At the beginning of their semester in residence, WCL students meet with the UPX Program Director and other members of the Nanterre law department to plan their course work.
All students in the program are expected to enroll in three special introductory courses: Introduction to French Law, Survey of European Union Law, and Legal Translation (English-French and French-English).
Together, these courses total approximately 65 hours of classroom time. In order to earn the maximum of 12 J.D. credits, students must select other courses totaling 75 hours. The formula on which awards of J.D. credit are based, which is prescribed by the American Bar Association, requires 700 minutes of class time for each credit earned. Thus, a total of 140 hours of class time is required to earn the full 12 credits available.
With the permission of the instructor and the UPX Program Director, WCL students are eligible to enroll in any of the courses offered in the department, from introductory to graduate level.
A complete list of each semester's regular course offerings and meeting times will be available only about six weeks before the beginning of the term. Students admitted to the Cooperative Program will receive this listing as it becomes available. Note that not every course will be offered every semester, and that some other courses may be non-divisible year-long offerings.
In making their course selections, participants in the Cooperative Program will want to bear in mind that law classes at UPX range from large lectures (with several hundred students) to small seminars (with 10 or 15). Moreover, some subject-matters may be taught, alternatively, as both large lectures and seminars, offering WCL students a choice.
The first semester at UPX begins in September and concludes with final exams in January. The second semester begins in February and ends with exams in June. It may be possible for WCL students to arrange to take their exams out of the regular cycle. More specific dates are available on the UPX website.
for WCL Students at UPX
If a sufficient number of WCL students enroll in the Cooperative Exchange Program, we will offer special "Pre-program Sessions" during the two weeks preceding the beginning of classes at UPX. This will be a time for WCL participants to receive intensive language instruction and an introduction to the French legal system and law study in France, as well as a chance to settle into housing and get acquainted with the Nanterre campus and administration. If an insufficient number of students enroll to justify the offering of formal "Pre-Program Sessions," equivalent orientation and language study opportunities will be provided on an informal basis. Opportunities also exist for further language study during the course of the academic semester.
Acceptance of credit is subject to a determination by WCL that the course in question satisfies academic standards. The WCL Program Director reviews the proposed schedule of each student to assure the creditworthiness of their selections.
In the UPX law department, student performance is assessed, from course to course, using combinations of various different methods: written and oral final examinations, final papers, shorter written exercises, and evaluation of classroom performance. Each professor announces the basis on which course grades will be awarded at the beginning of the semester. In particular cases, when requested, the course instructor and the UPX Program Director may make special provisions for the evaluation of the performance of program participants from WCL.
In grading WCL program participants in courses taught in French, instructors take into account the fact that these students' language facility may be less than that of their French classmates. Even so, the general grading "curve" (for all students) at UPX is considerably lower than that to which American law students are accustomed. Therefore, specific course grades are not transferred from UPX to WCL for classes from the law department's general list of course offerings; instead, students who successfully complete such courses at UPX earn ungraded credit toward their J.D. degrees.
WCL participants in the Cooperative Program do not earn a degree at UPX; upon successful completion of a semester's study, however, they receive a special diploma -- the D.E.J.E.I. (Diplôme D'Etudes Juridiques Européens et Internationales). If a program participant were to return to UPX to pursue a graduate degree following his/her graduation from WCL with a J.D., credits earned in the Cooperative Program could be applied toward that degree.
