University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law

The urban public law school with a small liberal arts feel

The Combined JD/MBA Program University of Missouri - Kansas City School of Law The Bloch School of Business and Public Administration A combined program leading to the degrees of Juris Doctor (JD) and Master of Business Administration (MBA) is available at UMKC. This memorandum provides details of the program. I. A. In General The program represents the combination of two separate degree programs: one leading to the Juris Doctor degree, the other leading to the Master of Business Administration degree. Students involved in the program are those who have been admitted to both the School of Law and the Henry W. Bloch School of Business and Public Administration who desire to pursue both degrees with the benefit of cross-acceptance of a certain amount of credit hours. A major benefit of the program is that it results in a reduction in the number of semesters a student would normally need to obtain both degrees -- usually a reduction of one to two semesters. No combined transcript is used nor is a combined degree awarded upon completion of the program. Students simply advance in each school toward its respective degree and may apply for graduation to either school upon meeting the requirements for its specific degree whether or not the requirements for the other degree have been met. B. Cross-Acceptance of Degree Hours The School of Law will accept up to ten (10) credit hours of MBA courses toward the ninety-one (91) hours required for the JD degree. The only exception are courses that are not graduate-level courses (if any) or courses that cover the same material as Law courses (such as an introduction to business organizations course or BMA 510: Legal and International Managerial Environment). The Associate Dean of the School of Law will review each student’s course request to determine whether the courses are acceptable toward the JD degree. In addition, the student may apply twelve (12) credit hours of business oriented law courses towards the MBA degree (as an emphasis within the “Beyond Core” of the MBA program). Each course transferred must meet acceptable grade requirements of the transferor school. See section IV and V for JD and MBA grade requirements. II. Application Procedure, Admission and Program Approval The normal application process for admission to each school must be followed and the usual requirements for admission to each school apply. There are no special admission requirements for entry into the joint JD/MBA program. Students may take advantage of the program provided that, by the end of their first academic year (or two years in the case of a part-time or “Flex” Law student), admission has been secured to both degree programs (JD and MBA). Students should develop a planned program of courses and submit the plan to each school for approval. The program plan must meet the Juris Doctor and MBA degree requirements (see sections IV and V). III. Enrollment Students may take MBA courses before regular enrollment and matriculation in the Law School, but these courses cannot transfer to the JD program. The first year law curriculum must be taken as a "one year package" and only MBA courses completed after this time will apply to the law degree. Law courses completed before admission to the MBA program can be applied to the degree. IV. JD Requirements A. Completion of 91 credit hours, 81 of which must be in law school courses. At least 76 must be in courses requiring actual attendance in regularly scheduled class sessions in the Law School. B. Cumulative grade point average of at least 2.0. The grade in transferred courses from the MBA program will not transfer into the JD cumulative GPA. Instead, the course grade will be converted to “credit”, provided the grades are at least C (2.0) or better in 500-level coursework. If the grade received is insufficient to be converted to credit, the course will not be accepted toward the ninety-one (91) hours required for the JD degree. C. At least six semesters in law school residence, with not less than 10 law school classroom credit hours per semester. Two summer sessions may be considered a semester for residency purposes provided at least 10 law school classroom hours are completed in the two summer sessions. D. Completion of all required courses. Students in the program must complete all of the following first-year required courses during their first year in law school: Fall Semester Credit Hours Contracts I 3 Criminal Law 3 Intro. to Law and Lawyering Processes I 3 Property I 3 Torts 3 TOTAL 15 Winter Semester Credit Hours Contracts II 3 Constitutional Law I 3 Intro. to Law and Lawyering Processes II 2 Property II 3 Civil Procedure I 3 TOTAL 14 Students must also complete the following additional required law courses during their second, third and fourth years in the program: Course Credit Hours Business Organizations 4 Criminal Procedure I 3 Evidence 3 Federal Taxation 3 Professional Responsibility 2 TOTAL 15 E. Completion of the Law School's Research and Writing requirement. This requires students to write a paper of publishable quality, demonstrating intensive research. It may be completed in various ways, such as writing an extended seminar paper, an elective course paper, or an independent study paper. It may also be satisfied by writing a faculty supervised Law Review comment, Urban Lawyer annotation, or an Appellate Advocacy brief. F. Completion of the Law School's UCC Requirement. This requires students to take at least one of the following courses: Commercial Transactions, Secured Transactions, or