This Bulletin is the comprehensive source of academic information and program requirements for Penn State’s Dickinson Law. Learn about our innovative coursework, including our reimagined curriculum, “The Lawyer As…,” joint degree and certificate programs, and experiential learning opportunities.
Features
Changes Page
- Real-time amendments to information in the Bulletin will be tracked on the Changes page.
- Currently or previously enrolled students should consult their adviser and degree audit reports for specific requirements.
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- course title, description, and credits;
- prerequisites;
- if blind grading is utilized.
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Changes to the Penn State Dickinson Law Bulletin
Changes to the Penn State Dickinson Law Bulletin will be tracked in real-time and listed below. At the end of every semester, these updates will be incorporated into the Bulletin.
Courses Added: Effective Spring 2026
- LWCLI 965: Criminal Appellate & Post-Conviction Services Clinic
- LWCUR 918: Alternative Dispute Resolution
- LWELA 917: Information Privacy Law
- LWELA 922: Corporate Valuation in M&A
- LWELA 973: Introduction to Private Wealth Planning
- LWEXP 923: Law Practice Management
- LWEXP 933: Winning Written Advocacy
- LWEXP 968: Research and Writing for Judicial Clerkships
- LWEXP 975: Litigation Skills
- LWEXT 905: Semester-in-Practice
- LWSEM 952: The Lawyer's Role In Helping Close The Minority-White Gap In Business Ownership
- LWSEM 979: Federal Crimes
- LWSEM 996: Individual Research and Writing Seminar
Course Changes: Effective Spring 2026
CCLAW 957: Banking Regulation (2 Credits)
Old Listing Effective Through Fall 2025:
This course will focus on banks as financial intermediaries and compare them to both the securities and insurance industries. The dual banking system of state and federal regulation will be explored as to bank formation, supervision and regulation. The course will explore the ownership and control issues affecting banks and the supervision and regulation of bank holding companies and their subsidiaries engaged in nontraditional banking activities. The causes of the financial crisis of 2007-2009, together with the reaction of financial institutions, the states, the U.S. Congress and the regulators to the crisis, will also be examined. The course will include an assessment of the deposit insurance system and the problems associated with troubled and failed banks. The course will emphasize the potential administrative enforcement, civil and criminal exposure of both regulated entities and individuals involved within those industries.
Changes Effective Spring 2026:
- Changed Course Abbreviation to LWELA
- Changed Course Number to 909
- Changed Credits
LWELA 918: Remedies (3 Credits)
Old Listing Effective Through Fall 2025:
Article Two of the Uniform Commercial Code is an integrated body of statutory law that prescribes the rights and obligations of parties involved in transactions in goods. This course emphasizes the special techniques of statutory construction utilized in interpreting a code as opposed to an isolated statute. The course topics are: code methodology (including the history and jurisprudence of Article Two), contract formation and interpretation, performance obligations, breach and remedies.
Changes Effective Spring 2026:
- Changed Course Description
CCLAW 964: Business Planning for Mergers and Acquisitions I (3 Credits)
Old Listing Effective Through Fall 2025:
This course first focuses on various topics that are important in M&A transactions involving both closely-held corporations, including directors duties, shareholder voting and dissenters' rights, basic issues under the Federal securities laws, fundamentals of Federal income taxation and accounting, use of modern valuation techniques, including DCF and CAPM, in M&A, and basic issues in antitrust and pre-merger notification. The course then turns to an analysis of various forms of negotiated acquisition, including acquisitions of stock and assets of closely-held corporations and acquisitions of publicly-held corporations in negotiated transactions. The course is based on the first half of Thompson, Business Planning for Mergers and Acquisitions: Corporate, Securites, Tax, Antitrust, International, and Related Aspects (2008).
Changes Effective Spring 2026:
- Changed Course Abbreviation to LWELA
- Changed Course Number to 921
CCLAW 954: Nonprofit Organizations (3 Credits)
Old Listing Effective Through Fall 2025:
This course provides an overview of laws and policies that affect that nonprofit sector, a vital component of national and international economics. It covers alternative organizational structures, including the creation and operation of a nonprofit corporation under U.S. laws. The course examines the status, rights and fiduciary obligations of directors and members. The course introduces tax laws applicable to nonprofit organiations, including the importance of obtaining and maintaining tax exempt status, public charity or private foundation status, and the taxable status of "unrelated business income." The course looks at the laws governing charitable giving.
