Wintersession
Duke Law consistently graduates students who are well prepared to contribute and succeed on their first day in practice. But we are always looking for innovative ways to move our students forward and ready them for success in whatever path in the law they choose. Wintersession is just such an innovation. The vision for Wintersession is to better prepare our students for their future legal careers through professional skills training from outstanding practitioners.
To accomplish this, Wintersession provides students with a number of professional skills development opportunities. Short, unique, hands-on courses are offered for a half-credit, specifically targeted at teaching important skills for a lawyer entering practice and providing concrete insight about the realities of the practice of law in different settings. Students will gain a leg up in their future practices as they hear firsthand from Wintersession instructors how the regulatory and structural frameworks of different areas of practice affect the legal analysis and guidance given to clients.
Wintersession also provides students with an extraordinary opportunity to interact with and learn from Duke Law's many accomplished alumni and other lawyers of similar stature. Almost every Wintersession class will be taught by leading lawyers who are experts in the course topic. Teachers for Wintersession courses typically hail from around the United States and beyond; in addition to high-ranking roles at various levels of government, many serve at the highest levels of some of the largest law firms, corporations, and public interest organizations in the world.
Wintersession is an engaging and lively complement to Duke Law’s curriculum that you won’t want to miss. This year's program will take place from Saturday, January 4, to Wednesday, January 8, 2025. Unless otherwise noted in the course description and/or DukeHub, all classes will take place in person at the Law School, barring unforeseen circumstances. Shopping carts open Friday, October 4, 2024, and registration will take place starting Monday, October 8, 2024. The drop-add period will open on Friday, October 11, and end on Friday, December 6, 2024. Regular classes for spring semester begin on Thursday, January 9, 2025.