Pursuant to the Law School’s Graduation Requirements Policy, to be eligible for graduation, students must: (a) earn at least 90 semester credit hours; (b) have a cumulative grade point average of 2.250 or higher at the time of graduation (see the Academic Standards policy); and (c) complete the 30-hour public service requirement. A student must satisfactorily complete all required courses, including an upper-level writing requirement and 6 credits of experiential coursework.
Law School Honor Code and Law School Policies & Procedures
All students take an Oath of Professionalism upon matriculation and are required to adhere to the standards set forth in the Honor Code and the Texas Tech University Code of Student Conduct. These codes, along with academic policies like maintaining good standing, are located on the TTU Law Policies and Procedures page.
Public Service Requirement
A crucial part of a legal education involves preparing students for all aspects of their professional commitments as lawyers. Accordingly, all students are required to participate in the legal profession’s commitment to public service by performing 30 hours of legal pro bono work and community service during their time in school. Texas Tech School of Law provides a myriad of opportunities throughout the year to perform legal pro bono work and community service for low-income and disadvantaged people in Lubbock and throughout the state.
Curriculum
The Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D.) program is designed to provide a general legal education. Each first-year student is enrolled in 30 semester credit hours during their first year as a law student. Students must then take 26 hours of advanced required courses during their second and third years. Fourteen of those hours must be taken during the second year. Students also choose from elective courses to complete a minimum total of 90 credit hours for graduation (56 are required hours and 34 are elective credit hours). These electives include courses that can fulfill the upper-level writing requirement and the 6 credits of experiential coursework. For select first-year students who could benefit from additional instruction in legal analysis, a Legal Analysis course will be required in the second year. For these students, the 3 credit hours for Legal Analysis will replace 3 elective credit hours (59 required hours and 31 elective hours).
Within the broad curriculum available at the Law School, students may focus on a particular area of law through their choice of electives. Please see a complete listing of courses on the Course Descriptions page.