Changes Effective Spring 2026:
- Changed Course Abbreviation to LWELA
- Changed Course Number to 954
- Changed Course Title
- Changed Abbreviated Title
- Changed Credits
- Changed Course Description
CCLAW 956: Agricultural Law (3 Credits)
Old Listing Effective Through Fall 2025:
This course will introduce students to the range of current and emerging issues that confront agricultural producers, agri-business firms, and other segments of that broader sector of the economy referred to as the "food industry." The course will address a variety of issues including the history and objectives of agricultural policy, land use planning for agricultural activities, resource use and allocation, industrialization in the agricultural sector, intergenerational transfers of farm businesses, international trade, and ethical issues that confront practitioners.
Changes Effective Spring 2026:
- Changed Course Abbreviation to LWELA
- Changed Course Number to 957
CCLAW 969: Insurance Law (3 Credits)
Old Listing Effective Through Fall 2025:
Many types of insurance such as auto, health, and homeowners insurance are mandatory. Consequently, insurance law, which developed from tort and contract law, impacts both the personal and professional lives of attorneys and it is an integral area of the law for numerous practice settings including personal injury, insurance defense, and in-house counsel. The course addresses the subject of insurance law from both a theoretical and practical perspective. It also covers "claims made" insurance, insurers' defense obligations, insurer bad faith, broker liability, the rules of insurance policy interpretation, and the role of public policy in insurance law.
Changes Effective Spring 2026:
- Changed Course Abbreviation to LWELA
SKILS 965: Federal Courts (3 Credits)
Old Listing Effective Through Fall 2025:
This course addresses the relationship of federal courts to administrative agencies and state courts.
Changes Effective Spring 2026:
- Changed Course Abbreviation to LWELA
- Changed Course Number to 987
- Changed Credits
- Changed Course Description
EXPSK 915: Blockchain, Cryptocurrency and Law (3 Credits)
Old Listing Effective Through Fall 2025:
This experiential course will provide students with an engaging overview of blockchain technology, cryptocurrency, and smart contracts to introduce them to the essential information every student should know about the legal implications of this emerging, disruptive global technology. The legal landscape includes government, payment systems, intellectual property, regulation, and civil and criminal liability. Blockchain technology is poised to disrupt virtually every industry on a global scale in ways neither rivaled nor contemplated since the advent of the Internet. This course will involve individual and group work and challenge students to consider how technology will impact their lives, their communities, and the world and prepare them to stay on the leading edge of innovation. Additionally, expert guest lecturers from the ecosystem (tech, law, business) will visit the class in person or via Zoom to present current issues, hot topics, and future trends.
Changes Effective Spring 2026:
- Changed Course Abbreviation to LWEXP
- Changed Course Description
LWEXP 983: Representing the Entrepreneur (3 Credits)
Old Listing Effective Through Fall 2025:
This course considers legal issues typically arising in the course of representing an entrepreneurial venture, including choice of appropriate entity, naming and trade names, agreements among initial and early owners, operational management, governance, succession, equity and debt finance, intellectual property issues, employment arrangements and applicable employment statutes, executive compensation, typical operational contracts, risk management and ethical issues. This course will also review customary financial statements, business strategies in terms of long-term development or early exit, and common exit alternatives. The objective is to give participants an introduction to the diverse legal problems that they are likely to encounter in an entrepreneurial setting, either as lawyers for the enterprise or as owners of an equity position in the enterprise.
Changes Effective Spring 2026:
- Changed Concurrents
- Added Recommended Preparation
SEM 933: Protection of Individual Rights Under State Constitutions Seminar (2 Credits)
Old Listing Effective Through Fall 2025:
With the perception that the federal judiciary is increasingly hostile to constitutional claims, individuals have turned to state constitutions as an independent source of rights in civil and criminal litigation. This course will explore the unique procedures and methods of state constitutional rights interpretation. In lieu of an examination, persons enrolled in the course will brief questions of state constitutional law in an arena where the United States Constitution fails to afford protection.
Changes Effective Spring 2026:
- Changed Course Abbreviation to LWSEM
- Changed Course Number to 912
- Changed Course Description