Receive instruction and training in those subject areas fundamental to the practice of transactional attorneys and/or corporate litigators.
Students enrolled in the Business Law Honors Concentration will receive instruction and training in those subject areas fundamental to the practice of transactional attorneys and/or corporate litigators, in addition to instruction in specialized, related subject areas of their choosing.
Professor J. Scott Colesanti serves as the faculty concentration advisor for this Concentration. A Concentration faculty advisor may modify the Concentration requirements in exceptional circumstances upon notice to the Dean.
Guidance from a student’s concentration faculty advisor is an important element of successful completion of the Concentration. A concentration faculty advisor must approve a student’s enrollment in the Concentration. Students should meet with their advisor as soon as they find themselves interested in the Concentration, but in no event later than the course selection deadline for their fourth semester of study (or fifth semester of study for part-time students). An advisor may permit a student to enroll in the Concentration at a later date, but only after determining that the student can realistically meet the requirements of the Concentration prior to graduation.
Once enrolled in the Concentration, students must meet with their faculty advisor at least once per semester, prior to that semester’s course selection deadline, in order to plan their course selection and review their progress in fulfilling the Concentration’s requirements. A student’s concentration faculty advisor must also review and approve the concentration writing requirement.
As per the self-explanatory Concentration Enrollment Form, students in the Concentration are required to take three required core courses, one require skills course, and at least three qualifying elective courses. Students must also complete a writing requirement for the Concentration by taking a course (1) that would satisfy one of the two writing experiences in any course, or (2) via any Journal note or Independent Study, on a business law subject or subjects, as approved by the student’s concentration faculty advisor. It is permissible for the writing used to satisfy this requirement be the same writing used by the student to satisfy another Law School requirement (such as one of the required writing experiences).
Careers in business law are among the most challenging in the legal profession. Moreover, few career paths are as difficult and as competitive to successfully enter. For that reason, it would be unwise for most students to single-mindedly pursue a career in business law. Any interested student should, by all means, take courses in the area of business law to ascertain interest, develop skills, and hone expertise – but the majority of students should also have in mind other career options, and should round out their legal education to position them well for such options. Enrolling in the Business Law Honors Concentration would not be fully consistent with such advice.
For this reason, a minimum GPA of 3.3 is required in order to enroll in the Business Law Honors Concentration, and a student must graduate with a GPA of 3.3 in order to be certified as having completed the concentration. That said, a GPA of 3.3 or greater need not be maintained throughout a student’s time in the concentration; a student falling below this minimum will not be dismissed from the Concentration, he or she will simply not earn certification for completing the Concentration unless he or she ultimately graduates with a GPA of 3.3 or greater.