TO:
Rutgers School of Law Students and Other Eligible Applicants
FROM:
Associate Dean John S. Podolski
RE:
Summer Session 2005 - Introductory Information
Each year, the law school offers an eight-week summer session which is designed to allow
both full- and part-time students a great deal of flexibility in planning their academic program. For
example, enrolling in summer session provides students the opportunity to earn credit towards their
graduation requirement of 84 credits. Students who are employed not more than fifteen hours per
week during the summer may register for six to eight credits in the summer term. Attending two
summer sessions thus enables students to accelerate their course of study, if desired.
Another example of the flexibility provided by summer session attendance is that Rutgers-
Camden students may earn writing credits towards the graduation requirement of nine writing credits
in any of the following courses: Advanced Brief Writing, Civil Practice Clinic, Disability Law,
Persuasion in Legal Writing, the day section of Professional Responsibility, the American Legal
History Seminar, and Senior Research. Please check the course schedule for enrollment limits and
other restrictions on these offerings.
This summer, the law school will again offer a six-credit, limited-enrollment Externship
Program. Qualified students who have completed their second year of law school, who have fulfilled
the appropriate prerequisites, and who are approved by selected civil and criminal supervising
agencies will complete 336 hours of work on a schedule suitable to their needs. Students will also
participate in class meetings approximately once every two weeks and will submit to the Externship
Program Director reports and journals related to their experience. (Please note that no judicial
chambers will be available for summer externships.) Interested students must contact Externship
Director, Professor Harriet Katz, to review options and be referred to a placement.
Part-time students who have completed their first year may take any summer session course,
except Civil Practice Clinic, the Externship Program (for which there are prerequisites), and Senior
Research. In particular, part-time students may take Professional Responsibility as an alternative to
completing this course in the third semester of evening study.
Another benefit of the summer program is that students who may feel constrained by the
maximum-credit-load restrictions of the regular academic term have the chance to broaden their
curricular experience by attending summer classes. Courses are offered in both day and evening time
slots to allow flexibility in attendance options. A final advantage of enrolling in summer session is
that it offers Rutgers-Camden students the opportunity to meet and interact with other law school
colleagues, because we welcome summer session candidates from other institutions.
In the summer, three-credit courses meet six hours each week; two-credit courses, four hours
per week. Eight credits is the maximum credit load. There is no minimum credit load requirement.
In all limited-enrollment courses, Rutgers-Camden students are given first priority for available
seats. Please do not hesitate to contact me (Room 600D, telephone 856-225-6252, or e-mail:
podolski@camlaw.rutgers.edu) if you have additional questions about Summer Session 2005.