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Eligibility & Requirements

Eligibility

Any LSU law student in good standing is eligible to enroll in the certificate program. Interested students should complete and submit an application.

Requirements

To earn the Energy Certificate, a student must:

1. Apply to participate in the certificate program. Students should apply before the start of their final semester at the Law Center. Interested students are encouraged to apply to the certificate program in the second semester of their first year of law study.

2. Successfully complete at least 16 credit hours within the Certificate Curriculum, as further set forth below. Note that not all courses are offered every semester or every year.

Mandatory Courses (12 credit hours):

• LAW 5205: Mineral Rights (3)

• LAW 5220: Energy Law and Regulation (3)

• LAW 5402: Administrative Law (3)

• LAW 5411: Introduction to Environmental Law (3)

Elective Courses (4 or more credit hours):

• LAW 5206: International Petroleum Transactions (3)

• LAW 5207: Advanced Mineral Law (3)

• LAW 5414: Climate Change Law (3)

• LAW 5418: Natural Resources Law (3)

• LAW 5425: Selected Issues in Oil and Gas Development (3)

• LAW 5616: Energy and Environmental Law Research (1)

• LAW 5676: Oil and Gas Law and Policy in the United Kingdom (1)

• LAW 5731: Legal Aspects of Coastal Areas (2)

• LAW 5802: International Environmental Law Seminar (2)

• LAW 5805: Energy Law Seminar (2)

• LAW 5809: Pooling, Unitization, and Joint Operating Agreements Seminar (2)

• LAW 5840: Oil and Gas Seminar (2)

• LAW 5895: Natural Resources Law Seminar (3)

• LAW 5896: Administrative and Environmental Law Practice Seminar (2)

• LAW 5897: Energy Law Journal — Junior Associate (1)

• LAW 5898: Energy Law Journal — Senior Associate (1)

• LAW 5899: Energy Law Journal Editorial Board (1)

• LAW 5900: Energy Law Journal Editorial Board (1)

• LAW 5901: Independent Research Credit, if approved (1)

•  Graduate level courses, if approved in advance for cross-enrollment by the Associate Dean of Academic & Student Affairs and the Director of the Laborde Energy Law Center*

• Apprenticeship Week courses, if designated**

• LSU Lyon courses, if designated**

*Please submit approval requests to energylaw@lsu.edu.

***Certain Apprenticeship & Lyon Courses may be designated as approved energy certificate electives at the time of registration.

3. Write a research paper in the area of energy law. The paper may be written either within one of the seminars in the Certificate curriculum or as an independent research paper supervised by an energy law faculty member (this includes law review/journal papers). Information on completed papers should be submitted using the student reporting form.

4. Participate in at least fourteen hours of approved applied learning experiences related to energy law and policy. The goal of all applied learning experiences hours  is to increase students’ overall competence in the field outside of class. Applied learning experiences may include, but are not limited to:

• Internships and externships

• Field placements

• Conferences/symposia

• Guest lectures at LSU Law School relating to energy law, for which the student is not already receiving course credit

• Apprenticeship week courses not being used to satisfy the Energy Certificate’s curriculum requirements

• Field trips

The approval for credit toward the applied learning experience requirement will either be granted in advance for certain group activities sponsored by the Laborde Energy Law Center or will be granted for individual experiences and opportunities by the Director of the Laborde Energy Law Center after consultation with other energy law faculty. Applied learning experience hours are counted by clock hours, not credit hours; they exclude breaks and any hours counted as course credit. Hours should be submitted using the student reporting form.