Law (JD)
The nation’s leader in experiential legal education since 1968, Northeastern University School of Law guarantees JD students a rigorous foundation in legal theory combined with an unparalleled full year of practical legal work.
If you want to be a lawyer, you have to live it. At Northeastern, you’ll live it like nowhere else. As a result of our co-op program, you’ll graduate with almost a year of full-time legal work experience. You’ll spend your first year diving deeply into the fundamentals of the American legal system, taking required courses such as Civil Procedure, Constitutional Law, and Property Law. Through the year-long Legal Skills in Social Context course, you’ll develop essential skills — from legal research to client representation — and then put them into practice through a social justice community project. In your second and third years, you’ll have the chance to focus on the topics you find most intriguing and relevant to your future path, choosing from dozens of specialized courses, ranging from International Trade to Employment Discrimination. In upper-level terms, you and your peers will delve into real legal challenges for actual clients through co-ops in every field of law and in every corner of the globe, improving your understanding of the law in action and providing valuable context for your academic pursuits.
At Northeastern, we believe the best lawyers of tomorrow will be fluent not only in the language of the law, but also in the language of clients. These client languages include science, business, technology, empirical research, creative arts, and pretty much every aspect of human endeavor for which lawyers are needed to smooth transactions and ensure the pre-eminence of fair play. Our law school is at the forefront of providing such training, not only through our Cooperative Legal Education Program, but also through our concentrations, which provide Northeastern law students with a competitive advantage in their specific fields of interest. Our eight concentrations:
- Business and Commercial law
- Criminal Law and Justice
- Labor, Work & Income
- Health Law and Policy
- Law and Development
- Intellectual Property and Innovation
- International Law and Human Rights
- Poverty Law and Economic Justice
More Details
Unique Features
- Graduate with a year of full-time work experience
- One of the nation’s top schools in which to pursue a career in public interest
- One of the most diverse law schools in the United States
- Eight dual-degree programs available
- NU School of Law ranked #1 for practical training
Accreditation Description
Northeastern University School of Law was accredited by the American Bar Association in 1969 and admitted to membership in the Association of American Law Schools in 1970. Since reopening in 1968, we have received wide recognition, both for the success of our innovative program and the leadership of our graduates.
For more information, please contact:
Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar
American Bar Association
321 N. Clark Street, 21st Floor
Chicago, IL 60654
Phone: 312.988.6738
Northeastern University does not condone discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, religious creed, genetics, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, national origin, ancestry, veteran, or disability status. Moreover, the university will not ignore any form of discrimination or harassment, including sexual harassment of any member of the Northeastern community. Nor will Northeastern condone any form of retaliatory activity against any person who brings a complaint of discrimination or harassment, or who cooperates in a complaint investigation.
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Program Costs
Requirements
- Resumé
- Personal statement
- Current CAS report that includes LSAT score(s) (no more than 5 years old)
- One letter of recommendation
- All required transcripts
- LSAT scores
- You may also choose to provide a response to one of our optional essay topics
Admissions Dates
The School of Law considers early action, regular, and transfer applications. Applicants are encouraged to apply as early as possible.
Early action deadline: December 1
Regular applicant application deadline: March 1*
Early transfer application deadline: March 1
Regular transfer application deadline: July 1**
*This is the priority deadline for first-year students. Applications received by March 1 are guaranteed a decision by April 15. Applications received after March 1 will be processed on a rolling basis.
**This is the priority deadline for transfer students. Applications received after July 1 will be reviewed on a space-available basis.
General Requirements
Milestones
Public Interest Requirement*
Upper-Level Rigorous Writing Requirement**
Experiential Education Requirement**
Co-op Requirement: Co-ops corresponding to three terms***
Note: All courses used to satisfy JD requirements must be completed with a passing grade. Students must satisfactorily complete all JD requirements, including the public interest requirement, the upper-level rigorous writing requirement, the experiential education requirement, and the co-op requirement.
*Information about the public interest requirement is provided in the Student Information Handbook.
**The same course cannot be used to satisfy both the rigorous writing and experiential education requirements.
***Transfer students should consult with the Student Information Handbook for applicable requirements. All students with questions about satisfying co-op requirements should consult the Center for Co-op and Career Development.
First-Year Course Requirements
Fall Term
Spring Term
Upper Level Course Requirements
Professional Responsibility
Choose one of the following:
Electives
46 semester hours of electives.
Rules and policies applicable to elective coursework are described in the School of Law Student Information Handbook.
