BEASLEY SCHOOL OF LAW

About the Program

The Juris Doctor (JD) is a professional degree required to practice law in the United States. At Temple University, students can earn a JD in three years in the full-time division or in four years in the evening and part-time divisions.

Temple's JD program delivers the knowledge, skills, experience and professionalism necessary to excel at the practice of law. Diverse doctrinal, experiential and integrated courses, all led by accomplished faculty, ensure that every Temple student has access to a world-class legal education, no matter what their area of interest.

Students who are currently enrolled in the JD program may take and apply coursework for the Transnational Law LLM degree toward the Juris Doctor. These students may then qualify for the JD/LLM degree. While this is not a concurrent degree, current JD students may earn up to half of the credits toward the LLM degree. A JD/LLM student who earns 88 credits, the minimum number of credits required for a JD degree, may apply up to 6 credits from eligible international law courses, exclusive of International Law, toward an LLM. For each additional credit a student earns beyond the minimum number of credits for a JD degree, the student can apply 1 additional credit from eligible international courses toward an LLM, up to a maximum of 12 credits.

Time Limit for Degree Completion: In accordance with the Faculty Regulations, students must complete the academic requirements necessary for the degree within 6 years. Those taking an authorized leave of absence for active military duty may exceed 6 years. 

Campus Location: Main

Full-Time/Part-Time Status: The program may be completed on a full- or part-time basis.

Job Prospects: Graduate employment outcome reports submitted to the American Bar Association (ABA®) and National Association for Legal Support Professionals (NALS) for the previous three years are posted annually on the Beasley School of Law website. These reports contain details about the employment outcomes of graduates at ten months post-graduation.

Financing Opportunities: Students may contact the Temple Law Financial Aid Office via e-mail (lwfinaid@temple.edu) or phone (215-204-8943 or 800-560-1428) for information about financial aid.

Admission Requirements and Deadlines

Application Deadline: March 1

The application form must be completed and mailed to Temple Law School or electronically transmitted to the Law School Admission Council (LSAC®) on or before the March 1 deadline.

Applicants are encouraged to apply electronically through LSAC®'s online application. Applicants may also either download the Temple Law School Admissions Application form from the Beasley School of Law website or request that the application form be mailed to them by contacting the Temple Law Admissions Office at 800-560-1428.

Application Fee and Waiver:
The application fee is $65. Payment may be made by credit card if the application is submitted electronically. For applications submitted by mail, a check or money order should be made payable to Temple University and must be drawn on a U.S. bank. The application fee is nonrefundable and cannot be credited toward any charges if an applicant subsequently registers as a student.

Applicants for whom paying the application fee may present a financial hardship may request a waiver of the application fee by e-mailing their name and LSAC® account number to the Temple Law Admissions Office at lawadmis@temple.edu. The Beasley School of Law application fee will automatically be waived for any applicant who has been approved for a fee waiver from LSAC®.

Letters of Reference:
Number Required: 4 maximum

From Whom: Letters of recommendation should be obtained from professors or employers directly acquainted with the applicant's academic or professional capabilities.

Letters of recommendation may be sent directly from the recommender to LSAC® for distribution with an applicant's law school reports to the law schools to which the applicant is applying or may be sent directly to the Temple Law Admissions Office. Applicants should not have any recommender send the same letter to both LSAC® and Temple. Letters sent directly to Temple should be accompanied by a Letter of Recommendation Waiver Form. This form should be completed by the applicant and provided to the author of each letter of recommendation.

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) of 1974, also known as the Buckley Amendment to the General Education Provisions Act, gives students who register at Beasley School of Law the right to inspect and review the letter(s) of recommendation contained in their law school records, unless that right is waived and the applicant consents to the letter(s) remaining confidential communication between the law school and the writer. Applicants may waive the right of access provided by that legislation, but are not required to waive the right as a condition for admission to the law school. If a letter of recommendation is received by the Beasley School of Law unaccompanied by a waiver form executed by the applicant and the author of the letter, the letter is treated as confidential communication between the writer and the law school.

Degree Required for Admission Consideration: All matriculants to the JD program must have earned a baccalaureate degree from an institution approved by one of the regional accrediting associations of the United States. If an applicant presents a degree from an institution situated outside the United States (other than a Canadian affiliate), the academic work required by the awarding institution must be the equivalent of a baccalaureate degree from an accredited institution situated within the United States.

All applicants must provide transcripts from each graduate or professional school attended. Official transcripts of all graduate and professional school courses can be sent either to LSAC®’s Credential Assembly Service (CAS) or directly to the Temple Law Admissions Office.

Personal Statement: All applicants must submit a personal statement with the application form. The personal statement provides an opportunity for applicants to present themselves, their background, their experiences and their ideas to the Admissions Committee. Applicants may want to write about intellectual interests, career goals, achievements, family background or involvement in the community.

Law School Admission Test (LSAT): All applicants are required to have taken the LSAT within five years of applying for admission and are required to have their scores reported to Temple Law School as part of an LSAC®'s CAS Law School Report. The Beasley School of Law registration code number is 2906.

Law School Credential Assembly Service (CAS): All applicants must register with LSAC®'s CAS for the academic year during which application is made. It is the applicant's responsibility to have a transcript from each college or university attended sent directly to LSAC®.

CAS analyzes and duplicates the transcript(s) and sends an unofficial copy to the Beasley School of Law. Applicants who have not yet completed their undergraduate work are encouraged to send updated transcripts to LSAC® upon completion of each semester/quarter so that the Admissions Committee has the most up-to-date academic record when reviewing an applicant's credentials.

