All students are required to take Criminal Law during their first year. Students who are interested in practicing criminal law should consider pursuing a criminal justice course concentration, which should include: Constitutional Law II; Evidence; Criminal Procedure: Investigation; Criminal Procedure: Adjudication; an experiential/skills course that has a criminal justice orientation; and at least three other courses from the list below. Students should also consider short course offerings that vary from year to year (recent one-credit courses included Policing in the Twenty-First Century and Defending a Criminal Case).
The following criminal justice-related electives are available to all students. Some courses have prerequisites (either required or preferred) and not every course is offered every year, so students should make sure to check the course description (see links above) in planning courses:
| First year (fall) | Criminal Law |
| First year (spring) | Constitutional Law I (prerequisite for Constitutional Law II) |
| Second year (fall) | Constitutional Law II*; Criminal Procedure: Investigation; International Criminal Law |
| Second year (spring) | Criminal Procedure: Adjudication*; Evidence*; Law & Neuroscience; Actual Innocence |
| Second year (summer) | Externship |
| Third year (fall) | Actual Innocence Practicum; Criminal Practice Clinic, Family & Domestic Violence Clinic, Appellate Litigation Clinic or Trial Advocacy**; Drug Law & Policy or Transnational Litigation, White Collar Crime Seminar |
| Third year (spring) | Advanced Criminal Law Seminar; Advanced Evidence and Trial Advocacy; Juvenile Justice or Mental Health Law: Deprivations of Life & Liberty |
* Highly recommended for a criminal justice concentration
** One of these courses or an externship is highly recommended for a criminal justice concentration