Tulane Law School is unique in the opportunities it offers its students to concentrate in a wide range of areas. In addition to programs focusing on the traditional areas of law practice - such as Corporate and Commercial Law, Intellectual Property, Family Law, Trusts and Estates, Real Estate, Taxation, Public Law (Constitutional Law, Administrative Law, State and Local Government), and Litigation (Evidence, Trial Advocacy, Complex Litigation, Federal Jurisdiction and Practice) - Tulane offers unique specialty programs, including six in which certificates of specialization are awarded: Admiralty & Maritime Law, Civil Law, Environmental Law, European Legal Studies, International & Comparative Law, and Sports Law.
Alternatively, students may choose to survey a variety of areas, given the unknown nature of their future practice. Many other law schools identify certain courses that must be taken after the first year. Other than a course in legal ethics, Tulane does not. Tulane relies upon the informed judgments of its students to decide what problems concern them most and on their ability to translate those judgments into appropriate, valuable choices, including the choice to pursue one of the concentrations available at Tulane.
Slightly more than one third of Tulane law students receive a certificate at graduation. Over the last several years, students receiving certificates have been distributed, on average, as follows:
18 in Environmental Law
28 in Admiralty & Maritime Law
19 in Civil Law
27 in Sports Law
26 in International and Comparative
In order to obtain a certificate of specialization, JD students use a portion of their elective hours to take specified courses in the specialty area. More information about the areas in which these certificates are offered, and about the certificates themselves, is available below, in the sections about each specialty area. Students may receive only one certificate at graduation.
Certificates of specialization are offered in Civil Law, Environmental Law, European Legal Studies, International & Comparative Law, Maritime Law, and Sports Law. Between 30 and 40 percent of Tulane law students receive one of these certificates at graduation.
Below is a summary of the requirements for each certificate.
Civil Law Certificate
18 credit hours--15 hours of basic courses, 3 hours chosen from basic or enrichment courses. Basic courses are divided into three groups, and students must take at least one course from each group:
Group I – Fundamental Principles, Obligations, and Special Contracts
Obligations I; Obligations II; Civil Law Security Rights; Selected Topics in
Obligations; Civil Law Torts
Group II – Persons and Family Property
Family Law; Community Property; Successions, Donations & Trusts
Group III – Property and Procedure
Civil Law Property I; Civil Law Property II; Louisiana Civil Procedure
Enrichment Courses
Civil Law Seminar; European Legal Systems; European Obligations;
Advanced Civil Law Oil & Gas; Civil Law Real Estate Transactions; Directed
Research in Civil Law; other courses identified and approved by the civil law
faculty
Environmental Law Certificate
15 credit hours--two foundation courses chosen from Pollution Control, Natural Resources, and Administrative Law and two other environmental or energy law electives from a list that typically includes as many as 20 offerings.
European Legal Studies Certificate
14 credit hours—Students must complete and pass the following: (1) Civil Law Obligations (3 credits), which my be satisfied by Obligations I, or courses on French or German Obligations, when these courses are offered; (2) Comparative Law (3 credits), which may be satisfied by the course Comparative Law: European Legal Systems, Comparative Law: European Legal History, or Comparative Law: Legal Systems & Litigation; (3) International Business Transactions (3 credits); (4) European Union Law I (3 credits); and (5) European Union Law II (2 credits).
International & Comparative Law Certificate
15 credit hours—Students must complete and pass (a) two of the following foundation courses: Comparative Law: European Legal Systems (or Comparative Private Law); Public International Law; Transnational Litigation, and (b) additional international and comparative law courses taken from the following list, totaling nine credit hours (or six credit hours if all three foundation courses are taken): any course or seminar with “comparative” in the title; European Union Law: Institutional Structure and Free Movement; European Union Law: Business Law; Foreign Affairs & the Constitution; International Human Rights; International Environmental Law; International Business Transactions; International Commercial Arbitration; International Institutions; International Intellectual Property; International Sale of Goods; International Trade, Finance, and Banking; Law of the Sea; World Trade Organization Seminar; any seminar with “international” in the title; any international and comparative mini-course approved by the relevant faculty.
Maritime Law Certificate
12 credit hours--Admiralty I, Admiralty II, and three additional full-semester admiralty courses.
Sports Law Certificate
15 credit hours -- Antitrust; Intellectual Property; Labor Law; Sports Law: Antitrust & Labor; Sports Law: International & Intellectual Property; and three additional credits from among the following: Business Enterprises I; Income Taxation; Negotiation & Mediation Advocacy; Alternative Dispute Resolution; Intercultural Negotiation & Mediation (offered during the Berlin summer program), or any other courses(s) in the areas of dispute resolution or negotiation approved by the director of the program.