Areas of Concentration
Criminal Practice
Primary Contacts: Professor Brian Serr, Professor Mark Osler
The Criminal
Practice area of concentration is designed to provide students with a
broad-based exposure to concepts, topics, and skills vital to criminal
practitioners. Choosing this area of concentration provides students with a
firm foundation for beginning a career in criminal law. Career opportunities
available in the criminal practice area include joining a district
attorney’s office as an assistant prosecutor, working for a division of the
Texas Attorney General’s Office or the United States Department of Justice
prosecuting a diverse array of crimes (such as environmental crimes,
antitrust crimes, and civil rights violations) or working as a criminal
defense attorney. In addition to taking Criminal Law and Criminal
Procedure—which are required of all students—students in this area of
concentration have the opportunity to acquire a working familiarity with
many practical aspects of criminal law and procedure, which are fundamental
to criminal practice but often neglected by law schools, including plea
bargaining, sentencing procedure, appeal, and habeas corpus. Students
concentrating in Criminal Practice also have the opportunity to complete a
practice experience in a district attorney’s office or federal prosecutor’s
office under the direct supervision of a prosecutor.
After taking Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure (courses required of all
students), those choosing to concentrate in Criminal Practice complete the
following courses:
Advanced Criminal Procedure
Criminal Practice & Procedure
Juvenile Justice
Post-Conviction Procedure: Appeals & Habeas
Post-Conviction Procedure: Sentencing
Prosecutorial Externship
White Collar Crime