UC Irvine Law's Third Year Intensive
Consistent with call for reform in legal education, the Third Year Intensive (TYI) is designed to engage 3L students through a focused project that places less emphasis on mastery of doctrine and instead emphasizes skills (ranging from particular types of writing to general skills like negotiation and counseling to more abstract skills like problem-solving). The TYI will allow students to build expertise in a specific area of law, to develop law practice skills beyond those acquired during the required clinic or Alternative Field Placement, and/or to design a capstone experience at the culmination of their legal education.
Not every student may wish to complete a TYI; some may prefer to use the third year to focus on classroom courses. For this reason, the faculty decided to encourage rather than mandate completion of the TYI it to accommodate the wide variety of student needs and interests without creating an additional graduation requirement. But for the many UCI students who already are doing ambitious and intensive academic work, advanced clinics, or pro bono projects in the third year, the TYI is intended to recognize their achievements and to remind students and prospective employers of the value of these intensive third year projects to the training of lawyers.
Third Year Intensive: Strengthening Student Competencies to Practice Law
The goal of the TYI is to encourage every student to pursue some form of intensive experience in the third year to enable him or her to develop and demonstrate the following crucial competencies:
- expertise in an area of law
- the capacity for strategic thinking gained when the student is in the active position of solving problems rather than in the passive position of learning law in a lecture/discussion format
- problem solving abilities
- project management skills gained by handling multiple or complex projects with
deadlines - sophisticated writing
Third Year Intensive: Requirements
The TYI is equivalent in work to a 3-unit course. That is, it must require at least 210 hours of work (the equivalent of at least the hours of class time, class preparation, and time spent preparing for a final or writing a final paper).
- A TYI need not be done for academic credit.
- A member of the faculty or administration must approve the TYI project.
- The TYI must include some written product reflecting legal knowledge, analysis, and
problem-solving skills. - A practicum or capstone course will satisfy the requirement, as will an advanced clinic,
an externship, directed research resulting in a substantial paper, or a note/article written
for publication in a law review or other journal. Faculty are encouraged to consider
teaching intensive practicum or capstone courses open only to third year students that
will provide a meaningful TYI experience. - The TYI MUST be completed in the third year.
Third Year Intensive: Mechanics
- The Course Catalogue will denote classes that can fulfill the TYI.
- Students may design an independent project in consultation with a faculty supervisor.
- Students are responsible for delivering the instructor’s certification of completion of the TYI form to the Law School Registrar’s office.
- THE DEADLINES to turn in the Third Year Intensive completion form to the Law School Registrar’s Office are (1) Fall Semester Projects: The first Friday after the beginning of the spring regular semester and (2) Spring Semester Projects: The second Friday after the last day of Spring semester exams. The Third Year Intensive notation will not appear on a student’s transcript if the form is turned in past the relevant deadline. No exceptions to deadlines will be granted.
- Completion of the TYI will be noted in the Memoranda section of the Law School’s official transcript. Third year students may complete the Intensive in either the fall or spring semester, or through a year-long project.