Specializations | Simmons Law School | SIU

Faculty Advisor: William Drennan

To complete the Specialization in Business and Transactional Law and receive a transcript notation and certificate acknowledging the completion of the Specialization, students must satisfy the following four requirements.

The minimum 15 credits must include:

Core Course requirement (at least two of the five courses)
Core Course plus Related Course requirement: at least 9 credits (including at least two "core" courses)
Writing requirement: at least 3 credits
Skills/Experiential Education requirement: at least 3 credits
Also, students must timely submit the applicable Declaration of Intent form and related checklist to the faculty advisor.

1. Core Course requirement

Students are required to take at least two of the following five “core” business and transactional law courses:

• Agency and Partnership
• Business Organizations
• Corporations
• Introduction to Commercial Law
• Trusts and Estates

2. Core Courses plus Related Course(s) requirement

Students may take 9 or more credits from among the “core courses,” and the following "related courses" as available:

• Advanced Real Estate Transactions
• Business Boot Camp
• Consumer Protection
• Corporate Taxation
• Federal Income Taxation
• Foreign Corrupt Practices Act
• Law Practice Management
• Partnership Taxation
• Securities Regulation
• Other relevant courses (including summer courses at SIU or elsewhere) have to be pre-approved to meet this requirement by the faculty advisor for the Business and Transactional Law Specialization or the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs.

3. Business and Transactional Writing

Students are required to complete a writing component involving business and transactional law topics (or topic) with a minimum of 3 credit hours. The student may satisfy this 3-credit requirement from among the following:

• Basic Estate Planning
• International Business Transactions
• Senior Seminar: Not-for-Profit Corporations
• Writing an article as a staff member of the Journal of Legal Medicine or the SIU Law Journal regarding a business or transactional law topic if pre-approved for this requirement by the faculty advisor for the Business and Transactional Law Specialization or the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. The number of credit hours relating to the Journal of Legal Medicine and the SIU Law Journal is discussed below.
• Any other writing course offered by the law school that has been pre-approved to meet this writing requirement by the faculty advisor for the Business and Transactional Law Specialization or the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs.

4. Skills/Experiential Education

Students are required to complete a skills/experiential education component involving business and transactional law topics (or topic) with a minimum of 3 credit hours. The student may satisfy this requirement from among the following:

• Basic Estate Planning
• Civil Practice (Elder Law) Clinic
• International Business Transactions
• Introduction to Transactional Skills
• Law Practice Management
• Public Interest Externship in a transactional-related area if pre-approved to meet this requirement by the faculty advisor for the Business and Transactional Law Specialization or the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs.

Note #1: The same course cannot be used to satisfy the writing requirement and the skills/experiential education requirement. For example, a student may satisfy the writing requirement by taking International Business Transactions, but in that case the student could not use International Business Transactions to fulfill the Skills/Experiential Education requirement.

Note #2: Courses that satisfy the Business and Transactional Writing requirement described above may not satisfy the School of Law’s general senior writing requirement. For example, although either Basic Estate Planning or International Business Transactions may satisfy the writing requirement for the Business and Transactional Law Specialization, neither course is designated to satisfy the School of Law’s senior writing requirement.

Note #3: A two-credit course (such as Law Practice Management) alone would not satisfy the skills/experiential education requirement (or the writing requirement).

Note #4: The number of credit hours relating to an article for the Journal of Legal Medicine or the SIU Law Journal would be based on the number of credit hours the student eventually acquires from service for the Journal of Legal Medicine or the SIU Law Journal, respectively, up to a maximum of three credits. For example, if a student earns one credit hour for the Fall of second year from the SIU Law Journal while writing an article on a business or transactional law topic that is appropriately approved by the Faculty Advisor for the Business and Transactional Law Specialization or the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, but the student thereafter earns no further credits for service to the SIU Law Journal, the student will have earned only one credit hour toward meeting the Business and Transactional Law writing requirement. In contrast, if a student writes an article that is similarly approved and eventually earns at least two more credits for service to the SIU Law Journal, the student will have satisfied the 3 credit hour writing requirement for the Business and Transactional Law Specialization.

