To earn the Certificate in Family and Juvenile Law, a student must earn 21 credits from the following courses designated as Required Courses, Electives, and Skills Courses and fulfill the writing requirement and courtroom observations requirements. The course requirements are listed in the Family and Juvenile Law Certificate Worksheet. Students must maintain an overall minimum GPA of 3.0 in all courses in the certificate program to complete the certificate requirements. Additionally, students must earn at least a grade of C+ in any individual course that is counted toward the certificate.
WRITING REQUIREMENT
In addition to the 21 hours required, students must complete the writing requirement for the J.D. degree on a family law topic. The topic must be approved by the Director of the Family and Children’s Law Center in order for the paper submitted to satisfy the certificate requirements unless the paper is written in Law 757, Juvenile Issues Seminar.
Students electing to satisfy the writing requirement for the certificate through Law 757, Juvenile Legal Issues Seminar, may not be count the course in satisfaction of the Electives.
COURTROOM OBSERVATION
Students must observe at least 10 hours of courtroom proceedings involving family or juvenile law issues. Students may fulfill this requirement through either Law 610 or 612. In other courses in which courtroom observation is a requirement of the course, students can count that time toward the certificate requirement of courtroom observation if that observation time involves family or juvenile law issues.
APPLICATION REQUIREMENT
Students must apply for admission to the Certificate Program with the Director of the Family and Children’s Law Center. A student may apply for admission beginning with the registration period for the third semester of law school. However, no application may be made after the drop/add period in the students final semester.