Detailed information on registering with CAS and for the LSAT is available on the LSAC® website (https://www.LSAC®.org/).

Resume: While a resume is not required, applicants are encouraged to submit one as part of their application materials. The resume need not be limited to one page. Applicants are asked to include work history even if they think it is not relevant to the legal field.

Application Processing and Notification of Decision: Applicants are notified via e-mail when the application and fee have been received and processed. The e-mail also provides login information for the Temple Law Admissions Office's Online Status Check, which allows applicants to check on receipt of letters of recommendation by the Admissions Office and to review their application and decision statuses.

An application is considered complete when a completed application form and current CAS report containing LSAT score(s) and college records have been received. Based on past experience, candidates whose files are complete before January 15 may have a more favorable chance of admission if they are competitive within the applicant pool. Most applicants can expect notification of a decision eight to ten weeks after their file is complete. Delays in the evaluation process may occur, however, if additional information is requested and/or January or March LSAT scores are awaited.

Admissions decisions are made from December until June as files are completed. All applicants are notified via e-mail of their admissions decision.

An acceptance packet is mailed to all admitted students with instructions on accepting their seat in the entering class. To reserve a place in the entering class, an accepted applicant must submit two nonrefundable admission deposits by the posted deadlines. Both deposits are credited toward tuition.

Program Requirements

General Program Requirements:
Number of Credits Required to Earn the Degree: 88

Required Courses:

Course List

Code	Title	Credit Hours
Mandated First-Year Curriculum 1
JUDO 0402	Civil Procedure I	2-4
JUDO 0404	Constitutional Law	4
JUDO 0406	Contracts	4
JUDO 0410	Criminal Law I	3
JUDO 0414	Legal Research & Writing (LRW I) 2	2-3
JUDO 0414	Legal Research & Writing (LRW II) 2	2-3
JUDO 0418	Property	4
JUDO 0420	Torts	4
JUDO 0437	Introduction to Transactional Skills	1-2
Elective Menu Course 3		1-6
First-Year Credit Hours		32

¹

All students must successfully complete all courses in their program's required first-year curriculum. Unless otherwise provided, successful completion means attaining a grade of "D" or better in a letter-graded course and "S-" or better in a non-letter-graded course. Students who fail to successfully complete a course in the mandated first-year curriculum must retake the course at the next possible opportunity, as determined by the Assistant Dean for Students. Note that required first-year courses are subject to change based on a full faculty vote.

²

All students must take Legal Research & Writing II (LRW II) in the Spring term immediately following the Fall term in which Legal Research & Writing I (LRW I) was taken. However, any student who receives a grade of "F" or "FA" in LRW I may not take LRW II in sequence but, instead, must take both courses the following year. Further, any student who receives a grade of "F" or "FA" in LRW II must, in the following year, retake both LRW I and LRW II if that student received a grade below "C" in LRW I or only retake LRW II if that student received a grade of "C" or better in LRW I.

³

Students choose from the available courses in the Elective Menu during the Fall term.

Course List

Code	Title	Credit Hours
Requirements After the First Year 1
Professional Responsibility course 2
Two upper-level writing courses 3
Serial Paper
Research Paper
Upper-level Experiential/Professional Skills courses 4
Bias in the Law course 5
Upper-level electives
Post-First Year Credit Hours		56

¹

To learn more about Beasley School of Law's upper-level course offerings, review the Course Selection site (https://law.temple.edu/academics/course-selection/).

²

Requiring this course reflects Temple's commitment to the development of lawyers with high ethical standards. Students must meet this requirement by attaining a grade of “C” or better in a Professional Responsibility course. In the event that the student receives less than a “C” the first time taking the course, the student must:

• take a Professional Responsibility course again;
• attain a grade of “C” or better in that course;
• earn sufficient credits above the 88 credits normally required for graduation in order to make up for the credits that were received for the first Professional Responsibility course that was not successfully completed; and
• consult the Office of Student Services for more information.

³

Students fulfill the upper-level writing requirement by attaining a grade of “C” or better in a 2- or 3-credit Writing Seminar or Guided Research project that meets the standards for the Serial Paper component and, for the Research Paper component, by completing:

• a Note or Comment for one of the two law school journals, or
• a brief in a moot court or Jessup competition, which the supervising full-time faculty member certifies meets Research Paper standards and would have received a grade of “C” or better if it had been letter graded.

⁴

All students who matriculated prior to Fall 2016 must successfully complete a course designated as a Professional Skills course. All students who matriculated in or after Fall 2016 must successfully complete one or more Experiential courses totaling at least 6 credits. Students may take Experiential/Professional Skills courses at any time, provided they have completed the mandated First-Year Curriculum and any other applicable prerequisite courses. For this purpose, successful completion means a grade of "C" or better in a letter-graded course and "S" or better in a non-letter-graded course. Courses that satisfy the Experiential/Professional Skills requirement include those designated as Clinical courses (both Internal Clinics and External Clinics), Externships, Practicums and designated Simulation courses. Writing courses taken to fulfill the Experiential/Professional Skills requirement cannot also fulfill the upper-level writing requirement.

⁵

All students who matriculated into the JD program on or after July 1, 2021 must successfully complete at least one course from a menu of courses that explore bias in the law. For this purpose, successful completion means a grade of "C" or better in a letter-graded course and "S" or better in a non-letter-graded course. The decision on what courses satisfy this graduation requirement is made by the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs.

Cumulative GPA Required to be Awarded the Degree: 2.0 minimum

Contacts