An extensive upper-class curriculum builds on the first-year foundation in a way that is focused yet expansive. Traditional coursework is combined with practical skills, courses, and clinics. There are numerous opportunities to study closely in small groups with faculty, including seminars, research tutorials, and an innovative “Reading in Ethics” series in which up to eight students read and study selected books with a faculty member in a year-long discussion group. The majority of all second- and third-year classes enroll fewer than 25 students.

While the core curriculum is strong across the board, Duke Law School has given special attention to those areas in which there is likely to be a growing demand for lawyers over the coming decades: business and finance law, international and comparative law, constitutional and public law, and the law relating to innovations in communication, information, culture, science, and medicine. Significant faculty and curricular expansion in these areas, as well as many active student organizations, interdisciplinary centers and programs, and special lecture series, provides a host of opportunities for students to obtain expertise in these and other fields.

We invite you to view upper-class courses in the course browser.