Law and Urban and Regional Planning Joint Degree

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The Juris Doctor Curriculum

The Juris Doctor program consists of 78 credit hours of instruction. The law curriculum consists of 36 credit hours of required courses. Thirty credits are taken during the student's first year in the program.

The remaining 43 credit hours of elective classes may be chosen from the large selection of courses offered by the College of Law.

In addition, all J.D. students must complete an upper level writing requirement and 20 hours of pro bono legal work.
The following are the 36 credit hours of required courses in the J.D. curriculum:

Civil Procedure
Contracts I
Contracts II
Criminal Law
Property I
Property II
Torts
Legal Writing & Research I
Legal Writing & Research II
Constitutional Law I
Constitutional Law II
Professional Responsibility
4
3
2
4
2
3
4
2
3
3
3
3
TOTAL
36


Urban & Regional Planning Curriculum

CORE CURRICULUM
A student enrolled in the joint degree program must complete 33 credit hours of classes, 7 of which are core classes, from the Department of Urban and Regional Planning.

All students in the master’s program are required to take:

COURSE
NAME
COURSE NUMBER

Planning Theory and Practice
Plan Implementation
The Growth & Development of Cities
Planning Research Methods
Planning Statistics
Forecasting for Plan Development
Planning Alternatives Evaluation

TOTAL 21 credit hours
URP 5101
URP 5125
URP 5847
URP 5201
URP 5211
URP 5261
URP 5222

Students must also complete and defend the capstone research paper, project or thesis. This requirement cannot be done until all core courses have been completed. Students will earn up to 6 credit hours, depending on which option they choose.

Remaining credit hours may be fulfilled by taking additional courses within the Department of Urban and Regional Planning.

In addition to the core courses students are required to complete a 400 hour internship in a planning or planning related agency. The internship may be paid or unpaid. In practice, the internships are generally paid positions.


The major responsibility for planning and carrying out an integrated program of courses in both schools lies with the individual student assisted by the advisor for the program in each school. The joint degree program must be completed within five years, although most students complete the program in four years. For further information, contact both the College of Law and the Department of Urban and Regional Planning.

J.D. PROGRAM
Professor J.B. Ruhl
Florida State University College of Law

B.K. Roberts Hall, Room 324
425 West Jefferson Street
Tallahassee, FL 32306
Tel: 850.644.1596
E-mail: jruhl@law.fsu.edu
Web site: http://www.law.fsu.edu

M.S. PROGRAM
M.S.P. Program Director
Department of Urban and Regional Planning
Bellamy Building, Room 330

113 Collegiate Loop
Tallahassee, FL 32306-2280
Tel: 850.644.4510
E-mail: durp@coss.fsu.edu
Web site: www.coss.fsu.edu/durp/