American Indian Law, Graduate Certificate

The American Indian Law Graduate Certificate allows students to enrich their knowledge of American Indian Law through coursework including indigenous peoples’ culture, tribal courts, federal water law, and more. This certificate also includes experiential learning opportunities including an externship and work with OU Law’s journal American Indian Law Review.

Certificate Requirements

Full-time JD degree-candidate OU Law students are eligible to receive the certificate at graduation conditioned upon the successful completion of the requirements outlined below.

Course List

Code	Title	Credit Hours
Core
LAW 5610	Federal Indian Law	3
Choose at least 9 credit hours from the following list of American Indian Law courses: 1		9
Electives
Choose an Experiential course from one of these options (hours vary): 2
Choose at least one course from the following Guided Electives for a total of at least 3 credit hours:		3
Writing Project
Complete one major writing project in a topic related to Indian Law. This paper may also satisfy the graduation writing requirement. 3
Total Credit Hours		15

¹

Choose at least 5 credit hours if the student as earned at least 3 hours in an Indian Law externship.

²

The American Bar Association prohibits a student from receiving course credit for a paid internship. In other words, students have a choice of obtaining an unpaid but credited externship or a paid but uncredited job. To earn the Certificate, the student could select either option. Quality for the paid field work will be assured through supervision of the Center Director in collaboration with the Director of Extern Programs.

³

Under the direction of a professor, either in a designated course or through independent directed study.

American Indian Law Courses

Course List

Code	Title	Credit Hours
LAW 6311	American Indian Law Review	1
LAW 5600	Selected Legal Problems in American Indian Law (American Indian Law Seminar)	2-3
LAW 6100	Selected Legal Problems (Art and Cultural Heritage Law)	2
LAW 5602	Comparative Indigenous Peoples' Law Seminar	2
LAW 6792	Federal Indian Water Law Seminar	2
LAW 6722	Indian Gaming Law & Regulation	2
LAW 5633	Native American Natural Resources	3
LAW 6100	Selected Legal Problems (Peacemaking)	2
LAW 6700	Selected Legal Problems Seminar (Religion, Culture & Indian Law Seminar)	2
LAW 6700	Selected Legal Problems Seminar (Tribal Courts/Tribal Law)	2
Other courses added by the College's Advanced Degree and Certificate Programs Committee

Experiential Courses¹

Course List

Code	Title	Credit Hours
LAW 6400	Selected Legal Problems of Applied Nature (Federal Indian Law Externship - max of 12 credit hours)	1-4
LAW 6400	Selected Legal Problems of Applied Nature (Extern Placement, provided the externship focuses substantially on the practice of American Indian Law, including a judicial externship)	3
LAW 6400	Selected Legal Problems of Applied Nature (Inter-American Human Rights Commission Externship - max of 12 credit hours)	1-4
100 hours of employment as approved by the Center Director

¹

The American Bar Association prohibits a student from receiving course credit for a paid internship. In other words, students have a choice of obtaining an unpaid but credited externship or a paid but uncredited job. To earn the Certificate, the student could select either option. Quality for the paid field work will be assured through supervision of the Center Director in collaboration with the Director of Extern Programs.

Guided Electives

Course List

Code	Title	Credit Hours
LAW 5403	Administrative Law	3
LAW 6523	Environmental Law	3
LAW 5543	Federal Courts	3
LAW 6060	International Law Foundations	2-3
LAW 6540	Oil and Gas	4
LAW 6580	Water Law	2-3
Other courses may be added by the College's Advanced Degree and Certificate Programs Committee