Professional Pathways

Cincinnati Law’s business law curriculum integrates core and advanced classes with practical skills courses that allow students to hone the skills necessary to deliver legal solutions to business clients. 

The curriculum begins with a solid foundation in the areas of law relevant to business lawyers. All law students take Contracts in their first year. Other core courses that provide a foundation for business law expertise include:

• Business Associations
• Business Basics for Lawyers
• Federal Income Tax

Advanced courses delve deeper into sophisticated and more specialized areas of business law. During their second and third years, students select classes from the curriculum based on their more specific business law interests. Cincinnati Law offerings include multiple courses in the areas of intellectual property, commercial law, corporate law, employment law, and tax.

To prepare students for practice, Cincinnati Law also offers a number of skills-based classes designed to replicate the types of legal tasks performed by transactional attorneys on a daily basis. Taken primarily in a student’s second and third years of study, these practical skills classes prepare students for the challenges of transactional practice.

Cincinnati Law offers more criminal law courses than most students will have time to take. All students are required to take Criminal Law in their first year. Students interested in criminal law are strongly encouraged to take Evidence and Criminal Procedure I & II during their second year. There are a number of other course electives available to second and third year students. All courses may not be offered every year, so students should plan accordingly.

Students also may choose to register for a limited number of courses in the University of Cincinnati’s Criminal Justice Program and count the credits toward their JD degree requirements.  Established in 1970, UC’s School of Criminal Justiceis ranked among the top programs in the country.

Federal statues aimed at the protection of our environment, such as the National Environmental Policy Act, the Clean Air Act, and the Clean Water Act, are all regulated extensively through the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Similarly, energy law statues such as the Federal Power Act, the Natural Gas Act, and several comprehensive Energy Policy acts are regulated by several federal agencies. Further, both environmental law and energy law also are regulated by state and, sometimes, local administrative agencies. Through courses such as administrative law, environmental law, and energy law, the University of Cincinnati College of Law prepares students to handle this complex regulatory world.

All Cincinnati Law students take Contracts and Constitutional Law in their first year. Students are strongly encouraged to take introductory courses Environmental Law I and Administrative Law in their second year. Administrative Law is recommended due to the many federal, state, and local government agencies that regulate the environmental and energy areas. Energy Law, then, can serve as an excellent third year elective.

Students who have an interest in transactional work also should consider practical skills-based classes designed to replicate the types of legal tasks typical of an environmental law practice. Students more focused on environmental litigation should consider courses and experiences that build courtroom skills, such as Trial Practice.

Students can also design an independent research project under the direct supervision of a faculty member.

Students are encouraged to meet with a faculty member and the Center for Professional Development staff during their first year to develop a plan best suited to their professional career goals.

All law students take Contracts and Constitutional Law in their first year. Because of the many federal and state government agencies that regulate the health care industry, students should consider taking Administrative Law in their second year.

Building upon those foundational classes, second and third year students can choose from a variety of courses that provide more specialized knowledge. Upper-level students may also engage in individual research projects for credit under the direct supervision of a faculty member.

Students also can take advantage of the course offerings offered at other University of Cincinnati colleges. For example, our highly ranked College of Medicine offers courses involving the legal and ethical issues surrounding research and human experimentation.

Health law encompasses several broad areas - litigation and negligence matters, regulatory and public policy issues, and the business of healthcare institutions and enterprises. Students are encouraged to meet with our faculty and Center for Professional Development staff to develop a plan best suited to their professional career goals.

Students are strongly encouraged to take the foundational course, Introduction to Intellectual Property Law, in the fall of their second year. Building upon that foundation are the three doctrinal courses in American law: Copyright Law, Trademark and Unfair Competition Law, and Patent Law.

What courses a student will take depends on practice interest. Students are not forced to take one track or the other. Students who think they may wish to “straddle” tracks can select courses from each. For example, while passage of the Patent Bar Exam is required for those who wish to prosecute patents before the Patent and Trademark Office, litigators practicing in federal court have the ability to try copyright, trademark, and patent cases.

International Intellectual Property Law educates students about international laws, practices, and problems. Other courses and seminars build upon the basic doctrines, provide students with more specialized knowledge, and frequently give students an opportunity to learn in smaller settings and from a variety of professors, including practitioners in the field.

