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: Law as a Literary Profession | Professor Glencer |
Advanced Legal Writing: Legal Drafting | Professor Levine |
Animal Law | Professor Schiavone ONLY |
Appellate Practice and Procedure | Judge Lally-Green |
Business Law Journal | Full-time Faculty* |
Children and the Law | Professor Kaufman |
Directed Research | Full-time Faculty* |
Election Law | Professor Mistick |
Employment Discrimination | Professor Kaufman or Judge Lally-Green |
Energy Regulation | Adjunct Professor McKown |
European Union Law | Adjunct Professor Landgraf |
Functions and Duties of the Prosecutor | Professors Rago and Corbett |
Governance, Compliance and Risk Management | Judge Lally-Green |
Human Trafficking | Professor Dai |
Joule- Environmental and Energy Law Journal | Full-time Faculty* |
Law and Neuroscience | Adjunct Professor Dilmore |
Law, Public Service and the Executive Branch | Professors Rago, Mistick, Corbett |
Law Review | Full-time Faculty* |
Pennsylvania Pretrial Civil Litigation Simulation | Associate Dean Kwisnek |
Pennsylvania State Constitutional Law | Professor Ledewitz |
Philosophy of Law | Professor Ledewitz |
Race and American Law | Professor Jefferson-Bullock |
State Attorney General Law | Professors Rago and Corbett |
Wrongful Convictions | Professor Rago |
*If a student is interested in working with an adjunct faculty member, 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.