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Dual Degree in Law and Sport Administration

[ For more information on the following, please contact Prof. Barbara Osborne at sportlaw@unc.edu .]

Applicants must be currently enrolled in their second year at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Law School to apply for the LAW/EXSS Dual Degree Program.

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has offered a dual MA/JD in sport administration and law since the fall of 2004. This combined program will require full time study for four years on campus.

Academic Requirements

  • The current law degree is 86 credit hours over three years of study.
  • The current sport administration graduate program is 32 credit hours and an internship.
  • The combined degree is 112 credit hours over four years of study.

First year:

Full time Law School First year standard curriculum

Second year:

Full time Law School required courses and electives

Third year:

Full time in Exercise and Sport Science

Fall Semester:

  • EXSS 740 – Administration of Sport
  • EXSS 748 – Legal Issues in Collegiate Sport
  • EXSS 746 – Economic and Financial Management of Sport
  • EXSS 744 – Collegiate Sport Marketing

Spring:

  • EXSS 700 – Applied Statistics and Research Methods in
  • EXSS EXSS 705 – Applied Statistics and Research Methods Laboratory
  • EXSS 749 – NCAA Governance and Compliance
  • EXSS 747 – Facility and Event Management

Dual degree students are eligible to take one additional law class each semester.

 

Fourth year:

Six (6) credits of thesis (3 credits fall semester to propose; 3 credits in spring semester with thesis defense – of these 6 credits, 3 credits count as Law Independent Research toward the 86 law hours).

Two (2) credits – EXSS 750 & 751 – Sport Administration Second Year Seminar Law School electives for remaining credit hours.

Recommended law electives (with approval of Law School Advisor) may include:

  • Business Associations (4)
  • Evidence (3)
  • Income Tax (3)
  • Trusts and Estates (4)
  • Administrative Law (3)
  • Alt. Dispute Resolution (3)
  • Anti-Trust Law (3)
  • Education Law (3)
  • Sports Law (3)

To achieve 86 credits of law, 3 credits of thesis would count as Law Independent Research and 3 additional credits would count as a law school elective.

* The 3 credits of Law Independent Research may be used to satisfy one of the two Law School writing requirements but will not be accepted as the “rigorous writing requirement” imposed by the Law School under ABA requirements.

Note: Program/degree requirements may be subject to change by the respective schools. It is the intent of both schools that the students in the dual degree program meet all program and degree requirements of each school.