Whether you’re hoping to get in on the ground floor advising a startup, want to help the family business, or plan to launch your own practice, our Small Firm Practice concentration will prepare you to hit the ground running. You’ll learn the varied skills you’ll need to succeed in these unique work environments while developing the academic and practical foundations essential to any legal career.
Students in the Small Firm Practice concentration benefit from many hands-on learning opportunities, including those provided by our Center for Business Law. This academic research center will help you focus your study and gain real-world experience as early as your first semester.
In addition to the myriad opportunities you’ll find as a law student, you’ll also benefit from our strong and industrious alumni network, full of successful solo practitioners and lawyers in small firms who are eager to help the next generation.
And whether you have a particular focus for your legal ambitions—or you want to explore your options—you will receive the guidance you need to make informed decisions along the way.
What Do Small Firm Practice Lawyers Do?
Small firm lawyers, including solo practitioners, can be found working in virtually every legal niche, including tax law, real estate, criminal law, education law, elder law, family law, immigration law, and much more. These lawyers must be trained not only in the area of law relevant to their field but in universal lawyering skills such as client counseling, litigation, and negotiation.
Given the wide breadth of practice areas and the self-directed nature of this work, small firm or solo practice is ideal for anyone seeking a more independent, flexible, and perhaps even unconventional legal career.
Experiential Learning Opportunities
Students in our Small Firm Practice concentration program have access to the following hands-on learning experiences, among others:
Small Firm Practice Courses
In addition to their foundational legal coursework, students pursuing a concentration in Small Firm Practice can choose among many exciting elective classes to meet their credit requirements. To complete a concentration in Small Firm Practice, students must earn 10 credits by completing courses from the following list.
- Accounting for Lawyers
- Administrative Law
- Advanced Clinic
- Business Bankruptcy
- Business Organizations
- Business Planning
- Business Practice Credit
- Business Transactions for Lawyers
- Children and the Law
- Consumer Bankruptcy
- Contract Drafting
- Crimmigration
- Divorce Practice
- Domestic Violence
- Electronic Discovery and Digital Evidence
- Employment Law
- Estate Planning
- Family Law
- Family Law Clinic
- Immigration Law
- Insurance Law
- Juvenile Law
- Labor Law
- Land Use Law
- Land Use Clinic
- Landlord-Tenant Law
- Law and the Elderly
- Law Practice Management
- Lawyering Process
- Local Government Law
- Mediation
- Mediation and Dispute Resolution Clinic
- Medical Malpractice Law
- Modern Real Estate Transactions
- Negotiation
- Nonprofit Organizations
- Personal Income Tax
- Perspectives: Evidence and Advocacy
- Products Liability
- Taxation of Business Entities
- Trademarks and Unfair Competition
- Trial Practice
- Wills, Estates and Trusts
- Wills, Estates and Trusts II
Small Firm Practice Advisor