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Dispute Resolution

Preparing you to resolve legal disputes outside of the court room.

For almost a decade, less than 1% of civil cases have gone to trial. The Dispute Resolution concentration at Creighton Law School prepares you to handle the other 99%.

Your Experience

Through the Werner Institute for Negotiation & Conflict Resolution a vibrant pillar of the law school, students learn how to resolve legal disputes outside of the courtroom using negotiation, mediation and arbitration.

This concentration will provide you with an understanding of the law and policy underlying these widely-used alternatives to litigation. The core courses provide a unique opportunity to practice these key legal skills while receiving one-on-one feedback. Elective courses allow you to deepen your understanding of how dispute resolution is used in the area of law you are most interested in. Students can extend the classroom experience through arbitration, mediation, and negotiation competitions.

By the time you leave, you will have an understanding of when and how to resolve legal disputes outside of the court room, along with the skills to do so. Whether you are pursuing a transactional or litigation path, these skills and knowledge prepare you for practice.

    Your Courses

    To complete your Dispute Resolution concentration, you will be required to complete 18 credit hours of work, a minimum GPA of 3.0 within the concentration and a substantial writing requirement.

    The dispute resolution concentration requires three (3) mandatory courses:

    1. Negotiation – Law 410 (3 Credits)
    2. Mediation Process – Law 404 (3 credits)
    3. One arbitration course – Arbitration (Law 315, 3 credits), Arbitration Advocacy (Law 327, 3 credits), or International Arbitration (Law 383, 2 credits)

    You may select additional courses in dispute resolution from the list of designated elected courses set forth in the concentration guidelines listed below.

    Students must successfully complete a substantial project. Students may fulfill this requirement by successfully completing any of the following courses:

    • Arbitration (if not taken as a core course)
    • Arbitration Advocacy (if not taken as a core course)
    • International Arbitration (if not taken as a core course)
    • Selected Externships
    • Selected DR Competitions
    • Substantial Writing Project

    a. Negotiation – Law 410 (3 Credits)
    b. Mediation Process – Law 404 (3 credits)
    c. One arbitration course – Arbitration (Law 315, 3 credits), Arbitration Advocacy (Law 327, 3 credits), or International Arbitration (Law 383, 2 credits)

    a. Administrative Law – Law 307 (3 Credits)
    b. Alternative Dispute Resolution – Law 310 (3 credits, must be taken before or concurrently with the first required course to count toward concentration credits)
    c. Arbitration – Law 315 (3 Credits)
    d. Arbitration Advocacy – Law 327 (3 credits)
    e. Client Interviewing and Legal Counseling – Law 328 (3 Credits)
    f. Commercial Contract Drafting – Law 434 (3 Credits)
    g. Elder Law – Law 350 (3 credits)
    h. Employment Law – Law 398 (3 Credits)
    i. Employment Discrimination Law – Law 346 (2-3 credits)
    j. Estate Planning – Law 353 (2 credits)
    k. Externship with NewEra ADR or other dispute resolution externships – Law 500 (1-6 credits)
    l. Family Law Practice – Law 358 (3 credits)
    m. Health Care Organizations – Law 376 (2 credits)
    n. International Business Contracting – Law 372 (3 credits)
    o. International Arbitration (Law 383, 2 credits)
    p. Labor Law – Law 381 (3 Credits)
    q. Selected Research Topics – Law 435 (1-3 credits)
    r. Sports Law – Law 425 (3 credits)
    s. Pretrial Litigation – Law 454 (3 credits)
    t. Faculty-approved external negotiation, mediation, and arbitration competition teams upon prior approval of the Concentration Advisor.

    Students must successfully complete a substantial project. Students may fulfill this requirement by successfully completing any of the following courses:

    • Arbitration (if not taken as a core course)
    • Arbitration Advocacy (if not taken as a core course)
    • International Arbitration (if not taken as a core course)
    • Selected Externships*
    • Selected DR Competitions**
    • Substantial Writing Project***

    *Externships must have an DR focus, such as NewEra ADR externship.

    **DR Competitions include the ABA Negotiation, Mediation, and Arbitration competitions. Other DR competitions must be approved in advance by the concentration advisor.

    ***Students completing a substantial writing project must engage in research and produce a substantial paper or court document related to alternative dispute resolution. As in the Energy concentration, this requirement can be satisfied by satisfactory completion and submission of a written document that falls within any of the following categories:

    1. Law Review Note, with approval of the Concentration Advisor and with a faculty member as advisor
    2. A Mediation, Arbitration, or Court Document, e.g. Amicus, Brief or Memorandum of Law (real or moot) with the approval of the Concentration Advisor and with a faculty member as advisor. The writing must be the student’s sole work. If it is a co-authored brief, the student must be the sole author of a section of the brief.
    3. Qualifying paper in any Designated Elective Course
    4. Independent Study approved in accordance with the policies set forth in the Creighton School of Law Handbook and overseen by a Faculty member and with approval of the Concentration Advisor.

    The writing requirement requires input and approval from a faculty member and the Concentration Advisor, even if the writing was completed outside a formal class or independent study arrangement. A student may fulfill the writing requirement through an alternative method with the consent of the Concentration Advisor.

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