Prof. Steven Jamar's Recommendations for Advisees

Please note that these are personal recommendations, not recommendations of the faculty as a whole or of any part of it.  Other faculty may well have other suggestions.  Think about what you want to accomplish  in law school; ask questions; use your own best judgment in preparing yourself for your legal career starting with passing the bar exam.

General Recommendations

• Each semester take at least two "bar courses" (see below for a general listing). Be sure to check the bar requirements for the state where you plan to take the bar.
• Try to take as many bar courses as possible before you graduate -- do not rely on learning the material in a bar review course, except perhaps for one course. Be very cautious about choosing not to take bar courses. Bar review courses are designed to review and refresh, not to do first-time instruction.
• If you have an area in which you are very interested or in which you wish to concentrate, e.g., international law, criminal law, family law, commercial law, intellectual property, real estate development, etc., try to take one course in that field in the fall of your second year.
• Each semester try to take one "fun" course.
• At some point take at least one course you think you would have no interest in. You could be surprised to find you want to practice in that area.
• Plan what skills courses you wish to take, and for what purpose (litigation, ADR, negotiation, planning, drafting, etc.).
• Plan how you are going to satisfy the LW III requirement (preferably in the third year) (seminar, Law Journal, independent study).
• Take at least one international law course.
• Take at least one IP course.

Basic courses you should take.

These courses are on many state bar exams and/or are in some sense core courses. The first group are typical 2L courses (though you will likely take a few of them in your third year due to scheduling priorities). Remedies and Conflicts are good 3L course because they bring together property, contracts, and torts from a different perspective which allows you to review those critical first year subjects.

Standard 2L courses; some would likely need to be put off until the third year.

• Administrative Law
• Agency, Partnership, and Unicorporated Businesses
• Constitutional Law II (required 2L)
• Corporations
• Criminal Procedure
• Evidence (required)
• Family Law
• Federal Income Tax
• LRRW II (required 2L)
• Professional Responsibility (required)
• Property II
• UCC courses (especially Sales, but also Commercial Paper and Secured Transactions)
• Wills and Trusts

Useful reinforcing/review courses in the third year

• Remedies (Torts, Contracts, Property concepts)
• Conflicts (Civil Procedure (especially jurisdiction), Con Law I)
• Federal Courts (Civil Procedure, Con Law I)

last update Oct. 22, 2009