A student is required to produce and submit, prior to graduation, an original work of acceptable professional quality involving a significant exploration of a single major topic in compliance with the provisions set forth in the Thomas R. Kline School of Law of Duquesne University Policies and Procedures. This requirement may be satisfied any time after completion of a student's first year. Students may not use the same course to satisfy both the Upper Level Writing requirement and the Experiential Learning requirement. All papers written to satisfy the Upper Level Writing requirement must be submitted electronically through Canvas.
The following courses may be used to satisfy the Upper Level Writing requirement:
| Advanced Legal Writing: Legal Drafting | Professor Jan Levine |
| Animal Law | Adjunct Professor Nichole Ehrheart |
| Appellate Practice and Procedure | Judge Maureen Lally-Green or Professor Lauren Gailey |
| Children and the Law | Professor Rona Kaufman |
| Comparative Constitutional Law | Professor Eugene Mazo |
| Cyber Law and Policy | Professor Jacqueline Liption |
| Directed Research | Full-time Faculty* |
| Election Law | Professor Joseph Mistick |
| Energy Regulation | Adjunct Professor Martin McKown |
| European Union Law | Adjunct Professor Dorothee Landgraf |
| Functions and Duties of the Prosecutor | The Honorable Tom Corbett and Professor John Rago |
| Governance, Compliance and Risk Management | Judge Maureen Lally-Green |
| Human Trafficking | Adjunct Professor Judy Hale |
| Joule- Environmental and Energy Law Journal | Full-time Faculty* |
| Law Review | Full-time Faculty* |
| Pennsylvania Pretrial Civil Litigation Simulation | Associate Dean Ella Kwisnek |
| Pennsylvania State Constitutional Law | Professor Bruce Ledewitz |
| Philosophy of Law | Professor Bruce Ledewitz |
| Race and American Law | Adjunct Professor Jalila Jefferson-Bullock |
| Sports and Entertainment Law | Adjunct Professor David Jamison |
| State Attorney General Law | The Honorable Tom Corbett and Professor John Rago |
| The First Amendment | Professor Lauren Gailey |
| The Law of the American Presidency | Professor Eugene Mazo |
| Wrongful Convictions | Professor John Rago |
*If a student is interested in working with an adjunct faculty member on a directed research or publication, he or she must be approved in advance by the Associate Dean of Academic Affairs.
Students are responsible for submitting an Upper Level Writing Intent form no later than 30 days after the start of the semester in which the requirement will be fulfilled. Once submitted, the electronic intent form will automatically be emailed to the Thomas R. Kline School of Law of Duquesne University Registrar's Office and the faculty member supervising the project. The faculty member will then reply with his or her approval.
To fulfill this graduation requirement, the project must total at least 7500 words (including citations and any endnotes or footnotes) and must be in a format prescribed by the faculty member supervising the project. For the full list of Upper Level Writing requirements and formats, please consult the Duquesne Kline School of Law Policies and Procedures.
Upon successful completion of the project, the supervising faculty member will submit an Upper Level Writing Requirement Completion form.