Academic Success

The Academic Success Program provides a comprehensive network of presentations and workshops designed to stimulate learning and demystify the classroom experience. The program emphasizes study skills and exam-taking methods for all first-year students, and provides individual one-to-one academic counseling sessions for students at all levels.

The ASP Bar Examination Training Program, taught by a master of bar preparation, has proven effective in assisting students in their efforts to pass state bar examinations across the country.

Objectives

Roger Williams University School of Law emphasizes student dignity, quality, diversity, retention and success.

The Academic Success Program’s objectives include helping law students discover their particular needs and learning styles, equipping them with the academic tools they need to meet the challenges of law school with self-assurance, and encouraging them to monitor their own progress as they adjust their study practices to achieve their personal goals.

Those goals usually include:

  • Developing a deep, rich, comprehensive understanding of the law, and
  • Earning grades which demonstrate the student is working at his or her personal best level, and
  • Passing the bar exam the first time around, and
  • Becoming the kind of lawyer you would want to represent you

The Academic Success Program teaches students to begin practicing – in law school – how to be that kind of lawyer.

Contact Information 

For questions or more information, contact the Director of Academic Success.

Kathryn Thompson, Esq.
Director of Academic Success
Roger Williams University
School of Law
Ten Metacom Avenue
Bristol, RI 02809
Tel. (401) 254-4568
kthompson@rwu.edu

Close Course Type Descriptions

Course Types

We have classified RWU Law classes under the following headers. One of the following course types will be attached to each course which will allow students to narrow down their search while looking for classes.

Core Course

Students in the first and second year are required to take classes covering the following aspects of the law—contracts, torts, property, criminal law, civil procedure, and constitutional law, evidence, and professional responsibility.  Along with these aspects, the core curriculum will develop legal reasoning skills.

Elective

After finishing the core curriculum the remaining coursework toward the degree is completed through upper level elective courses.  Students can choose courses that peak their interests or courses that go along with the track they are following.

Seminar

Seminars are classes where teachers and small groups of students focus on a specific topic and the students complete a substantial research paper.

Clinics/Externships

Inhouse Clinics and Clinical Externships legal education is law school training in which students participate in client representation under the supervision of a practicing attorney or law professor.  RWU Law's Clinical Programs offer unique and effective learning opportunities and the opportunity for practical experience while still in law school.