Note #5: Even if this website description changes, the requirements applicable for a particular student will be from the website description as of the date the student submitted the Declaration of Intent form, unless the student, and either the faculty advisor for the Business and Transactional Law Specialization or the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, agree that a subsequent website description will apply.


(last revised May 2014)

Faculty Advisor: See Associate Dean

To complete the Specialization in Health Law and receive a transcript notation and certificate acknowledging the completion of the Specialization, students must complete at least 15 credits from the Approved List of Health Law Courses.

The minimum 15 credits must include:

• Health Law Courses: at least 9 credits
• Writing: at least 3 credits
• Experiential Education: at least 3 credit

Faculty Advisor: Lorelei Ritchie

To complete the Specialization in Intellectual Property and receive a transcript notation and certificate acknowledging the completion of the Specialization, students must complete at least 15 credits from the Approved List of Intellectual Property Courses.

The minimum 15 credits must include:

• Core Courses: at least 6 credits
• Writing: at least 3 credits
• Experiential Education: at least 3 credits
• Electives: at least 3 credits

Approved List of Intellectual Property Courses

1. Core Courses (at least 6 credits) All students take:

• Intellectual Property

Take at least one:

• Copyright Law
• Patent Law
• Trademarks and Unfair Competition
• Current Developments in American Law: Trade Secret Law. (This course may satisfy either the Core Course Requirement or the Experiential Education Requirement, but not both.)

2. IP Writing At least 3 credits earned in a course that requires in-depth research and writing about intellectual property. The student may satisfy this requirement with any of the following:

• Current Developments in International Law: International IP, Trade & Economic Development
• A Senior Seminar or elective writing class pre-approved for the Specialization
• A specific topic in a Senior Seminar or elective writing class pre-approved by the faculty advisor for the IP Specialization, with the approval (and at the discretion of) the course instructor
• An intellectual property article written as a staff member on the SIU Law Journal, pre-approved by the faculty advisor for the IP Specialization
• Independent Research and Writing on an intellectual property topic (pre-approved by the faculty advisor for the IP Specialization and subject to availability and consent of the instructor)

3. Experiential Education

At least 3 credits earned in a course that provides hands-on training in intellectual property. The student may satisfy this requirement with any of the following:

• Public Interest Externship (in a placement pre-approved by the faculty advisor for the IP Specialization and subject to the approval and consent of the Public Interest Externship Director)
• Intellectual Property and Commercialization
• Current Developments in American Law: Trade Secret Law (This course may satisfy either the Core Course Requirement or the Experiential Education Requirement, but not both)

4. Electives

Provided that the other requirements for the Specialization are met, the student may complete the minimum 15-credit requirement with any of these other courses:

• Copyright Law
• Intellectual Property and Commercialization
• Law and the Arts
• Patent Law
• Sports Law
• Trademarks and Unfair Competition
• Current Developments in American Law: Trade Secret Law
• A course in a joint degree program approved by faculty advisor for IP Specialization
• Other course approved by the associate dean, in consultation with the faculty advisor for IP Specialization

Faculty Advisor: Cindy Buys

To complete the Specialization in International and Immigration Law and receive a transcript notation and certificate acknowledging the completion of the Specialization, students must complete at least 15 credits from the Approved List of International or Immigration Law courses.

The minimum 15 credits must include:

• International or Immigration Law Courses: at least 9 credits
• Writing: at least 3 credits
• Experiential Education: at least 3 credits

1. Approved List of International and Immigration Courses* (at least 9 credits)

All students take at least two:

• International Law
• International Business Transactions
• International Criminal Law
• Immigration Law
• Senior Writing Seminar: International Human Rights
• Senior Writing Seminar: Comparative Law
• Legal Globalization and Comparative Law
• Other Study Abroad (approved by Director of Int'l Law Programs)**
• Relevant graduate-level courses in other University departments (subject to approval)

*Course list is subject to change depending upon availability.

