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Transfer Students - Curricular Offerings

July 27, 2021

Good evening,

Writing to provide you with more information about the Law School’s curricular offerings.  We hope this information will assist in making well-informed decisions regarding your academic experience here.  Please note that you should be able to access any of the active links included here if you are reading this from your @law.gwu.edu email account or by logging into the GW Law portal

GW Law Field Placement Program - Fall 2021

The deadline for submitting Fall 2021 Field Placement Registration Forms is Friday, August 6, 2021. See our FAQ for more details on the Field Placement Program.  We encourage students to apply as soon as possible to ensure a spot.

All Student Externs in the Field Placement Program ("Program") must enroll in two courses: 1) Field Placement (1-4 credits per semester depending on hours worked and work product submitted), and 2) a corequisite course that complements the student's externship.

As space permits in the corequisite courses, Field Placement will continue to admit students into the Program after the August 6th deadline (until the Add/Drop deadline -- Monday, September 6, 2021 -- expires). Once the required corequisite courses are at capacity, we can no longer admit new/late registrants (who will be placed on a waitlist).

Students may contact the Program (fieldplacementatlaw [dot] gwu [dot] edu (fieldplacement[at]law[dot]gwu[dot]edu)) anytime to check on the status of Program enrollment. At this time, there is space in the Program, so we strongly encourage transfer students to consider participating in the Program for the Fall 2021 semester.  

In order to participate in the Program, students must do the following:

(1) Secure a qualifying externship. Legal externships (unpaid) with judicial, government and nonprofit organizations are eligible for academic credit. Read more about Program requirements in the Field Placement Program Student Handbook.

(2) Submit registration forms. Once an externship is secured, please complete the registration process. We require both the Student Extern Registration Form (completed by the Student Extern) and the Placement Supervisor Registration Form (completed by the Placement  Supervisor) in order to approve the externship and finalize registration. Links to the forms are below:

(3) Attend a mandatory orientation session. All first-time Program participants must attend ONE mandatory Program orientation session. Field Placement Orientation Sessions are scheduled for the following times:

  • Tuesday, August 31, 2021, from 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM
  • Wednesday, September 1, 2021, from 5:00 PM - 6:00 PM
  • Thursday, September 2, 2020, from 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM (NOON) 

Students are required to attend the full hour in order to participate in the Program. Students will register for a Program Orientation Session when they complete the Fall 2021 Student Extern Registration Form.  

Please contact the Field Placement Program (fieldplacementatlaw [dot] gwu [dot] edu (fieldplacement[at]law[dot]gwu[dot]edu)) with any questions or concerns.

GW Law Advocacy Programs 

Advocacy Programs consist of participating in competitions in the areas of ADR, mock trial, and moot court.  For the 2020-21 academic year, GW excelled in all three external (against other law schools) advocacy competitions earning recognition 31 times, including 6 championships, 5 best oral advocates, and 4 best briefs.  The University of Houston annually ranks all moot court programs solely on the basis of their success in external competitions, and for the 2020-21 academic year, GW Law finished as the 6th best moot court program in the country, our second-highest-ranking ever: https://www.law.uh.edu/blakely/mcnc/rankings.asp

Additionally, GW hosts four, separate, one-credit, internal (only against GW students) competitions each year, which - like other electives - are open to all upper-level students.  Each provides the opportunity to earn membership on the sponsoring Board: ADR, mock trial, and moot court.

Attached for your review is an information sheet on GW Law’s Advocacy Competitions.  If students have any questions, please contact David Johnson, Assistant Dean for Pro Bono & Advocacy Programs at davidjohnsonatlaw [dot] gwu [dot] edu (davidjohnson[at]law[dot]gwu[dot]edu).

GW Law Jacob Burns Community Legal Clinics 

GW Law is home to twelve clinics. In a clinic, you receive academic credit (4-6 credits) as you represent clients in real cases. In a weekly seminar, you learn the substantive law and skills necessary for you to represent your clients. Under the supervision of GW Law faculty, you then take responsibility for all the lawyering tasks your clinic work requires. Each clinic focuses on a different area of the law from international to domestic, transactional to litigation, and human rights to domestic violence. If you are interested in participating in a clinic, you will want to review important information about the clinics, including prerequisites. 

Recruitment for the spring semester clinics begins in October and students learn if they are accepted the week prior to spring semester registration.  For information on Fall 2021 availability, clinic descriptions, and information on the clinic application process visit the portal at https://my.law.gwu.edu/DepartmentInformation/default.aspx?Dept=Clinics&deptname=Clinics

GW Law Journals and Transfer Journal Competition

GW Law’s student journals will conduct a write-on competition for transfer students beginning Thursday, August 19 at 5 PM EDT and ending Wednesday, August 25 at 5 PM EDT.  Competitors will have the ability to rank participating journals to be considered for membership. 

Law students must complete four semesters of journal work at GW Law. Journal work includes writing a Note and completing regular production assignments.  Students will earn one ungraded credit, i.e., a non-letter grade, for each semester of work.  Semesters in which students complete their Note will be designated with Honors, Pass, Low Pass, and No Credit.   

Students transferring into GW Law as 2L full-time students should participate in the August competition and will be notified before the end of the Add/Drop period if they have been selected for a journal. As students must complete four semesters of journal membership, this is the only opportunity for these students to apply for a journal.  Students transferring into GW Law as 2L part-time students should wait to participate until the regular competition in February/March unless you intend to graduate early (e.g., December 2023).  Those 2L part-time students participating in the competition during the spring semester will be notified of the results in mid-summer 2022.

The competition is entirely electronic, and all materials will be available via the 2021 GW Journal Competition TWEN.  You will receive an email the morning of Tuesday, August 17, with instructions to access your GW Westlaw/TWEN account.  Attached are the Competition Basics and the Journal Withdrawal Policy. The opportunity to ask questions will be provided during Orientation.  In the meantime, you can direct questions about the competition to gwjournalcompetitionatlaw [dot] gwu [dot] edu (gwjournalcompetition[at]law[dot]gwu.edu). 

Recognition of Juris Doctor Concentrations

Candidates for the Juris Doctor degree may earn a Recognition of Concentration in eleven substantive fields. Recognition requires students to complete a minimum number of credit hours in the concentration area, after completion of the required first-year curriculum. Specific requirements are established by the concentration directors, listed below, who are responsible for the administration of the recognition. Students who wish to receive a Recognition of Concentration are required to register that intention with the concentration director prior to their final semester in law school, but preferably earlier in their upper-level years. The concentration directors will advise interested students on the concentration area, program requirements, and course options.

More information specific to each concentration will be available in the forthcoming 2021-2022 GW Law Bulletin.  In the meantime, the Concentration Directors and Coordinators for the upcoming academic year are listed below. Feel free to reach out if you are considering a concentration.

 

We hope you find this information useful.  In the meantime, please do not hesitate to reach out to us at deanofstudentsatlaw [dot] gwu [dot] edu (deanofstudents[at]law[dot]gwu[dot]edu) with any questions you may have.

 

Best,

Dean Ewert

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