Georgetown University Law Center
The information on this page was provided by the law school.
Official Guide to ABA-Approved JD Programs
About Georgetown Law
Since its founding, Georgetown Law has lived by its guiding principle: “Law is but the means, justice is the end.” The nation’s largest law school nurtures both the rigorous exploration of legal theory and the development of policy solutions to society’s greatest challenges. From a campus located within blocks of the U.S. Congress that enacts laws, the Supreme Court that interprets them, and the agencies that enforce them, Georgetown Law’s faculty and students enjoy unique access to the world of law and legal practice. Our 17 legal clinics and more than 20 centers and institutes tackle issues from health, environmental, and human rights law to juvenile justice, national security, tech, and business law, providing students with opportunities to hone their research and advocacy skills from the very beginning of their legal careers. Georgetown-trained lawyers – “Hoya Lawyas” – can be found worldwide, making valuable contributions to the law and to society – from private practice to public office, business to academia and public service.
The Law Center Campus
Georgetown Law’s campus is the culmination of a longtime goal to create a campus that will nurture students in mind, body, and spirit.
- McDonough Hall, with its lecture halls, seminar rooms, faculty offices, student spaces, is the academic center of the six-building law school campus. It is also home to Hart Auditorium, Campus Ministry, and a cafeteria and cafe.
- The Hotung Building brings all the major components of Georgetown Law’s international programs under one roof and includes the John Wolff International and Comparative Law Library. The building also houses the Supreme Court Institute Moot Courtroom, a near-faithful replica of the Supreme Court courtroom, where advocates can moot their cases prior to oral argument before the high court.
- The nearly 80,000 square foot Scott K. Ginsburg Sport and Fitness Center features a four-lane lap pool, basketball and racquetball courts, a weight room, and group exercise studios.
- The Law Center’s Edward Bennett Williams Law Library houses one of the largest academic law library collections in the nation, housing a robust collection of both primary and secondary materials in U.S., foreign, and international law. The Law Library’s digital and special collections include materials from the 13th century to the present, as well as the specialized tools necessary to identify and interpret relevant legal resources. A variety of study spaces and communal areas are located throughout the Law Library’s five floors.
- The campus features a vibrant residential program, with housing for approximately 300 students in the Gewirz Student Center. The building offers a variety of apartment styles with one, two, and three bedrooms with full kitchens and baths in each suite. Apartments designed for students with disabilities are also available. A child care center and the Student Health Center occupy the lower level.
- 500 First Street offers a mix of classrooms, offices, and communal spaces. The building provides opportunities for cross-campus collaboration on innovative policy solutions across fields including health, climate, technology, education, and human rights. It is home to many of Georgetown Law’s Centers and Institutes and some McCourt School of Public Policy programs.
Georgetown Law also serves as the anchor school for Georgetown University’s new Capitol Campus. The University’s growing footprint on Capitol Hill includes the McCourt School of Public Policy, a 237,000-square-foot apartment-style complex, and a muti-use educational facility that will house the School of Continuing Studies and interdisciplinary programming.
Frequent shuttle services enable Georgetown University ID holders to travel between campuses and around the Capitol.
The JD Program
Curriculum
Georgetown Law offers full-time and part-time programs leading to the JD degree. Entry to both programs is in the fall.
Georgetown Law’s first-year program is designed to provide students with the foundation for upper-level studies by introducing the major areas of substantive law while developing the analytical, research and writing skills required of all lawyers.
First-year students in the full-time program choose either the A or B curriculum. Curriculum A is the traditional first-year curriculum, which parallels those at all other major law schools, and includes one elective course in the spring semester. Curriculum B includes courses that emphasize the sources of law in history, philosophy, political theory, and economics. It also seeks to reflect the increasingly public nature of contemporary law. Rather than an elective, Curriculum B students take a fall seminar in legal theory.
All first-year students have the opportunity to request a seat in the optional one-week, 1-credit course “First-Year Week One Simulations,” which meets in January.
In these Week One courses, students engage in scenarios that have been developed by Georgetown Law faculty to mirror situations that lawyers face in the real world, allowing students to practice critical legal skills such as conflict resolution, trial skills, interviewing, client counseling, legal document drafting, strategic planning, problem solving, teambuilding, stress management, presentation skills, professionalism, and emotional intelligence. Simulation courses are structured to provide opportunities for immediate feedback and reflection, giving students the supportive space to hone these legal skills before they need to rely on them in practice. For first-year students, the Week One courses are not only an introduction to experiential learning and the Law Center’s experiential education programming, but a first-hand view into lawyering competencies and law in practice.
Georgetown Law offers a large and wide-ranging upper-level curriculum. Of the more than 500 courses and seminars offered to upper-class students, a majority of those classes have enrollments of under 25 students. The only upper-class course requirements are a course in professional responsibility, an experiential learning requirement, and a seminar or approved supervised research project meeting the upper-class legal writing requirement.
Evening Program
Georgetown Law’s Evening Program is designed with students who have full-time jobs or other full-time commitments in mind, providing students with the flexibility to complete a J.D. in three to four years, with class times that fit a working schedule.
All first-year evening students attend classes starting at 5:45 p.m. on weekday evenings. Upper-class students may take courses that meet after work, during the day, or a combination of both. There are also a limited number of upper-class electives offered on weekends.
The traditional Evening Program is designed to allow students to complete the J.D. degree requirements in four consecutive academic years and no more than six years.
