PROPOSED MASTERS OF STUDIES IN LAW (MSL) PROGRAM A. Description of the Proposed Program The faculty of the University of Colorado Law School (“Colorado Law”) propose to create a new Masters of Studies in Law (MSL) degree. The MSL will be a one-year program requiring twenty-eight credits of coursework that enables students who hold at least an undergraduate degree to obtain legal training short of a full JD. This proposal stems from several significant developments in the markets for legal services and for legal education. First, just as an increasing number of medical tasks now are handled by nurse practitioners (as opposed to doctors), an increasing number of legal tasks are handled by non-lawyers. Moreover, a wide variety of business roles require some legal knowledge in order to be effective at their jobs. Thus, at the same time that demand for traditional JD programs is falling (the number of U.S. law school applicants in 2013 fell by over 45% from 2009 numbers),1 demand for more limited legal training programs is increasing. In response to this shift, over 60 universities now offer MSL-type programs.2 Colorado Law proposes to respond to these market dynamics by creating its own MSL program, which reflects the unique strengths of Colorado Law and the particular needs of the Colorado market. In designing our MSL degree, we are leveraging the lessons we have learned from our relatively new LL.M degree, which has been granted to students in four consecutive classes. Most importantly, through our experience with the LL.M degree, we have conducted vital proof of concept experiments in the best way to administer a new masters degree program in a law school of our size and character, and we would plan to emulate many of these design features in the MSL program. At the same time, we think the MSL will tap a much broader market for students and employers than the LL.M. If the MSL is approved, we will end the LL.M degree program and treat the incoming Fall 2015 LL.M class as our last. We will then use the economic framework for the LL.M program in administering the MSL program. 1. Proposed MSL Degree Program—Concentrated Study in Areas of Excellence The MSL degree we propose will require admitted students to complete twenty-eight credits of approved coursework. Most recipients of the new degree will complete their studies in one academic year, but we will build in flexibility to allow exceptions to accommodate non- 1 http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/31/education/law-schools-applications-fall-as-costs-rise-and-jobs-are-cut.html 2 For a listing of the 60+ schools reporting MSL enrollment see Data From the 2013 Annual Questionnaire ABA- Approved Law School JD and Non JD Enrollment Data: Fall 2013, American Bar Association (posted 1/18/2014), http://www.americanbar.org/groups/legal_education/resources/statistics.html. A comparison of some of the more prominent of these programs with the proposed Colorado Law MSL program appears in Exhibit A. traditional cases such as students who work part-time while earning the degree over one-and-a- half or two years. Every MSL student will be required to take two core courses—one an Introduction to American Law and another in legal writing—to graduate. In addition, students will be required to complete some mix of required and elective courses, according to their prescribed specialty track, as discussed next. We are seeking approval for a general degree in legal studies, but we intend to offer the degree in specific, pre-designated specialty tracks. At this stage, we have not yet designed the process we will use to designate specialty tracks. But we can give some indication for the likely general shape of these tracks. First, we have identified what we believe to be an especially compelling opportunity to offer a track designed to train patent agents. This is the job title given to legal professionals who are certified by the United States and Patent and Trademark Office (“PTO”) to practice one narrow but important form of law: representing inventors in front of the PTO applying for a patent on an invention. Patent agents do not have JD degrees and are not certified by the state bar to practice other forms of law. Among many other compelling reasons for this track, we would use it to build on our already strong ties to the University’s Technology Transfer Office. We would also hope to develop connections through this program to the newly created Denver Field Office of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. In Exhibit B, we provide a longer justification and sample curriculum for this specialty track. Like the potential track for patent agents, all of our specialty tracks will be selected and designed to give graduates the legal skills necessary to excel at a particular job or in a particular industry. As described in more detail below in Section B1, these tracks will respond to student and employer demand. At least some of the tracks will be drawn from three core areas of emphasis: (1) environmental, natural resources, and energy law; (2) technology and intellectual property law; and (3) entrepreneurial/business law. These are these same three areas of focus we chose for our LL.M degree. Over time we will develop tracks outside these three areas (compliance, for example, is a cross-cutting discipline that could apply to fields such as health care as well as natural resources and banking). Natural Resources, Energy, and Environmental Law Colorado Law is consistently ranked among the top natural resources law programs in the nation. MSL students who focus on this area of study will graduate with the skills to provide immediate value to government, industry, law firms, and non-profit organizations that confront legal and policy issues in ecosystem management, water and air quality, mineral and oil mining, wildlife conservation, and public and private land ownership. Currently, Colorado Law offers several natural resource law classes each semester. Classes include: Environmental Law, Foundations of Natural Resources Law and Policy, Climate Change Law and Policy, Energy Insecurity and Sustainable Energy, Energy Law and Regulation, International Environmental Law, Land Use Planning, Mining and Energy Law, Oil and Gas, Public Land Law, Water Resources, Advanced Natural Resources Law Seminar, and the Environmental Philosophy and Law Seminar. Additionally, Colorado Law students have the 2 opportunity to take the Natural Resources, Energy, & Environmental Law Clinic, where students engage in litigation and advocacy aimed at protecting the natural resources of the Rocky Mountain region. Students will be able to avail themselves of the rich and vibrant intellectual environment that is created by the Getches Wilkinson Center (GWC), formerly the Natural Resources Law Center (NRLC). The NRLC was founded in 1982 to inform and influence natural resource law and policy. At any given time, the GWC has a number of distinct research and consultant projects in process. Many are multi-year efforts that feature distinct phases that could incorporate student research and writing. In addition, the GWC regularly sponsors conferences, seminars and presentations that will expose MSL students to decision-makers in government, industry, and the academy throughout their study at Colorado Law. Our setting amid the foothills of the Rocky Mountains allows the mind and spirit to soar. The University of Colorado at Boulder leads the nation in research and programs addressing environmental and natural resources issues, partnering with leading federal agencies, including the Boulder-based National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the National Center for Atmospheric Research, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and numerous major non- profit and advocacy groups. Technology and Intellectual Property Law Students in specialty tracks relating to technology and intellectual property law will explore the frontiers of technology policy and intellectual property while preparing to work in the information age. These students will learn the legal foundations for protecting and commercializing intellectual property, along with how to draft contracts and/or patent applications. The patent agent track described above would fit within this broader category, but we would hope to create other, related tracks over time. Colorado Law offers multiple technology and intellectual property focused courses, including: Introduction to Intellectual Property Law, Computers and the Law, Copyright, Intellectual Property Counseling and Prosecution, IP and Technology Contracting, Law and Economics in the Information Age, Patent Law, Patent Litigation, Telecommunications Law and Policy, Trademark and Unfair Competition Law, Information Privacy, and Law and Economics of Utility Regulation. Additionally, the Samuelson-Glushko Technology Law & Policy Clinic, provides students with the opportunity to advocate in the public interest concerning technology issues in front of regulatory entities, courts, legislatures, and standard setting bodies. Outside the classroom, the MSL students who focus on technology and intellectual property will have an abundant array of activities sponsored by the Silicon Flatirons Center for Law, Technology and Entrepreneurship (SFC). This Center hosts leading technology policy conferences, bringing together legal, technical, regulatory, and business experts to debate policy issues, and facilitates networking and the development of “human capital” in the technology community. Through the SFC, degree program students will have access