Required Courses

Drake Law School requires all students to take certain courses in addition to meeting other graduation requirements.

A student cannot withdraw or drop a required first-year course except in the case of a serious personal illness or accident, or death of a member of the student's immediate family, and then only with the permission of the associate dean.

For more information about each course, see Drake Law School's course descriptions.

First Semester – Fall

104. Legal Research I (1 credit)
106. Legal Writing I (2 credits)
107. Torts (4 credits)
108. Criminal Law (3 credits)
109. Contracts (4 credits)

Second Semester – Spring

101. First-Year Trial Practicum (0 credits)
102. Civil Procedure (4 credits)
116. Legal Research II (1 credit)
105. Legal Writing II (2 credits)
111. Property (4 credits)
112. Constitutional Law I (3 credits)
162. Justice, Lawyering and Leadership (2 credits)

Third Semester – Fall

115. Constitutional Law II (3 credits)

Third or Fourth Semester – Fall or Spring

113. Evidence (4 credits)
114. Legal Ethics and Professional Responsibility (3 credits)

Additional Requirements

Skills Requirement

Each student is required to take 6 credits of skills courses prior to graduation. See full list of qualifying courses listed at Graduation Requirements.

Advanced Writing Requirement

Each student is required to complete an Advanced Writing Requirement course prior to graduation. To earn credit for the Advanced Writing Requirement, a student must register for both the base course as well as the Advanced Writing course (i.e. International Human Rights LAW 310 and International Human Rights Advanced Writing LAW 310W).

A student may not count one course toward both the skills requirement and the advanced writing requirement (Handbook Rule 2.2.2)

Learn more about Drake Law School's graduation requirements.

Non-required Bar Courses

The following courses are not required at Drake Law School, but cover information tested on both the UBE and NextGen UBE.

Business Associations
Criminal Procedure: Investigations 

Not tested on UBE but very likely to appear in NextGen Performance Tasks July 2026-July 2028: 

Family Law
Wills and Trusts

Not tested on either UBE or NextGen beginning July 2026: 

Conflicts of Law
Secured Transactions 

Find more information about taking the Bar Exam.