Litigation and Alternative Dispute Resolution (J.D. Certificate)
For the aspiring litigator or mediator, this innovative program combines comprehensive training in trial skills, negotiation, and mediation with a rigorous clinical curriculum.
The curriculum of the J.D. Certificate Program in Litigation and Alternative Dispute Resolution stresses the connection between legal doctrine, skills and values, and the art of lawyering. It aims to produce reflective practitioners who incorporate high standards of competence, ethics, and social responsibility.
Through our in-house law firm, students work directly with clients on civil rights/employment discrimination, criminal defense, immigration, family, health and disability, or tax law cases, and they conduct real-world mediations in a variety of areas after becoming certified mediators.
Day and evening students may apply to the program in the spring of their first year at Chicago-Kent.
Program Overview
The J.D. Certificate Program in Litigation and Alternative Dispute Resolution stresses the connection between legal doctrine, skills and values, and the art of lawyering. It aims to produce reflective practitioners who incorporate high standards of competence, ethics, and social responsibility.
Career Opportunities
Civil litigators can be found in law firms, solo practice, nonprofits, and the legal departments of corporations. Mediators and arbitrators can be found in private ADR firms, law firms, nonprofits, corporations, federal and state courts, and state and federal administrative agencies. Clients include large or small businesses, corporations, labor unions, U.S. government agencies, and individual disputants.
Career paths include:
- Arbitrator
- Labor negotiator
- Litigator
- Mediator
- Public interest attorney
- Solo practitioner
To earn the litigation and alternative dispute resolution certificate, students must complete 21 credit hours of approved course work, which includes five required lawyering process courses, one required doctrinal course, and one elective doctrinal course.
This program is open only to J.D. students at Chicago-Kent College of Law.