Even general practitioners need to understand when an international legal question arises. Actions in purely local disputes may require taking evidence abroad, enforcing a local judgment in a foreign jurisdiction, or enforcing a foreign judgment in a domestic court.

There are a number of entry points for those with an interest in international legal issues. Students interested in international business should begin with International Business Transactions, an introductory course that surveys the law applicable to the wide variety of international transactions.  Students interested in the law that governs the relations between states or the international rules that regulate the state control of individuals might begin with Public International Law or the Human Rights Seminar. Students specifically interested in immigration issues can take Immigration Law and Policy.

More advanced courses supplement these introductory offerings. In most cases, though, one need not take the introductory international course to take the advanced one. This is because the advanced international courses often attract students whose basic interest stems from a particular domestic law subject. For example, one might come to the course on International Tax based on an initial interest in tax and not from a background in international business. The same is true of International Intellectual Property Law. Professors may also offer research seminars on advanced problems in international law for in-depth directed research in a small group. Individual research projects may be arranged with professors for those with special interests.

Many legal disputes are resolved through direct negotiation, often based on a lawyer's advice, but without formally filing a claim to commence litigation.  In fact, only a small percentage of litigated cases proceed through trial. Most are settled through negotiation, mediation, arbitration or other forms of alternative dispute resolution (ADR). In mediation, a neutral mediator assists the parties' efforts to reach a settlement, but does not have binding decision-making power.  Arbitration is a relatively informal adjudicative process in which the arbitrator's decision is usually binding. A wide range of contracts include mandatory mediation or arbitration provisions and many court-related programs offer one or more forms of ADR.

Students in litigation and ADR practice should gain a thorough understanding of these processes, as well as grounding in the skills required for becoming an effective advocate.

Process is insufficient without substantive legal knowledge. Thus, students are advised to take classes in the substantive legal areas in which they intend to practice. However, the good news is that litigators can also be generalists, and a well-rounded legal education will serve them well.

Cincinnati Law students build a foundation in litigation and alternative dispute resolution by taking Civil Procedure, Legal Research and Writing, and Advocacy in their first year. Those interested in trial practice are advised to try out for the trial practice team at the end of their first year.

In the second year, students take Client Counseling to learn basic skills in interacting with clients, an important aspect of solving problems and handling disputes. (Client Counseling is required, but future litigators or ADR practitioners are advised to take the Client Counseling course focused on the disputes context.) Second year students may be eligible for the Trial Practice competition team and course in the fall or the spring semester Trial Practice course.

Of course, in the second and third year, students are advised to take many of the courses in litigation, negotiation, ADR, arbitration, and decision analysis.

Students are encouraged to meet with our faculty and Center for Professional Development staff to develop a plan best suited to their professional career goals.

Public interest lawyers handle matters that reflect broad areas of public concern – from housing discrimination to child welfare – and work on a variety of cases and causes. Law students who pursue a career in public interest law generally have a strong passion for helping others.

Cincinnati Law students build a foundation in public interest law by studying Constitutional Law in their first year. Most law school courses will be valuable for some aspect of public interest work. In their second and third years, students can tailor their schedule to focus on a particular area of public interest law.

Cincinnati Law also offers a joint JD/MA in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. The capstone experience of the program is a semester-long externship that allows students to work at a national public interest organization, such as the National Women’s Law Center, Equality Now, and the Women’s Law Project.

Students interested in public interest law and social justice are strongly recommended to participate in at least one clinical course serving the needs of low-income clients in order to experience this type of work first hand.

The demands of a general practice require students to have a solid foundation in both doctrinal and practical skills classes. Cincinnati Law’s curriculum offers multiple classes in the areas of law that represent the more frequent legal issues presented by clients.

All law students take Contracts in their first year. Because they are prerequisites for other courses, students should consider taking Evidence, Federal Income Tax, and Wills and Estates in their second year.

During their second and third years, students can then select advanced classes from the curriculum based on their specific interests in an area of law. It also is recommended that students take skills-based classes designed to replicate the types of legal tasks performed by attorneys on a daily bases.

Changes in technology and the delivery of legal services is especially important to the solo and small law firm practice. Students should consider taking Artificial Intelligence and other technology courses to learn about the latest technology innovations in representing clients.

Students interested in general practice or in starting their own firms should plan carefully to take full advantage of the offerings in all these areas of the law and are encouraged to meet with any of our faculty members during their first year to design a personalized curriculum best suited to their professional goals.