Concentration Options
Students may choose one or more concentration areas but are not required to complete a concentration. Students may choose to pursue concentrations by taking at least 12 credits of courses that satisfy the requirements of the concentration, along with an appropriate clinic, paper, or co-op. Concentration requirements are described in more detail in the Student Information Handbook.
A student who seeks to complete a concentration may not also seek an interdisciplinary graduate certificate in the same subject area.
Concentrations
Choose one from the following:
Core Courses
Complete two of the following:
Note: LAW 7313 may be taken as an alternate to LAW 7434.
Relevant Elective Courses
Complete at least two core courses or two of the following:
Core Courses
Relevant Elective Courses
Complete two of the following:
Core Courses
Complete two of the following:
Relevant Elective Courses
Complete at least two core courses or two of the following:
Required Course
Core Course
Complete one of the following:
Relevant Elective Courses
Complete at least two core courses or two of the following:
Core Courses
Complete two of the following:
Relevant Elective Courses
Complete at least two core courses or two of the following:
Core Courses
Complete two of the following:
Relevant Elective Courses
Complete at least two core courses or two of the following:
Note: LAW 7313 may be taken as an alternative to LAW 7434.
Core Courses
Relevant Elective Courses
Complete at least two of the following:
Core Courses
Complete two of the following:
Relevant Elective Courses
Complete at least two core courses or two of the following:
Core Courses
Relevant Elective Courses
Complete two of the following:
Core Courses
Complete two of the following:
Relevant Elective Courses
Complete at least two core courses or the following:
Core Courses
Complete two of the following:
Relevant Elective Courses
Complete at least two core courses or two of the following:
Please note: This curriculum is for marketing purposes only and is subject to change. Official curriculum can be found within the course catalog.
When it comes to giving students the opportunity to learn by doing, there’s simply no place like Northeastern. Our signature Cooperative Legal Education Program guarantees you a year of full-time work experience. No other law school program comes close — indeed, The National Jurist ranks Northeastern as the #1 law school for practical training. While other law schools might give students the chance to work over the summer or experience a part-time internship or externship, only Northeastern integrates full-time employment into its curriculum, giving you three opportunities to:
- Collaborate full time with working lawyers, contributing to the resolution of actual cases for real clients
- Make an impact in a professional setting just about anywhere in the world, from New York to South Africa
- Try out a variety of work environments and explore diverse areas of the law in depth
You’ll graduate from Northeastern in three years — the same amount of time as peers at other law schools. But in those three years you will do much more than study the law; you’ll gain the experiences you need to graduate with clear direction, a deep professional network and a resumé that stands out from the crowd.
How it works
After your first year of study, you’ll either spend the summer semester in the classroom or working as a full-time legal professional. You’ll then alternate between classroom and co-op each semester until you graduate with almost a full year of professional experience under your belt.
Where you’ll go
Clerk for a judge in Boston. Assist lawyers at a private firm in San Francisco. Conduct research for a trial in The Hague. Work for a human rights organization in Kenya. With more than 900 co-op employers in 40 states and co-ops completed in more than 71 countries, NUSL lets you tailor your experience to your professional interests and travel the world on co-op if you choose.
What you’ll get
The benefits of co-op extend far beyond graduating with an impressive resumé. You and your peers will bring lessons learned on co-op into the classroom, creating a vibrant intellectual exchange that builds with each new experience. You may end up accepting a full-time position with one of your co-op employers, as a significant number of our graduates do. Most important, you’ll have the experience to know exactly where you want to go in your career and the confidence and credentials to get there.
Our Faculty
Our faculty represents a wide cross-section of professional practices and fields ranging from finance to education to biomedical science to management to the U.S. military. They serve as mentors and advisors and collaborate alongside students to solve the most pressing global challenges facing established and emerging markets.
By enrolling in Northeastern, you gain access to a network of more than 255,000 alumni and 3,350+ employer partners, including Fortune 500 companies, government agencies, and global nongovernmental organizations. Our current students and faculty across strategically located regional locations further foster a lifelong, global community of learning and mentoring.
Below is a look at where our Law & Criminology alumni work, the positions they hold, and the skills they bring to their organization.
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Where They Work
- Commonwealth of Massachusetts
- City of Boston
- Deloitte
- U.S. Army
- U.S. Department of Justice
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What They Do
- Legal
- Business Development
- Education
- Entrepreneurship
- Community and Social Services
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What They're Skilled At
- Legal Research
- Litigation
- Legal Writing
- Public Speaking
- Research
Learn more about Northeastern Alumni on Linkedin.