Georgetown Law’s full-time 1L year is 30 required credits across five sections, with four sections following Curriculum A and one—Section 3—following Curriculum B. Both curricula carry the same number of credits and use the same faculty-recommended grading curve. Every 1L also takes Legal Practice: Writing and Analysis, and students get access to 1L 101 academic-skills programming plus an optional January Week One simulation.
| Question | Current answer |
|---|---|
| Full-time 1L credits | 30 |
| Full-time sections | 5 |
| Curriculum A sections | 4 |
| Curriculum B sections | 1 (Section 3) |
| Curriculum B size | About 115 students |
| Curve | Same faculty-recommended curve across A and B |
| Writing course | Legal Practice: Writing and Analysis |
| January practical course | Optional Week One Simulations |
Curriculum A includes Civil Procedure, Constitutional Law I, Contracts, Constitutional Criminal Procedure, Legal Practice: Writing and Analysis, Property, Torts, and a first-year elective.
Curriculum B reorganizes the same core foundation through Bargain, Exchange & Liability; Democracy & Coercion; Government Processes; Foundations of American Legal Thought; Legal Process & Society; Property in Time; and Legal Practice.
Curriculum B is Georgetown’s integrated 1L curriculum. It teaches the same foundational law but organizes courses around cross-cutting themes and adds more history, economics, philosophy and legal theory. Georgetown says Curriculum B students receive all essential first-year instruction needed for upper-level courses and the bar.
Students request a seat during the summer; when demand exceeds capacity, assignment is by lottery.
No. Georgetown explicitly states that both curricula carry the same number of credits and are subject to the same faculty-recommended grading curve.
Full-time J.D. classes are generally scheduled between 9:00 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. Current 1L schedules show doctrinal courses often meeting two or three times a week, with Legal Practice meeting in smaller groups. Georgetown publishes current section schedules in its Curriculum Guide.
See the Georgetown Curriculum Guide for Fall 2026 and Spring 2027 first-year schedules.
Your section is the core academic unit for the year. Students take most first-year courses with the same section, and Georgetown also uses smaller groups for Legal Practice and selected doctrinal courses. Those smaller groups are where many study groups, friendships and faculty relationships form.
1L 101 is Georgetown’s academic-skills series covering how to brief cases, synthesize a semester, prepare for exams and handle other mechanics that doctrinal classes may not teach directly.
Week One Simulations is an optional one-credit January course where 1Ls practice lawyer tasks such as interviewing, counseling, negotiation, drafting, trial skills, strategic planning and presentations.
The Law Center is in downtown Washington, DC—not in Georgetown’s main undergraduate campus. That gives students unusually direct access to federal courts, agencies, Capitol Hill, nonprofits and law firms during the academic year.
Evening 1Ls earn 19 credits in the first year and attend classes on four evenings. Georgetown says classes usually meet from 5:45 p.m. to 7:45 p.m. on two or three evenings and until 8:50 p.m. on the remaining evening(s), with no Friday evening 1L classes.
Full-time students complete 30 required credits through one of two first-year curricula.
Five full-time sections: four Curriculum A sections and one Curriculum B section.
Yes. Curriculum A and Curriculum B are subject to the same faculty-recommended grading curve.
Not officially. It has the same credits and curve but uses a more interdisciplinary structure and can involve more secondary-source reading.
No. The Law Center is in downtown Washington, DC.
Current structure comes from Georgetown Law’s full-time J.D. program, Curriculum B materials and current Curriculum Guide.
Written by Ali Unar, Founder, Lovare Institut. Verified September 19, 2026.
September 20, 2026
September 20, 2026