All first-year law school students must take a course in contract law. The Contracts course gives you a solid knowledge base for many upper-level courses. Fortunately, you don’t have to wait for upper-level courses to put your knowledge to work. You’ll have the opportunity to build practice skills as you learn the law in our Contracts Laboratory.

As an integral part of your Contracts course, the Contracts Laboratory is built around professor-guided projects that apply contract doctrine and simulate transactional law practice. You will analyze client situations and needs in a variety of settings, developing legal solutions that range from revising existing agreements to drafting legally binding frameworks for future business challenges. The laboratory includes individual and group projects, allowing you to experience both the “eureka!” moments of personal problem solving and the synergy of attacking an issue as part of a legal team.

Your Contracts course may lead you to choose upper-level concentrations in business law or commercial law. If you are unsure whether these transactional practice areas will interest you, we believe you can best answer that question when you get the chance to do what lawyers do. That’s why, as part of our innovative first-year program, every Aggie law student participates in our Contracts Laboratory program.

Who participates in the Contracts Laboratory program? What do I need to do to enroll?

All law students in the entering class will automatically be a part of the Contracts Laboratory as part of their first-year Contracts course, regardless of who their professor is. You do not need to do anything additional to enroll.

I’m not sure if I’m interested in transactional law. How does this program help me?

While lawyers practice in numerous areas, most of the things lawyers do tend to be broadly grouped around litigation and dispute resolution, regulatory practice and transactional practice. We are committed to ensuring that our students have formative experiences in all three of these areas in their first-year coursework, because all lawyers need to understand the scope and variety of the legal profession as a whole. The Contracts Laboratory benefits you by helping you gain an introduction to what transactional lawyers do, regardless of your ultimate career path.

How can I find out more information about the Contracts Laboratory program?

Our Contracts faculty who are coordinating the program are available to provide additional information. Feel free to contact Wayne Barnes, Mark Burge, or William Magnuson with any questions.