**Participation in a Study Abroad Program in which a student earns six credit hours will count as two courses for purposes of the Course requirements

2. Writing

At least 3 credits earned in a course that requires in-depth research and writing about an international or immigration law-related topic. The student may satisfy this requirement with any of the following:

• Senior Seminar or Other Designated Writing Course on international topic**
• Approved Independent Study or other writing experience
• Article written for SIU Law Journal
• Moot Court brief on international or immigration law

** Topic must be approved by Director of Int'l Law Programs

3. Experiential Education

At least 3 credits earned in a course that provides a skills/experiential education component. The student may satisfy this requirement with any of the following:

• International Business Transactions
• Externship with international or immigration law-related entity
• Study abroad program or Legal Globalization Class
• Moot court participation with international or immigration law problem
• Other experience approved by Director of International Law Programs.

Study Abroad Program may not be double-counted to satisfy the requirements of both the Course and Experiential Education components.

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Courses cannot be double-counted to satisfy the requirements of more than one component. For example, if a student takes a senior writing seminar to satisfy the Writing component of the Specialization, that course cannot also count toward the minimum of 9 credit hours of the Coursework component.

Faculty Advisor: Chris Behan

In order to complete the Specialization in Litigation and Dispute Resolution and receive a transcript notation and certificate acknowledging the completion of the Specialization, students must complete at least 15 credit hours from the Approved List of Litigation and Dispute Resolution Courses, and meet the Senior Writing Requirement with a litigation or dispute resolution topic. In addition, students must timely submit the applicable Declaration of Intent form and related checklist to the Faculty Advisor, and speak with the Faculty Advisor in connection with submitting the Declaration.

Approved List of Litigation and Dispute Resolution Courses

Students must take the following core courses (9 credit hours):

• Pre-trial Advocacy (3 cr.)
• Alternative Dispute Resolution (3 cr.)
• Trial Advocacy (3 cr.)

Students must elect one of the following courses (3 credit hours):

• Advanced Appellate Advocacy (3 cr.)
• Negotiation (3 cr.)
• Mediation Skills (3 cr.)

Students must take at least 3 credit hours in a course that contains a significant experiential component related to litigation or dispute resolution. The following courses may be used to presumptively fulfill this requirement, if taken for the indicated minimum number of credit hours:

• Civil Practice Clinic, if more than 50% of work is litigation-related as certified by Clinic instructor (3 cr.)
• Domestic Violence Clinic (3 cr.)
• Juvenile Justice Clinic (3 cr.)
• Judicial Externship (3 cr.)
• Public Interest Externship in a litigation placement approved by the Externship Coordinator and the Faculty Advisor (3 cr.)
• Advanced Appellate Advocacy* (3 cr.)
• Advanced Appellate Moot Court* (5 cr.)
• Advanced Trial Team (4 cr.)
• Advanced Trial Advocacy (3 cr.)*

*Advanced Appellate Advocacy and Advanced Appellate Moot Court cannot be used to fulfill more than one requirement.

Other courses may also be approved to meet this requirement, if at least 50% of the course work is based on litigation or dispute resolution-focused topics. The Faculty Advisor has discretion to determine if a course other than those listed above meets the experiential requirement.

In addition to the courses listed above, students seeking this specialization must either produce a rigorously researched, law journal quality paper sufficient to meet the School of Law’s Senior Writing Requirement on a litigation or dispute resolution-focused topic, or participate in Advanced Appellate Moot Court. For example, the following courses would qualify:

• A Senior Writing Seminar, if the student produces a law journal length and quality paper (or an equivalent aggregate of small papers) on a litigation or dispute resolution-related topic.
• Any course that has been deemed by the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs as sufficient to meet the Senior Writing Requirement, if the student produces a law journal length and quality paper (or an equivalent aggregate of small papers) on a litigation or dispute resolution-related topic.
• Advanced Appellate Moot Court, if the student is certified as having met the Senior Writing Requirement by the Director of Moot Court Programs.
• Law Journal or Journal of Legal Medicine, if the student produces one or more articles on a litigation or dispute resolution topic.

