JD Program

Our four joint-degree programs allow students to complete their JDs while earning a Master’s Degree — in just 4 years. Not only can you shave a year of time and tuition off of your educational career, you can immerse yourself in complementary worlds of learning while expanding your post-graduation marketability.

• JD/MBA
• JD/MA Women's, Gender & Sexuality Studies
• JD/Master of Community Planning
• JD/MPA Social Justice 
• JD/MA or PhD Political Science

Areas of Study

Cincinnati Law offers second and third year law school students the opportunity to select from nine Areas of Study, based on their varied interests and often driven by their own career objectives and a desire to have a rigorous and fulfilling academic experience. Our areas of study are designed to help students identify courses that will be useful to them as they prepare to enter specific practice areas in the profession.

Career Resources for Current Students

Thinking like a lawyer might get you an interview, being a professional will get you the job.  From the beginning, the Center for Professional Development at UC Law will help you develop your professional brand, starting with Brand University during orientation and each week and month thereafter.

The CPD programs also expose students to the variety of professional settings in which graduates work and equips students with the tools necessary to manage their careers.

Real-World Learning

Practical experience not only boosts your résumé, it provides you with opportunities to build important connections, network across your interest areas and learn first-hand what different kinds of legal work entails.

Whether you dream of becoming a corporate executive, a prosecutor, judge or a social justice warrior, Cincinnati Law offers experiences, in our renowned centers and institutes and clinics, as well as through externships and fellowships, to help prepare you for a lifetime of success.

Fall Semester - First Year

• Civil Procedure – 4 credit hours
• Contracts – 4 credit hours
• Lawyering I: Legal Research and Writing – 3 credit hours
• Torts – 4 credit hours
  Total: 15 credit hours

Spring Semester - First Year

• Criminal Law – 3 credit hours
• Lawyering II: Advocacy – 3 credit hours
• Property – 4 credit hours
• Doctrinal Elective – 2–3 credit hours
• Foundational Skills Course – 2–3 credit hours
  Total: 15-16 credit hours

Explore our JD curriculum to see the courses that will shape your legal education, and review the degree requirements to understand what it takes to earn your JD.

On Orientation Day, Robby Belt (‘27) arrived at Cincinnati Law wearing a light blue suit. He knew he’d stand out as the only male student in a sea of black, navy, and gray, “Being gay coming to law school, I was worried because law is such a conservative field,” he said. But he wore it anyway.

As a law student, Robby now sees self-expression as something he has not only earned, but a way to show up authentically as a future attorney, “I’m very comfortable in my own skin now,” he said. “Yes, the law is conservative. But there are little things I still do to stay true to myself. And Cincinnati Law does a good job of promoting diversity.”

One of the ways he has stayed true to himself is his chosen career path. While many students from disenfranchised backgrounds excel in public interest law, Robby has found his passion in real estate and land use.

“Transactional corporate work is mostly straight white men,” he said. “But real estate law aligns with my skillset—and I want a career where burnout is manageable because I’m passionate about the work.”

The night before her first solo trial as a law student, Abby Hobbs (MA, JD, ‘26) received some last-minute edits to her prep from her supervising attorney at the Legal Aid Society of Greater Cincinnati. On the call, she chose not to hide her nerves, “I was so scared, and he was so calm,” she said. “I was like, ‘How are you not worried? I’m so worried.’”

The case was a custody dispute—a grandmother fighting for her grandson. Abby knew the stakes were high. But she was prepared. She had interviewed all the witnesses, compiled records, and gathered the evidence in her role as a Legal Aid Clinic intern. Though it was her first time carrying so much responsibility, when the time came, she presented the entire case in front of the magistrate, her supervising attorney seated quietly at the counsel table.

“I did the opening, I did the direct examination, I did the closing arguments,” Abby said. “Immediately after John (her supervising attorney) told me it went well, but I felt this crash. My adrenaline was just so high.”

That trial was one of many moments during law school that proved Abby’s persistence: no matter how difficult the situation was, she kept going. 

Third-year law student Andrew Geraghty’s face lights up when he talks about Cincinnati. A lifelong Cincinnatian, he considers himself a non-partisan ambassador of the city: a champion of its strengths while committed to addressing its challenges.

