Specialty Programs and Concentrations

A Concentration in Family Law allows interested students to develop expertise in family law while taking advantage of our strong offerings in this area. A student who successfully applies for and completes the family law concentration will receive a designation on the student’s official transcript. Learn more about family law concentration course offerings.

The Concentration in Immigration Law allows students with an interest in immigration to develop expertise in this area by taking a comprehensive range of courses offered at Detroit Mercy Law. Students who successfully apply for and complete the Immigration Concentration requirements will have a designation on their official transcripts. Learn more about the immigration law concentration course offerings. 

Detroit Mercy Law has many course offerings in business and corporate law for students who are interested in pursuing it. Learn more.

Detroit Mercy Law has many course offerings for students interested in criminal law and has many criminal law experts on the faculty. Learn more.

Intellectual Property and Patent law is a growing field for those with STEM backgrounds interested in the law. Learn more.

Detroit Mercy Law is dedicated to serving those who served our country. We offer courses in the area of Veterans Law and support for our student veterans. Learn More.

The Intellectual Property Law Institute (IPLI) was created in 1987 through the efforts of the State Bar of Michigan and the faculties of the Detroit Mercy Law, Wayne State University, and the University of Windsor.

IPLI is dedicated to providing basic knowledge and advanced legal education furthering knowledge, scholarship, and research in the law governing the richly diverse fields of intellectual property: patents, copyrights, trademark, trade secrets, computers and related technology, communications and media, entertainment, technology transfer, trade regulation, and the arts.

The primary purpose of IPLI is to facilitate the offering of an exceptional and rich curriculum for law students and lawyers in the field of intellectual property.

Full-time students at each of the three law schools may register for any IPLI course and will pay the tuition required at their home institution. The course will be credited toward their law degree. In the case of lawyers in the field of intellectual property, tuition will be paid directly to IPLI.

For more information, please contact the Registrar’s Office at 313-596-9828.

Students in good standing enrolled in the US JD program may take one or more courses at the University of Windsor Faculty of Law, while paying Detroit Mercy Law tuition. Students must have successfully completed all Foundation courses in order to enroll in a consortium course. Students who wish to enroll in consortium courses will be required to abide by all consortium policies, registration procedures, governmental requirements to allow them to cross the international border. Complete information about available consortium courses and the registration process is available from the Registrar’s Office. Eligible students may enroll in a maximum of one course per semester and 12 total credit hours under the consortium program.

Directed Research projects are original research papers that address a distinct legal topic or problem. Students are supervised by a faculty member who is an expert in the area the student is researching. Students and faculty members work together with the faculty member providing direction of research, organization, legal reasoning, and writing style.

The Directed Research form or the Directed Research: Transnational form must be signed by a resident faculty member responsible for overseeing the project. If the supervising faculty member is an adjunct faculty member, the form must be signed by him or her and co-signed by a resident faculty member.

The city of Detroit is located directly on the border to Canada, the United States’ largest trading partner, and Detroit Mercy Law itself is located less than a half mile from the tunnel separating the two countries. In fact, we are proud of our Canadian and American Dual JD Program with the University of Windsor. Given our location and our partnership with the University of Windsor, we are particularly conscious of the increasingly global nature of the practice of law.

We seek to inculcate in students an awareness of and appreciation for the global nature of the practice of law and for the contributions of other legal systems. To that end, each student in the JD program must take at least one course exposing them to another legal system. 

Representative Courses:

• International Law
• Human Rights Law
• European Union Law
• International Law of Cyberspace
• American Indian Law
• Canon Law
• International Environmental Law
• Advanced Copyright Seminar: International Copyright Relations
• Cross Border Sales and Financing Transactions
• Canadian and United States Immigration Law

View the Course Catalog for class descriptions