To succeed as a lawyer, you not only have to understand the law, you have to know how to put it to work. Real-world experience is built into the McKinney J.D. program. This includes ABA required experiential learning options and many other types of experience-based opportunities...
Experiential Learning Requirement
Students beginning law school must complete at least 6 experiential learning credit hours to graduate law school. While we strongly recommend that all students enroll in a clinic or externship before graduation. Students matriculating in Fall 2024 and beyond are required to complete at least one externship or clinic for 2+ credits*.
The following classes will meet the Experiential Learning requirement:
- all live-client clinics
- externships
- simulation courses
- In some instances, with faculty approval, credits earned in ACRE or AFR may be counted towards the experiential learning requirement.
Please review the Graduation Checklist for your year of matriculation for information about the credit caps for these courses.
The law school has a 22-credit maximum on certain non-classroom courses, including externships and most non-classroom electives. One-half of clinic credits count towards the 22-credit maximum. For further information see the current student Online Forms.
*Waivers may be granted in rare circumstances. Please refer to the student handbook for any waiver conditions.
Non-Credit Opportunities
Other exciting opportunities for McKinney students include the opportunity to participate in moot court or trial advocacy competitions, research scholarly works for one of our three law reviews, or help underrepresented populations in the Pro Bono program.
