First Year At Nebraska Law, you will pursue your individual interests while developing a firm foundation in legal analysis, research and writing. That foundation is built during the first year of law school. After completing the required first-year curriculum, you are relatively free to decide your course of study. First-Year Curriculum: Build Your Legal Foundation During the first year, you will learn a whole new way of thinking about and analyzing problems. Classes are taught in two sections of 70 students. Within the sections of 70, students are assigned to small groups of about 25 students. You will have all of your firstyear classes, with the exception of the Foundational Legal Skills section, with your small group. These small groups foster study partners, lifelong professional relationships and personal friendships. Nebraska Law’s professors generally teach using the case method, which involves an interactive dialogue between students and their instructors. Your professors will also use problem-oriented approaches, practical skills and computer-assisted instruction to supplement the case method.
International Perspectives: Increasing Your Global Competency Nebraska Law is the first Big Ten law school to require an international law course during the first year because of the increasingly connected world in which our graduates will practice. This course will help you situate your study of traditional first-year courses in an international context and to prepare for legal practice in a global legal environment. You will develop an understanding of how to handle the inevitable treaty and foreign law issues that can arise in the practice of virtually every area of law.
Harold W. Kauffman Foundational Legal Skills Program: Develop Your Writing, Research, and Professional Skills Legal research and writing is central to Nebraska Law’s mission and curriculum. In the Foundational Legal Skills Program (FLS), students work in small groups and learn the fundamentals of manual and computerized legal research, legal analysis, legal writing and oral argument through preparation of memoranda of law, an appellate brief and an appellate argument. Students receive this crucial training from dedicated instructors who provide one-on-one feedback and guidance. In addition to research and writing, FLS includes a professionalism component designed to introduce you to the concept of ethics.
Academic Resource Program: Develop Tools for Success Nebraska Law provides an Academic Resource Program to assist first-year students in developing and improving certain fundamental skills such as note-taking, briefing cases, legal analysis, outlining and writing examinations. The program provides a series of lectures, a weekly skills class and the opportunity for academic counseling. 2
FIRST YEAR COURSES
33 credit hours
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