MS Program (Master of Sciences) in Real Estate Law for Non-Attorney Real Estate Professionals

Program Requirements:

To earn an MS in Real Estate Law, students must complete a total of 24 credit hours, including 11 credit hours of required course work. All required courses are offered once each academic year either during the fall or spring semesters. Electives are offered periodically but not every year. Two credit-hour courses meet either two hours per week for 14 weeks or three hours per week for 9 weeks. Three credit-hour classes meet three hours per week for a period of 14 weeks.  Classes are held during late afternoons, evenings and on Saturdays. MS students generally earn their degree in 2 to 3 years.

New students may start the Program only in the Fall Semester.

No thesis is required for graduation.

Courses and Curriculum:

The Curriculum, developed with input from an Advisory Board of practicing attorneys and respected professionals in the industry, covers all substantive areas of commercial real estate law and integrates skills training. Thus it enables students to gain an in-depth understanding of commercial real estate law and practice. The Courses help students develop the ability to ask the right questions to quickly cut to the heart of the issues. Course materials include the forms and materials real estate attorneys actually use to document and close transactions. The courses and curriculum emphasize and respond to the transactional nature of real estate practice and law.

  Required MS courses:

In their first fall semester in the Program students must take two courses open only to MS students: Introduction to American Law and Introduction to Real Estate Law Practice.

In their first spring semester in the Program students must take Introduction to Legal Materials and Analysis which is only open to MS students. In the spring semester students may also register for and take LLM courses.

MS students must also take either Commercial Real Estate Transactions or Real Estate Finance and the Drafting & Negotiations Skills Workshop to earn the 11 hours of required course credits..

Elective MS courses, offered periodically, include: Affordable Housing; Alternative Means of Dispute Resolution; Bankruptcy and Insolvency Laws Affecting Real Estate; Condominium, Cooperative and Other Common Ownership Interest Communities; Construction Law; Energy Law; Environmental Controls and Concerns Affecting Real Estate; Fair Housing/Fair Lending Law; Federal Income Tax Aspects of Real Estate; Historic Preservation Law; Insurance Aspects of Real Estate Transactions; International Aspects of Real Estate; Introduction to Federal Income Tax; Land Use Control and Zoning; Leasing Ownership and Management; Natural Resources Law; Public Finance; Real Estate Industry; Real Estate Litigation; Securitization of Real Estate; Seminar on Selected Topics in Commercial Real Estate Finance and Development; Seminar on Selected Topics in Local Government Law and Policy; Seminar on Selected Topics in Sustainability; Sustainability in Modern Real Estate Transactions.

Only elective courses only are offered in summer.

  For more information about the Center for Real Estate Law, please contact us or request information.