Yale Law School

Yale Law School has one of the most robust clinical programs in the country. Unlike most other schools, students can begin taking clinics—and appearing in court—during the spring of their first year. Clinic students represent real clients with real legal problems (not in simulations or role-playing exercises), and are supervised by senior faculty members, with whom they often develop close and lasting mentoring relationships.

Yale Law School also offers a growing number of practice-oriented courses for its business curriculum, taught by leading practitioners in corporate and business law—many of them our own alumni who practice in cities like New York, San Francisco, or Washington, D.C. These courses typically involve simulated negotiating exercises, document-drafting skills, and other practice-based activities under the supervision of experts in various fields. Other simulation courses are offered in such areas as Appellate Advocacy and Civil Litigation.

The vibrant programming and critical scholarly work of the dozens of centers, programs, and workshops at the Law School enrich the School’s intellectual life. As part of their wide-ranging work, centers bring speakers from around the globe to New Haven and make a difference in communities around the world. Centers cover a remarkable range of inquiry, spanning health law and policy, international human rights, as well as new technology, corporate law, racial justice, animals and ethics, U.S.-China relations, private law, and much more.

The Tsai Leadership Program empowers a new generation of mission-driven, multidimensional leaders who champion excellence, effectiveness, and ethics as they drive the world forward. The curriculum includes numeracy courses such as accounting, corporate finance, and statistics; ethical decision-making; and emerging issues related to technological change, big data, and globalization. Students are able to hone professional management skills through specialized intensives, boot camps, and workshops. The Program also brings mentors-in-residence to campus to advise students on the many paths available to a graduate of Yale Law School.

In cooperation with other schools and departments of Yale University, the Law School offers several joint degree programs leading to a master’s degree and a J.D. or to a doctorate and a J.D. These programs are intended for those who wish to acquire the specialized skills of a body of knowledge related to law. All joint degree proposals must be submitted to and approved by the Faculty Committee on Special Courses of Study. There are no "joint admissions" at Yale Law School. Instead, once a student has been admitted to YLS and another program of their choice — either concurrently or in separate years — they can petition for joint degree status at the Law School as early as the spring of their 1L year. Joint degree status is usually granted but it is not guaranteed.