For all courses listed in this category except Advanced Appellate Moot Court, the Faculty Advisor must approve the topic of the written project as sufficiently litigation and dispute resolution-focused.

If a student in an upper level course not listed can establish that the course requires a rigorous research and writing experience reasonably equivalent to those listed, the Faculty Advisor may use her or his discretion to approve that course as meeting this requirement.

Faculty Advisor: See Associate Dean 

To complete the Specialization in Public Interest Law and receive a transcript notation and certificate acknowledging the completion of the Specialization, students must satisfy the following five requirements.

The minimum 18 credits must include:

• Core Course requirement: at least one of the three courses
• Writing requirement: at least 3 credits
• Elective Course requirement: at least 3 credits
• Skills Course requirement: at least 9 credits

Also, students must timely submit the applicable Declaration of Intent form and related checklist to the faculty advisor.

1. Core Course requirement

Students are required to take at least one of the following three “core” public interest law courses:

• Administrative Law
• State and Local Government
• Civil Rights

2. Public Interest Law Writing

Students are required to complete a writing component involving a public interest law topic with a minimum of 3 credit hours. The student may satisfy this 3-credit requirement from among the following:

• Senior Writing Seminar
• Independent Study
• Writing an article as a staff member of the SIU Law Journal or the Journal of Legal Medicine regarding a public interest law related topic if pre-approved for this requirement by the faculty advisor for the Public Interest Law Specialization or the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. The number of credit hours relating to the Journal of Legal Medicine and the SIU Law Journal is discussed below.
• Advanced Moot Court with topic approval by the faculty advisor for the Public Interest Law Specialization.

2. Elective Course requirement

Students are required to take a minimum of 3 credit hours from among the “core courses” or the following "elective courses" as available:

• Alternative Dispute Resolution
• Children and the Law
• Client Interviewing and Counseling
• Disability Law
• Employment Discrimination
• Family Law
• First Amendment Rights
• Immigration Law
• Mental Health Law
• Public Health Law

4. Skills Course Requirement

Students are required to complete a minimum of 9 credit hours of skills courses involving public interest related topics. The student may satisfy this requirement from among the following:

• Civil Practice (Elder Law) Clinic
• Domestic Violence Clinic
• Juvenile Justice Clinic
• Public Interest Externship if pre-approved to meet this requirement by the faculty advisor for the Public Interest Law Specialization or the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs.

5. Extracurricular Activities

Students must participate in designated extracurricular activities as follows:

Membership and substantial involvement in the Equal Justice Works Organization for a minimum of one academic year, OR

Attendance at a minimum of two designated public interest-related events including but not limited to:

• Paul Simon Public Policy Institute Events
• Equal Justice Works Fellowship Lecture
• Immigration Detention Project Participation
• Self Help Legal Center Participation
• Illinois Law and Leadership Participation
• Other activities or public events as approved by the faculty advisor

Note #1: The number of credit hours relating to an article for the Journal of Legal Medicine or the SIU Law Journal would be based on the number of credit hours the student eventually acquires from service for the Journal of Legal Medicine or the SIU Law Journal, respectively, up to a maximum of three credits. For example, if a student earns one credit hour for the Fall of second year from the SIU Law Journal while writing an article on a public interest law topic that is appropriately approved by the Faculty Advisor for the Public Interest Law Specialization or the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, but the student thereafter earns no further credits for service to the SIU Law Journal, the student will have earned only one credit hour toward meeting the Public Interest Law writing requirement. In contrast, if a student writes an article that is similarly approved and eventually earns at least two more credits for service to the SIU Law Journal, the student will have satisfied the 3 credit hour writing requirement for the Public Interest Law Specialization.

Note #2: Even if this website description changes, the requirements applicable for a particular student will be from the website description as of the date the student submitted the Declaration of Intent form, unless the student, and either the faculty advisor for the Public Interest Law Specialization or the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, agree that a subsequent website description will apply.


(last revised May 2016)