Juris Doctor Degree Requirements

Full-Time Three-Year JD Program

The Juris Doctor Degree program is a full-time day curriculum requiring three academic years of study. A complete description of all the JD degree requirements is available in the Academic Regulations section of the JD Student Handbook. Please use the Graduation Requirements Worksheet to assist you with your course selection to fulfill all graduation requirements.

Graduation Requirements

Completion of the following JD degree requirements is mandatory for graduation:

  • Earn at least 85 passing credits.
  • Elect and complete a minimum of 26 credits in any one year and a minimum of 12 credits in any one semester.

First-Year Requirements

Complete and achieve a passing grade in all first-year courses:

  • Civil Procedure
  • Constitutional Law
  • Contracts
  • Criminal Law
  • Property Law
  • Torts
  • Lawyering Skills I & II
  • Moot Court

Second- and Third-Year Requirements

Beyond the required curriculum, you may choose from approximately 200 elective courses, seminars, and clinical programs. After the first year, you may earn up to 12 semester credits toward the JD degree by taking courses in another graduate or professional school at Boston University or at Boston College School of Law. With permission, you may also take courses at other universities and schools of law. You are expected to comply at all times with Academic Policies and Disciplinary Regulations of both the law school and of Boston University.

Work Requirements for Academic Offerings

A. All law school academic offerings that confer credit must require an amount of work by students that reasonably approximates:

  1. not less than 12.5 hours (750 minutes) of classroom or direct faculty instruction per credit and 42.5 hours of total student work per credit (including classroom or direct faculty instruction), or
  1. at least an equivalent amount of work as required in section A.1 for other academic activities, including, but not limited to, simulation, field placement, clinical, co-curricular, and other academic work.

B. Any academic offering that does not require a minimum of 750 minutes of in-person classroom instruction or in-person direct faculty instruction per credit is only permitted if such offering (1) is allowed by guidelines that have been issued by the JD Program Committee in relation to this Article, or (2) has been approved by the JD Program Committee or the Dean’s designate.

    C. For purposes of this Article:

    1. An hour of student work means 50 minutes of classroom or direct faculty instruction or 60 minutes of other student work, and;
    1. Time devoted to required in-class examinations and in-class exercises, including midterm examinations, final examinations, and quizzes, counts as classroom or direct instruction, and time devoted to studying for examinations counts as student work.