Evening students earn the same degree and study with the same world-class faculty as full-time students, fully supported by the Law Center’s career and academic support services. They take the same required courses, including experiential education requirements; participate in the same extracurricular activities, from our top-rated journals to mock trial competitions; and are equally successful in securing career and clerkship opportunities.
Clinical Programs
Georgetown Law, a pioneer in clinical legal education, offers an unmatched clinical program. Our 17 clinics offer more than 300 students per year an opportunity to represent actual clients facing real legal challenges. They are responsible for all facets of their case and project work, collaborating closely with clinical faculty to ensure proper and complete representation.
Law Journals
Georgetown Law publishes 12 legal journals annually. The Georgetown Law Journal, our main journal, addresses issues of general legal concern.
- American Criminal Law Review
- Georgetown Environmental Law Review
- Georgetown Immigration Law Journal
- Georgetown Journal of Gender and the Law
- Georgetown Journal of International Law
- Georgetown Journal of Modern Critical Race Perspectives
- Georgetown Journal of Law & Public Policy
- Georgetown Journal of Legal Ethics
- Georgetown Journal on Poverty Law & Policy
- Georgetown Law Technology Review
- Journal of National Security Law & Policy
International & Transnational Law Programs
Georgetown Law has many highly regarded programs dealing with different aspects of cross-border law.
Students have the unique opportunity to study for a semester in London at the Center for Transnational Legal Studies, a Georgetown-led partnership of over 20 leading schools from five continents. Distinguished faculty, drawn from around the world, teach a transnational curriculum to a global student body in a context where there is no host school, majority nationality, or domestic legal system.
The Global Law Scholars Program, which combines language skills with directed legal training, provides an opportunity for a limited number of full-time JD students to prepare for a law practice involving more than one legal system.
Georgetown Law also offers the opportunity to study abroad for a semester at prestigious institutions in Europe, Asia, India, Israel, Latin America, and Australia. In addition, Georgetown offers third year students the opportunity to study for a year at L’Institut d’Études Politique de Paris (Sciences Po), one of France’s most highly regarded universities. The program awards a Master’s in Economic Law, Global Governance Studies Specialization and with the successful completion of all course work, American students will obtain a French national law degree, entitling them to sit for the French bar exam.
The Law Center’s International Summer Internship Program offers opportunities to work abroad in law firms, corporations, and government organizations. There are also several institutes and centers that offer specialized programs, such as the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law, the Georgetown Climate Center, the Supreme Court Institute, the Institute of International Economic Law, the Human Rights Institute, and the Center on National Security.
Scholars Programs
Students admitted to the first-year J.D. program can apply to participate in a scholars program that provide tailored academic and professional development opportunities to students interested in particular areas of law.
- Blume Public Interest Scholars Program
- Global Law Scholars Program
- Technology Law & Policy Scholars Program
- Business Law Scholars Program
Joint Degree Programs
Georgetown Law offers numerous joint-degree programs for J.D. students:
- JD/Master of Public Policy
- JD/Master of Business Administration
- JD/Master of Science in Foreign Service
- JD/Master of Public Health (with Johns Hopkins School of Public Health)
- JD/Master of Arts in Security Studies
- JD/Master of Arts in Arab Studies
- JD/Master of Arts in German and European Studies
- JD/Master of Arts in Latin American Studies
- JD/Master of Arts in Eurasian, Russian, and East European Studies
- JD/Master of Arts or Doctorate in Philosophy
- JD/Doctorate in Government (Master of Arts En Passant)
- JD/LLM in Taxation
- JD/LLM in International Business and Economic Law
- JD/LLM in National Security Law
- JD/LLM in Environmental and Energy Law
- JD/LLM in National and Global Health Law
Public Interest Law
Georgetown Law’s unparalleled public interest offerings include a Loan Repayment Assistance Program, a stand-alone public interest career office, guaranteed summer funding for public interest and government internships, a comprehensive student pro bono program, an extensive and diverse public interest curriculum, and a public interest fellowship program.
Student Life
Student Activities & Opportunities
Law Center cocurricular life centers around the approximately 100 law student organizations that support students’ personal, social, spiritual, political, and professional interests. The largest of these organizations, the student-led Barristers’ Council, fields dozens of teams in appellate advocacy, trial advocacy, and alternative dispute resolution divisions, and competes successfully in national and international advocacy competitions. Students also share in the governance of the Law Center through the Student Bar Association and more than a dozen student/faculty committees, and supplement their academic pursuits by editing and publishing scholarly journals.
Career Placement and Bar Passage
Tuition and Aid
Georgetown Law offers need-based, three-year financial aid grants to approximately one-third of the entering full-time class. Federal and commercial loans, along with work-study opportunities, are also available.
Georgetown Law is a pioneer in helping its public interest JD graduates repay their student loans through its Loan Repayment Assistance Program. Georgetown's LRAP was one of the first programs of its kind and remains one of the nation's very best. Graduates who qualify for LRAP benefits receive assistance with monthly student loan payments in the form of forgivable, interest-free loans from Georgetown Law.
Admission Decisions: Beyond the Numbers
The Admissions Committee strives to admit students who will succeed at Georgetown, would benefit from a legal education here, and will contribute to our community. Applicants may apply through the binding Early Decision process, or through the Regular Decision process. Georgetown Law requires a valid LSAT, GRE, or GMAT (or GMAT Focus) score as part of each application (with the exception of applicants to the Evening Program without a valid LSAT score and Early Assurance Program applicants).
The Admissions Committee does not use numerical cutoffs, and focuses on the applicant’s personal statement, letter of recommendation, extracurricular and volunteer activities, graduate work, and professional experience in addition to test scores and academic record.
