Cardozo's Juris Doctor (J.D.) program combines a strong foundation of first-year courses in legal skills and methods with a rich and varied upper-level elective curriculum.

The school offers a traditional law school program of study consisting of 84 academic credits earned over three years. The first-year program consists of 30 credits, all in required courses. Second- and third-year courses are largely elective.

First-Year Curriculum

Fall Entry Curriculum

Fall Semester (15 Credits)

• Elements of Law (2 credits)
  • Elements of Law teaches how to read, analyze, and use judicial decisions and statutes. Without focusing on a particular body of substantive law, the course addresses questions of method that recur in all legal areas, including analogical reasoning, relying on and distinguishing judicial precedent, statutory interpretation, and the role of the judge.
• Contracts I (2 credits)
  • Contracts is the study of binding, voluntary, private agreements. Contract law determines when parties have made an enforceable agreement, when one party can escape or adjust the obligation to which it has agreed, and the consequences for breaching an agreement. Like Property and Torts, this is primarily a course in the “common law,” that is, judge-made law consisting of prior judicial decisions rather than legislation or agency regulations. However, significant attention is also given to Article II of the Uniform Commercial Code, a model statute governing the sale of goods which has been adopted in most states.
• Civil Procedure (5 credits)
  • Civil Procedure deals with the process of litigating a civil (as opposed to criminal) case in federal court. The course examines the legal rules governing the litigation process, including the kinds of cases that can be brought in federal court, the difference between the jurisdiction of federal and state courts,  the effect of final judgments on later litigation, service of process, pleadings, discovery, mechanisms for dismissing a suit before trial, post-trial motions, final judgment, and appeal.
• Torts (4 credits)
  • Torts concerns the civil legal remedies for private, non-contractual harms. Under what circumstances must someone who harms another's person or property pay for the harm caused? The course focuses on the goals of the tort system (compensating injured parties, deterring harmful conduct, doing justice between the parties), the different categories of liability (negligence, intentional torts, strict liability), the problem of causation, and defenses.  While the course concerns broad principles rather than specific torts, some time may be spent on the particular problems of defamation, medical malpractice, and products liability.
• Lawyering Skills and Legal Writing I (2 credits)
  • Legal Writing I focuses on basic principles of writing, language usage, organization and case reading; legal analysis, case synthesis and ethics in informational legal writing; manual and computer-assisted legal research methods and skills; and exercises in fact gathering and interviewing.

Spring Semester (15 Credits)

• Contracts II (3 credits)
  • (Continued from 1st Semester) Contracts is the study of binding, voluntary, private agreements. Contract law determines when parties have made an enforceable agreement, when one party can escape or adjust the obligation to which it has agreed, and the consequences for breaching an agreement. Like Property and Torts, this is primarily a course in the “common law,” that is, judge-made law consisting of prior judicial decisions rather than legislation or agency regulations. However, significant attention is also given to Article II of the Uniform Commercial Code, a model statute governing the sale of goods which has been adopted in most states.
• Constitutional Law I (3 credits)
  • This course offers an introduction to American constitutional law. Whereas Constitutional Law
    II is about individual rights and liberties, this course focuses on the powers of the federal
    government and the allocation of decision-making authority among government institutions. In
    particular, the course will examine federalism (the relationship and power distribution between
    the federal and state government) and separation of powers (the structure and interrelationship of
    the three branches of the federal government). This course will also examine the nature of and
    approaches to judicial review in cases interpreting the Constitution.
• Criminal Law (3 credits)
  • Criminal Law covers the basic principles of substantive criminal law. The course is concerned with when, and why, conduct is labeled and punished as "criminal."  After examining the standard justifications for criminal punishment, the course turns to overarching issues of criminal liability: state-of-mind requirements, the law of attempts, defenses (such as insanity, duress, self- defense, impossibility, mistake), and conspiracy.  Homicide is studied in detail; other crimes, such as rape and the various property crimes, may also be covered.
• Property (5 credits)
  • Property explores the institutions of American property law, with a focus on real property. Particular attention is given to the system of “estates in land,” which concerns the ways in which ownership of real property may be divided over time.  (Landlord-tenant law is one example of this sort of division.)  The course also considers how the legal system resolves disputes among co-owners of land. Finally, the course examines how property law minimizes conflicts between neighbors by limiting the uses to which an owner can put property; these limits include common law tort liability (nuisance law), private agreements (easements and covenants), and government regulation (takings and zoning law).
• Lawyering Skills and Legal Writing II (1 credit)
  • Legal Writing II features a class visit to an appellate court and focuses on advocacy writing skills and ethics through exercises in negotiation, litigation drafting and strategy. The course concludes with an exercise in appellate brief writing and oral argument development.

May-Entry Curriculum

May-entry students take the same courses over three semesters, beginning in the summer.

Summer Semester (10 credits) 

• Contracts (5 credits) 
• Criminal Law (3 credits) 
• Elements of Law (2 credits) 

Fall Semester (10 credits) 

• Civil Procedure (5 credits) 
• Torts (4 credits) 
• Lawyering Skills and Legal Writing I (1 credit) 

Spring Semester (10 credits) 

• Property (5 credits) 
• Constitutional Law (3 credits) 
• Lawyering Skills and Legal Writing II (2 credits) 

Upper-Level Curriculum

Upper-level courses vary from year to year, and new offerings are added to the curriculum in response to student interest and global and national events that impact the law. In addition, second- and third-year students may take one law-related graduate course per semester at The New School, located steps from Cardozo's door, and graduate courses offered by other schools within Yeshiva University.