Harvard Faculty OK Changes to 1L Curriculum

Harvard Law School faculty have voted unanimously to adopt a series of changes to the School's first-year curriculum, marking the first such change in a century.

The revisions are meant to prepare students to work in an increasingly complex and globalized legal environment.

HLS graduates are expected to develop a better appreciation for regulations and statutes and a better understanding of the institutions and processes of public law. The new 1L curriculum will introduce students to a holistic overview of the legal system in their first year, rather than waiting until their third year to do so. Learning will take place through simulations and mock litigation as well as through more traditional means.

Three new courses -- on legislation and regulation, on global legal systems and issues, and on applying theories to solve practical problems -- will be added to the first-year curriculum.

To make room in the schedule for the new classes, Harvard will lessen the amount of time devoted to classes on torts, contracts, civil procedure, criminal law, and property. A new January term will be added to the academic calendar for first-year students, during which they will take the new Problems and Theories class.

For more information, see "HLS Faculty Unanimously Approves First-Year Curricular Reform," a press release issued by the Harvard Law School on October 6, 2006, and posted to the School's website.