Litigation and Dispute Resolution Concentration

The Litigation and Dispute Resolution Concentration provides participating Miami Law students the opportunity to become the best practice-ready litigator/trial lawyer that any law school education can produce.

Sequencing, breadth of substantive doctrinal courses, extensive experiential simulation, live client skills training, and the elective writing experience together facilitate students interested in a career in litigation to take full advantage of enormous resources made available to Miami Law students.

Upper-Level Litigation Courses

The Litigation and Dispute Resolution Concentration requires doctrinal legal education in upper-level litigation-specific substantive courses (such as Evidence and Civil Procedure II or Substantive Criminal Law). The Concentration also encourages, but does not require, students to take important non-litigation substantive doctrinal courses (such as Business Associations and Constitutional Law II).

Alternative Dispute Resolution

Given the growing importance of alternative dispute resolution, in order to be awarded a Litigation and Dispute Resolution Concentration Certificate evidencing successful completion of the program, each student must successfully complete an arbitration, mediation, negotiation, or more general alternate dispute resolution offering.

Experiential Learning

Following completion of Evidence, each student will engage in simulated experiential learning in Miami Law’s award-winning Litigation Skills Program, featuring extremely dedicated, experienced, and skilled adjunct faculty from the Federal and State bench and bar, by enrolling in Litigation Skills I.  Next, the student will continue to gain simulated experience by enrolling in Litigation Skills II or will obtain real client experience either in a Miami Law litigation-oriented clinic or as a Certified Legal Intern with a governmental agency or legal aid organization, most frequently in the criminal justice system.

Finally, each student must take two electives from a long list of litigation-oriented seminars and courses, one of which must satisfy a writing requirement.

Requirements

This concentration requires a total of at least 25 credits, 13 from the Required Courses and at least 12 from the Additional Course Requirements.

• Required Courses (13 credits)

  Civil Procedure II (3) or Substantive Criminal Law (3)
  Evidence (4)
  Litigation Skills I (6)

• Writing Requirement

  At least one of the two graduation writing requirements must be litigation focused.

• Additional Course Requirements (12 credits)

  One or more courses from both sub-sections A and B and at least two elective courses from sub-section C for a total of at least 12 credits.

  A. Alternative Dispute Resolution (at least one):

  Alternative Dispute Resolution (3)*
  Alternative Dispute Resolution Design Systems (2)*
  Federal Arbitration Act (2)*
  International Commercial Arbitration (2)*
  Mediation (2)*
  Negotiation (3)*

  B. Experiential (at least one):
  Certified Legal Internship - Litigation Skills Clinical Externship (min. 3 credits)
  Litigation Skills II (3) - Advanced Business Litigation or Advanced Criminal Litigation
  Litigation Clinics (min. 3 credits)

  Bankruptcy Assistance (3)

  Children & Youth Law Law (6)

  Environmental Justice (6)

  Health Rights (6)

  Human rights (6)

  Immigration (6)

  Innocence (6)

  Investor Rights (6)

  Tenants’ Rights (6)

  C. Electives:

  Seminars that meet the writing requirement: (not an exhaustive list)

  Complex Litigation Seminar (2)
  Current Topics in Criminal Litigation (2)
  Evidence and Trial Practice Seminar; Advanced Topics (2)
  Federal Arbitration Act (2)*
  International Commercial Arbitration (2)*
  Scientific Evidence (2)
  
  

  Courses that meet the writing requirement: (not an exhaustive list)

  Advanced Trademark (2)
  Antitrust II (2)
  Constitutional Law III: Armageddon IPA (3)
  Discovery in Civil Litigation (2)
  Electronic Discovery (2)
  Florida Family Law: Parenting Issues (2)
  Housing Discrimination (3)
  International Moot Court (2)
  Judicial Writing (2)
  Policing the Police (2)
  Pretrial Litigation Practice (2)
  Rule 56: Mastering Summary Judgment Motions (2)
  Search and Seizure (3)
  Special Topics in Federal Court (2)
  The Adversary System: Silence, Confrontation, and Sentencing (3)
  
  

  Other elective courses

  Advanced Appellate Advocacy I (2)
  Advanced Appellate Advocacy II (2)
  Alternative Dispute Resolution (3)*
  Alternative Dispute Resolution Design Systems (2)*
  Basic Concepts in International Arbitration (1)
  Civil Procedure II (3) (if not taken to satisfy required courses)

  Class Action Litigation (1)
  Complex Litigation (2)
  Conflicts of Law (3)
  Criminal Evidence Workshop (2)
  Criminal Procedure Adjudication (3)
  Criminal Prosecution & Defense Lawyering (2)
  Environmental Litigation & Policy (2)
  Externship I (2 or 3)
  Federal Courts (3)
  Florida Civil Procedure (2)
  Florida Criminal Procedure (2)
  Immigration Law (3)
  International Criminal Law (3)
  Mediation (2)*
  Negotiation (3)*
  Negotiation Skills (1)
  Professional Liability and Legal Malpractice (2)
  Securities Enforcement & Litigation (2)
  Substantive Criminal Law (3) (if not taken to satisfy required courses)
  Wrongful Convictions: Causes and Remedies (2)

  International Arbitration Courses Available to our LL.M. students:
  Advanced Topics in Arbitration: Theory (1)
  Advanced Topics in Arbitration: Publication (1)
  Advanced Oral Advocacy in International Arbitration (1, Skills)
  Arbitral Institutions in a Changing and Challenging World (1)
  Arbitrating Cultural Heritage Disputes (1)
  Complex International Negotiations (1, Skills)
  Damages in International Arbitration (1)
  Drafting Complex Arbitration Clauses (1, Skills)
  Forensics of Advocacy in International Arbitration I (2, Skills)
  Forensics of Advocacy in International Arbitration II (2, Skills)
  ICSID Practice and Procedure (1)
  International Arbitration and European Union Law (1)
  International Arbitration and the New York Convention (1)
  International Arbitration in Latin America & the Caribbean (1)
  International Dispute Resolution and the New Economy (1)
  International Investment Agreements (1)
  International Law of State Responsibility (1)
  International Sports Arbitration (1)
  Investment Arbitration (1)
  Maritime Arbitration (1)
  The Law of International Treaties (1)
  Transnational Litigation & International Arbitration with a European Nexus (1)

  *Courses listed in more than one category cannot be counted as meeting both requirements.

Total Credit Requirements: 25

Faculty Advisors

Charlton Copeland
Christie Anne Daniels
Jeannie Jontiff
JoNel Newman
Renee Schimkat
Annette Torres
Cheryl Zuckerman

For Information

The Litigation and Dispute Resolution Concentration is open to all Miami Law students. 

Jeannie Jontiff- Co-Director
Professor Renee Schimkat - Co-Director

Register for this Concentration