Students may earn academic co-curricular credit as Research Assistants (RA) for full-time faculty members upon selection by a faculty member and subject to certain qualifications and requirements. RAs work with faculty members on academic research projects, gaining skills in legal research, writing, and analysis. RAs may be asked by faculty to research case law and secondary literature; prepare bibliographies; write research memoranda; perform cite-checking and Blue-booking tasks; and proofread or edit manuscripts. 

Eligibility

  • Students must have satisfactorily completed 30 academic credits. 
  • Students on academic probation are not eligible. 
  • Students subject to the bar-preparation skills requirement are not eligible without approval from the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. 
  • Students must be selected by a faculty member who has had the credit opportunity approved pursuant to the process described below in the section regarding “Course Registration.” 

Course Requirements

  • RAs will work with a faculty member on academic research project(s), without pay, under the faculty member’s active supervision. 
  • RAs must produce substantive work, which the faculty member reviews, assesses, and for which the faculty member provides feedback. For credit to be awarded, faculty members are required to fill out the RA review and assessment form and must certify to the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs that the student produced satisfactory work. 
  • RAs must keep time records and log at least 50 hours of work per credit. These records must be submitted to the supervising faculty member who must review them and keep them on file. 

Other Information

  • Students may use only 4 credits from the course towards the number of credits required for graduation. Students may only work for one professor for credit per semester. 
  • This course counts only as a co-curricular elective towards graduation. 
  • No faculty member may have more than two research assistants that receive credit for their work per semester, except with the permission of the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. 

Course Registration

Before a student may register, a faculty member must submit for approval by the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs a description of the RA’s anticipated work on an academic research project. The description should include the name of the proposed RA and an explanation of the work the RA will perform, including the research tasks, memos, or other work expected of the student. 

Research Assistant Assessment