The College of Law's three-year curriculum for the Juris Doctor degree begins with traditional courses and expands to include the latest in theoretical and interdisciplinary analyses. The first-year curriculum provides the foundation in history, doctrine, process and analysis that students need to fully appreciate more specialized courses offered later in law school. In the second and third years of law school, our program is almost entirely elective. It includes a wide range of courses and approaches. Some of our classes are purely theoretical and doctrinal. Some focus on particular industries, such as health, pharmaceuticals, and entertainment and sports law. We also offer many opportunities for experiential learning and other courses designed to enable students to be sophisticated entrants into the worlds of business, government and law practice. In addition to our especially strong programs in business, environmental law and international law, we have one of the best criminal law programs in the region. Students can also take advantage of one of ten joint-degree programs, offered in cooperation with other colleges, schools and departments at Florida State University. We have live-client clinics in family law, children's advocacy, and law and business. We also have extensive externship offerings throughout Florida and elsewhere. Finally, our co-curricular organizations provide students a wealth of ways to earn credit for hands-on legal activities. Our Mock Trial and Moot Court programs prepare students to be trial and appellate advocates, and our three student-run scholarly journals give students additional opportunity to hone their research and writing skills.
The College of Law offers students a sophisticated program in business, finance and tax. In addition to the basic business law courses, such as Corporations and Closely Held Business Organizations, students are able to elect from a large number of advanced courses. We also offer a wide range of courses on the taxation of business. The business curriculum is revised regularly to reflect changes in financial and securities regulations and in the ways in which companies raise capital and deal with market risks. Business law students are able to participate in the College of Law's innovative Business Law Certificate Program, the Business Law Clinic, and Business Externship programs. The aim of this comprehensive approach to business law is to give students a strong foundation in legal doctrine and economic theory, and how to apply these to real-world business scenarios. The program has been designed to train both transactional lawyers and business litigators, and to teach students core business law topics as well as important skills that have been overlooked by traditional approaches to teaching business law. The latter includes topics such as how to analyze financial statements, draft complex contracts, and identify and address compliance issues