"I've had a great experience growing up here, but I know a lot of people who haven't," he said. " I want to be the person who steps in, listens, and builds bridges."

As an intern at Legal Aid of Greater Cincinnati while still in undergrad at Xavier University, Andrew was tasked with compiling eviction demographics. He was struck by the financial imbalance plaguing the city’s disadvantaged: landlords nearly always had legal representation, while tenants—mostly Black women and single mothers—did not.  

“A normal eviction hearing is over and done in 45 seconds. It was kind of like a turnstile in the subway,” he recalled. “I saw many people who were not given any recourse, and that’s what you want people to have above all else—a fair shot in our confusing legal system.”

Watching how evictions left some families not just homeless, but also made securing future housing nearly impossible, Andrew’s eyes opened to the systemic and legal barriers he hadn’t seen before. That’s when his path toward a law degree became clear.   

“I realized that as a person, you can advocate for people. But as a lawyer, you can advocate by changing the law,” he said.  "I wanted to be someone who works to make Cincinnati better."

After a long week of law school lectures, hours studying in the library, and part-time bartending shifts at the Aronoff Center, Kentucky native Drew Dear (JD, ‘25) and his Colombian roommate Daniel Borja Pineda (LLM, ‘25), like to gather over a box of fried chicken at a favorite local chain: Popeyes.  "It started because we were hungry and didn’t have any food in the apartment,” Drew laughed. “It turned into a whole group of international students and me going to Popeyes every Sunday.”  For Drew, this type of gathering is more than a meal—it’s a cherished time for cultural exchange and conversation with his peers and legal professionals from all over the world. And something he hopes won’t end after law school.

Dedicated to pursuing a career that bridges international business and human rights, Drew’s goal is to work in a field that allows him to travel the world. As a kid, he remembers flipping through his mom’s old Atlas, imagining the world beyond his rural Kentucky home. Pointing to a far-off country he’d say, “I’m going here someday.” 

His first trip abroad as a law student was with Cincinnati Law’s “Colombia and the Law” spring break short course, in partnership with the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana. It was Drew’s first time in South America. Stepping off the plane in Bogotá, he immediately knew he wasn’t in Kentucky anymore. Attending classes taught by Colombian law professors, Drew was fascinated to learn about international business and human rights from the lens of a completely different legal system. Later, during a tour of the Supreme Court of Colombia, Drew was struck by the enormity of all he was experiencing. He knew then he was on the right path.

Mohammed Alharthi (LLM, ‘19) walked into his first day as an attorney brimming with excitement. It was August 2024, and the past two months had been a cascade of good news. Weeks after receiving a job offer from Saudi Airlines, Mohammed and his wife discovered they were also expecting their first child. It was perfect timing. The job offer meant they would be moving closer to their parents, soon-to-be grandparents.

One of Mohammed’s top career goals as an attorney was to one day be able to provide for a family. This opportunity seemed to come at just the right time. Then, just five days before his start date, their daughter Heba—whose name means “gift” in Arabic—arrived a month early. 

“I became an aviation legal counsel and a father at the same time—it was very exciting,” he shared. Today, Mohammed’s day-to-day at Saudi Airlines involves legal compliance, contracts, and corporate litigation. He credits courses like Contracts, Legal Writing, and Client Counseling at Cincinnati Law for equipping him with the necessary skills to be a successful attorney.

When Lana El-Etr’s (JD, ‘26) family learned she was pursuing a third degree in higher education, there was not only support, but all sorts of questions:

• “How long will it take?” her dad wanted to know. 
• “What will you do?” her grandma asked. 
• “Where will you work?” her brother wondered. 
• “Will you stay close?” asked her mom.  

As the first to go to law school in her family, she knew it was a risk to pursue a JD. But her passion has always been in academics. While earning a dual Bachelor of Science in Genetics and Genomics Science and Master's of Science in Multidisciplinary Biomedical Science at the University of Alabama Birmingham, she enrolled in free edX courses from Harvard and MIT professors in her spare time. One course on bioethics detailed how data privacy, testing, and medical operations impact the legal field. After that, attaining a legal degree next just made sense.