Flexible Time Program

First Year Students

A Flexible Time (“Flex Time”) Program is available to a limited number of first-year law students. Applicants who wish to be considered may indicate their interest by checking the applicable box on the UNM School of Law application form. No more than 10 entering students per year are admitted to this program.

Students enrolled in the First-Year Flex Program will be required to take 9 to 10 credit hours (3-4 classes) per semester during the first year. Fall classes will be Elements of Legal Argumentation I (3 credits), Contracts I (3 credits), and Torts I (3 credits). Spring classes will be Elements of Legal Argumentation II (3 credits), Property I (3 credits), Introduction to Constitutional Law (3 credits), and Introduction to Legal Research (1 credit). Flex students will complete the remaining first-year required courses in their second year by taking Criminal Law, Constitutional Rights, and Lab in the Fall, and Civil Procedure I in the Spring.

First-year flex-time students will not be eligible to enroll in a summer externship program following their first year of law school as they will not have completed the first-year curriculum, which is a requirement for the externship. Additionally, some 1L and 2L required courses may be prerequisites for upper-class electives and requirements; students in this program may not be able to take those courses until they have completed the relevant 1L or 2L required course. If there is a conflict between a required 1L or 2L course and an elective, students in this program must take the required course according to the schedule above.

First-year students wishing to continue as Flex Time as in the second and third years must request permission from the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs.

Second and Third Years

After completion of all first-year courses, the Flex Time Program allows upper-class law students, by permission of the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, to take as few as 8 credit hours in any semester. However, all students must complete the J.D. degree in five academic years. 

Students enrolled in the Flex Time Program are not bound by the “work rules” which limit the work hours of full-time law students (see Employment During Law School page).

Flex Time Program students may re-enroll as full-time students with the permission of the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs.

The Flex Time Program is not a true part-time program, as classes are scheduled throughout the day (not just evenings), Monday through Friday.