Academic Programs
Certificate Program General Requirements
Admission
Students must apply and be accepted for admission to the certificate program. Students are encouraged to apply as early as possible in their law school career.
Graduation
Students must meet all graduation requirements of the College of Law.
Eight Additional credit hours
Students must complete eight credit hours in addition to the minimum hours required for the J.D. degree, for a total of 96.
Concentration Requirement: At least 20 of the credits must be earned in courses designated in the Curriculum Requirements as set out below.
G.P.A. requirement
Students must achieve an average equivalent of 3.0 in 15 of the 20 credits earned in courses designated. There is no over all grade point average requirement beyond that required of the J.D. degree.
Courses previously completed
Courses previously completed (and meeting the grade requirements noted above) by students subsequently admitted into the program will be credited toward satisfaction of the concentration requirements.
Conferences with Program Coordinator
To be eligible for the certificate upon graduation, students must meet prior to each registration period with the Program Coordinator (Ms. Debbie Kelley Willis) to fill out registration priority forms and to ensure that they are on schedule to complete all the requirements and to complete the eight additional credit hours.
Certicifate Curriculum Requirements
CORE I
Required Fundamental Courses: Students must successfully complete these two:
- Perspectives on Family Law (4 credits)
- Child Parent & State (3 credits)
CORE II
Required Advanced Courses: Students must successfully complete at least one of the following:
- Adoption
- Child Support
- Collaborative Lawyering
- Juvenile Justice
- Psychology and Family Law
- Comparative Family Law
- International Children's Rights
- Family Policy
- United Family Court
CORE III
Required Skills Course: Students must successfully complete:
• One Clinic or Externship
Approved clinics
- (Clinics) Gator TeamChild
- Child Welfare Clinic
- Pro Se Clinic
- Mediation Clinic
- Full Rep Family Law Clinic
Approved externships
- 8th Circuit Family Court
- Director-approved externship
• Plus one of the following:
- Perspectives on the Family Lab
- Mediation
- Interviewing and Counseling
- Negotiation
Electives
In addition to the courses listed above, the following electives may be used to complete the required 20 credits or, in appropriate cases, substituted for a comparable required course with the director's approval.
- Disability Law
- Economics of the Family
- Education Law
- Elder Law
- Human Rights Law
- Federal Courts
- Estate Planning
- Health Law
- Gender and the Law
- Race and Race Relations Law
- The Law of Sex and Sexuality
- Poverty Law
- Domestic Violence
- Legal History (Prof. Wright Only)
Any Multidisciplinary course deemed by the Director to be appropriate based on students over all record and goals, including appropriate graduate level courses 5000 and above in other departments or colleges of the University. Examples of courses offered in past include: Public Policy and Human Development; Community Development; Theories of Youth and Family Development; Public Policy for Family Youth and Communities; Adolescent Problematic Behavior; Family Violence, Environmental Health; Concepts in Public Health; Psychological, Behavioral, and Social Issues in Public Health; Critical Incidents and Violence in Communities.
Seminar and Writing Requirement
Students must successfully complete an advanced writing project or other approved project (such as a family law brief, advocacy family-related public policy et.) seminar, or in another seminar or independent study approved by the Director.
* Certificate students will receive registration priority for core courses only.
- Enrollment Form [9.5KB PDF]