankruptcy I (3)
Elder Law (3)
Estate & Gift Tax (3)
Health Law Survey (3)
Marriage & Divorce** (3)
SPRING
Bankruptcy II (3)
Estate Planning (2)
Family Law Practice (3)
Mediation (3)
Taxation of Business Enterprises*** (4)
* Federal Income Tax must be completed by the 2L spring semester for a student to qualify for Estate & Gift Tax, which is only offered in the fall semesters; it is a pre-requisite for Estate Planning, which is only offered in the spring semesters.
** Marriage & Divorce is also offered in the summer, usually in the second session, beginning in July.
*** Professor Morse recommends students become familiar with the tax consequences of forming, operating, and liquidating small businesses, partnerships, and limited liability companies – both for succession and other planning for the aging client and for the lawyer who is considering retirement and leaving practice.
Advanced Legal Writing & Drafting (2-3)
Alternative Dispute Resolution (2-3)
Bankruptcy I (3)
Bankruptcy II (3)
Conflict of Laws (3)
Education Law (3)
Estate & Gift Tax (3)
Health Law Survey (3)
Selected Externships (4)
Selected Research Projects* (1-3)
Taxation of Business Enterprises (4)
*Selected research projects, chosen to enhance the student’s understanding of a topic within the concentration area, may be undertaken with the approval of the concentration advisor.
