In the interest of counseling the students of Texas Wesleyan University School of Law as you plan your course of study in contemplation of a career in the law, the Curriculum Committee of the Faculty of Law has categorized the courses offered at this law school. These categories can be viewed in the related links dialogue box to the right.

These categories are divided among certain major areas and environments of law practice:

• Business & Commercial
• Litigation
• Sole Practitioner/Small Firm
• Government Lawyer

In addition, there are certain specialty ("boutique") areas of law practice, which are exemplified as follows:

• Business Planning/ Estate Planning and Probate
• Criminal Law
• Employment Law
• Family Law
• Real Estate Practice

You will also find a list of perspective courses in the links dialogue box (i.e., courses that offer particular insight into legal thought by drawing upon various legal subjects in combination).

Before proceeding further, a few words of caution are in order regarding the law practice categories:

First, these categories should not be interpreted as exclusive, exhaustive, or definitive--let alone official. The categories represent an attempt to aid students in planning their course of study--no more and no less. Reasonable minds may and will differ with respect to an exact list of course offerings that would be appropriate for any given area of legal practice. Indeed, reasonable minds may differ even with respect to the major areas and environments of law practice into which these categories of courses are divided.

Second, there are courses that appear in more than one category. This phenomenon should hardly be surprising, since many courses relate to more than one area of law practice.

Third, externships--which may be served in a judicial setting, a public sector setting, or a private practice setting--would also relate to a variety of these categories. Thus, externships have not been individually categorized.

Fourth, the courses listed in the categories do not include the law school’s required courses. This omission is intentional, since such courses are required of all law students irrespective of these categories.

Fifth, you should note that not every course listed in the following categories will be offered each year - let alone each semester. As a general rule, courses which are considered “core” (in that they are fundamental courses) will be offered every year; indeed, core courses will generally be offered at least once per year in each division (both day and evening).

Finally, as already stated, you should bear in mind that the attached categories represent nothing more than a guide for you to use in planning your course of study at this law school. In this connection, some students, early in their law school careers, will have a good idea about the area of the law and/or the environment in which they would like to practice; other students will not. A student who has not yet formed such a notion should not be unduly concerned: after all, one of the many things that a legal education may do is to change minds regarding such matters.