Informatics Curriculum
The business informatics (MBI) portion of this degree offers practical, hands-on experience and theoretical discussions of current and future trends in developing applications and managing corporate information systems. The purpose of the informatics courses is to provide students a good understanding of the information technology and information systems areas so as to incorporate them fully and practically into a legal environment.
The MBI program requires a competence in basic business courses or background. Additional foundation courses may be required for those students admitted to the program with a limited business or programming educational background. The requirement of these courses can be met based on undergraduate/graduate (transcripted) coursework completed or with professional experience.
All students in the JD/MBI program must take all required law courses plus the following:
- Agency, Partnerships, and LLCs (3 credits) or Corporations (3 credits) or Business Organizations (4 credits)*
- Informatics and Cyberspace Law (3 credits)
- Information Privacy Law (3 credits)
- Intellectual Property Survey (3 credits)
- Tax-Basic Income Tax Concepts (3 credits)
- UCC: Sales and Secured Transactions (3 credits) or UCC: Payment Systems (3 credits)
Required Courses
For students matriculating at Chase on or after August 1, 2014, the required law courses (total of 44 credit hours) are the following:
- Basic Legal Research (2 credits)
- Basic Legal Writing (3 credits)
- Civil Procedure (4 credits)
- Constitutional Law I (3 credits)
- Constitutional Law II (3 credits)
- Contracts I (3 credits)
- Contracts II (2 credits)
- Criminal Law (3 credits)
- Criminal Procedure (3 credits)
- Evidence (4 credits)
- Legal Analysis and Problem Solving (1 credit)
- Professional Responsibility (3 credits)
- Property I (2 credits)
- Property II (3 credits)
- Torts I (3 credits)
- Torts II (2 credits)
*Students taking courses at both Chase and the College of Informatics prior to August 1, 2013 are required to take both Agency, Partnership and LLCs (3 credits) and Corporations (3 credits), or those students can take Business Organizations (4 credits), but these students are not required to take Information Privacy Law (3 credits) and Informatics and Cyberspace Law (3 credits). Students taking courses at both Chase and the College of Informatics on or after August 1, 2013 are required to take Agency, Partnership and LLCs (3 credits), Corporations (3 credits), or Business Organizations (4 credits), and are required to take Information Privacy Law (3 credits) and Informatics and Cyberspace Law (3 credits). The number of required credits is affected by these requirements.
Elective Courses
The additional hours needed to fulfill the total of 81 law school hours will be taken from other courses offered by the College of Law, all as elective hours in the joint degree program - whether those courses are offered as Core courses or as Elective courses in the regular law curriculum.
Note: The Core Curriculum will not apply to students in the joint degree program.
Advanced Writing Requirements
Students in the joint degree program shall fulfill both parts of the Advanced Writing Requirement.
Skills Training
Every student must pass at least three credit hours of professional skills training beyond the required curriculum. Courses that satisfy this requirement will be identified on the course notes that accompany registration instructions provided each semester.
Additional Information and Requirements
Students enrolled in the joint program should complete their first year of the JD program before beginning to take courses in the College of Informatics. Thereafter, students are encouraged to blend their classes each semester so that a student can gain a better understanding of the interplay between law and informatics.
Students enrolled in the joint degree program are advised to take these courses, as they are available: Patent Law and Patent Prosecution.
No more than 6 hours of credit from courses listed in the “18 Hour Rule” will apply to the 81 hours needed to fulfill the law hours in the joint degree program.
Minimum Law School Grade Point Average
Students in the joint degree program must maintain at least a 2.5 cumulative grade point average in all courses after their first 30 hours of law study and thereafter. Students who do not achieve this GPA will not be permitted to continue in the joint degree program but will be permitted to complete the law degree consistent with academic policies, standards, and requirements applicable to all other law students. The College of Informatics will determine whether that student may continue to pursue the MBI degree outside of the joint degree program.
Academic Standing
A student who fails to meet academic requirements of the College of Informatics but who satisfies the academic requirements of the College of Law will be permitted to continue to pursue his or her law degree. Such a student will be required to meet all of the academic requirements of students who are not in the joint degree program.
A student who fails to meet the academic requirements of the College of Law will not be permitted to continue pursuing the law portion of the joint degree. The College of Informatics will determine whether that student may continue to pursue the MBI degree.
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