Criminal Law Concentration

The criminal law concentration is designed to help students prepare for criminal law practice by providing a broad and integrated curriculum of theory, doctrine, and practice.  All students must take the building blocks of the curriculum, Criminal Law and Evidence.  Students are then given an opportunity to apply their knowledge in a clinic or the Legal Externship Program and Fieldwork that provides work in a criminal law clinical or field setting.  Finally, students select from an array of electives and participate in the Criminal Law & Theory Concentration Seminar where they delve into cutting edge issues facing today’s criminal lawyer.

Please note that the required Concentration Seminar may be offered in only the Fall or Spring semester; students should plan accordingly.

Advisors:  Professors Bloch, Little or Rappaport

TOTAL UNITS REQUIRED: 22

A.  Required Courses (11-12 units)

Criminal Procedure (3 or 4)

Evidence (3 or 4)

A clinic or the Legal Externship Program and Fieldwork that provides work in a criminal law clinical

       or field setting (2 or more units)

Criminal Law & Theory Concentration Seminar (2)

B. Qualifying Electives (10-11 units, and not fewer than 4 courses)

Advanced Criminal Law Seminar: Issues in Criminal

    Defense (2)

California Appellate Process (3)

Capital Punishment Seminar (2)

Child Maltreatment in Context:  Seminar (2)

Comparative Criminal Justice Seminar (2)

Corrections and Criminal Justice:  Legal Policy, Practice and Reform Seminar (2)

Criminal Practice Clinic (counts as two courses toward

        the concentration requirement)

Criminal Procedure: Adjudicative Process (3)

Criminal Punishment Seminar (2)

Comparative Criminal Justice Seminar (2)

Domestic Violence (3)

Federal Criminal Law (3)

Forensic Evidence Seminar (2)

Judicial Externship (applicable to the concentration if

the externship involves criminal issues to a substantial

degree)

International Criminal Law (3)

International War Crimes Prosecution Seminar (2)

Jurisprudence (2)

Jury Instructions Seminar (2)

Juvenile Justice Seminar (2)

Law and Morality Seminar (2)

Law, Psychiatry, and Mental Health System (2)

Legal Interpretation: The Language of Jury Instructions (2)

Legislation Clinic (applicable to the concentration if the clinic involves criminal issues to a substantial degree)

Local Government Law (applicable to the concentration if the clinic assignment involves

        criminal issues to a substantial degree)

Post-Conviction Remedies (2)

Prosecuting International Price-Fixing Cartels Seminar (2)

Race, Racism, and American Law (3)

Roles and Ethics in Practice (4)

Scientific Method for Lawyers (3)

Science and Law Seminar (2)

Sociology of Criminal Justice Seminar (2)

Theoretical Criminology (2)

Terrorism and the Law Seminar (2)

Trial Advocacy I (civil or criminal) (2)

Trial Advocacy II (civil or criminal) (2 or 3)

Trial Advocacy (Intensive) (4)

Trial Objections (2)

Wrongful Convictions Seminar (2)

C. Writing Requirement

Students must successfully complete a paper that satisfies the writing requirement and that is substantially related to criminal law, criminal procedure, or criminal theory. The paper may be produced for any course or independent project. The Advisors of the concentration will have the authority to determine whether the student’s topic satisfies the requirement. Students are encouraged to seek an Advisor’s approval of their topic prior to embarking on a writing project.