Sales and Leasing. G. Completion of the Law School's Jurisprudential requirement. This requires students to take at least one course from a particular group of elective offerings, including Comparative Law, History of Law and Jurisprudence. H. Completion of the Law School's Advanced Torts Requirement. This requires students to take at least one course from a particular group of courses that fulfill this requirement. I. Regular and punctual class attendance. J. Successful completion of all course work within five years from the day the student began his or her course of studies leading toward the degree. A student will not be allowed to enroll in any course after the five-year period. V. MBA Requirements A. Completion of thirty (30) to forty-eight (48) credit hours. The total number of required hours for each student is determined at the time of admission. B. Cumulative graduate grade point average of 3.0 or better. C. Grades of B (3.0) or better in 80% of the Bloch School courses completed. Due to differing grading standards, the transferred law hours are not included in the 80% calculation. Courses must be completed with a grade of C (2.0) or better to count toward the MBA program. The MBA program is divided into “Core” and “Beyond Core” coursework. The number of hours required in the Beyond Core section varies based on the number of required Core classes. Core Course Requirements (Assumes Math 110, College Algebra, and BIS 202, Computer Applications in Business, or equivalent) Course Number Course Name Credit Hours Actg 517 Survey of Accounting 3 BA 501 Economics for Administration 3 BA 519 Operations Management 3 BA 531 Marketing 3 BA 532 Financial Management 3 BD S508 Statistical Methods for Administrative Decisions 3 BMA 505 Organizational Behavior 3 BMA 510 Legal & International Managerial Environment 3   TOTAL 24 Beyond Core Course Requirements -- Twenty-four (24) to thirty (30) hours required. Course Number Course Name Credit Hours BMA 537 Competitive Strategies 3 Electives   9-15 Emphasis   12   TOTAL 24-30 Electives. The number of electives required will range from 9-15 depending on the number of Beyond Core hours needed. All electives must be outside of the selected emphasis area. No more than twelve (12) hours from any other area can be applied to the program. Emphasis. Each student also must complete a twelve (12) credit hour emphasis in Management-General Law. This requirement is met by choosing twelve (12) hours from the following list of selected Law School courses. The following courses are taken for 2 or 3 credits as appropriate. LAW 868               Administration of Estates and Trusts LAW 764               Administrative Law LAW 732               Alternative Dispute Resolution LAW 802               Antitrust LAW 723               Banking Law Seminar LAW 879               Bankruptcy Reorganizations Seminar LAW 601               Business Organizations LAW 757               Business Planning LAW 879               Business Reorganizations Seminar LAW 797               Bus. Torts and Unfair Competition LAW 849               Commercial Leasing LAW 721               Commercial Transactions LAW 716               Computers & the Law LAW 880               Consumer Bankruptcy LAW 858               Consumer Protection LAW 898               Construction Law LAW 798               Copyright Law LAW 808               Copyright, Patent & Trademark Law LAW 736               Debtor-Creditor Law LAW 845               Deferred Compensation LAW 796               Economics and the Law LAW 814R             Employment Law LAW 787               Estate and Gift Taxation LAW 612               Estate Planning LAW 614               Estate Planning and Drafting LAW 615               Estate Planning and Practice LAW 891               Estate Planning for Closely-Held Businesses LAW 612               Estate Planning with Life Insurance LAW 793               Health Care Business Law LAW 760               Insurance LAW 808               Intellectual Property Law LAW 754               International Business Transactions LAW 754R             International Sales Law LAW 889               International Taxation LAW 788               Labor Arbitration LAW 763               Labor Law LAW 832               Law of International Trade & Finance LAW 734               Mediation Law LAW 837               Negotiating Mergers and Acquisitions LAW 888R             Partnership Taxation LAW 807               Problems in Bankruptcy LAW 815               Products Liability LAW 861               Real Estate Finance LAW 875               Real Estate Transactions Law LAW 873               Real Estate Transactions Planning Workshop LAW 709               Sales and Leasing LAW 720               Secured Transactions LAW 758               Securities Act of 1933 LAW 758R             Securities Act of 1934 LAW 848R             State and Local Taxation LAW 838               Tax Accounting LAW 603               Taxation of Business Organizations LAW 893R             Taxation of Property Transactions LAW 874               Tax-Exempt Organizations LAW 841               Tax Penalties and Criminal Prosecutions LAW 612R             Tax Planning with Life Insurance LAW 834               Tax Procedure

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, CONTACT: Jeffrey B. Berman Associate Dean UMKC School of Law 5100 Rockhill Road Kansas City, MO 64110 (816)235-1640 Email: bermanj@umkc.edu Website: http://www.law.umkc.edu/ Office of Student Services Henry W. Bloch School of Business & Public Administration 5110 Cherry Street, Room 115 Kansas City, Missouri 64110 (816) 235-2215 Email: bloch@umkc.edu Website: http://www.bloch.umkc.edu