Transfer of Legal Specialty Courses

ABA Compliant Transfer Policy - Paralegal Studies Program

Subject to the policies for Admission by Transfer from a State System Institution, and Admission of Nonresidents of Oklahoma, and other related policies set forth in the University Catalog as well as the requirements for Admission to the Program, legal specialty courses may be accepted for transfer as follows:

1. The Program Director reviews the curriculum of the proposed transfer credit and compares same to the requirements of Program legal specialty courses.

a.     A legal specialty course is a course that (1) covers substantive law or legal procedures or process, (2) has been developed for paralegals, (3) emphasizes practical paralegal skills, and (4) The instructional methodology must stress understanding and reasoning rather than rote learning of facts. The instructional methodology must include the following: a) Processes to ensure interaction between the faculty member and students and among students; b) Opportunities for students to interact with faculty members and to receive meaningful and prompt feedback regarding their assignments and questions; and c) Practical assignments that develop paralegal job competencies.

2. Program students are required to take the following legal specialty courses: Introduction to the Legal System, Civil Procedure I and II, Introduction to and Advanced Legal Research and Writing, Contracts, Real Property, and a Capstone course. Transfer of equivalent credit courses for these courses, excluding the Capstone, is accepted if the course if the transferring institution is approved by the American Bar Association and/or official transcriptions, course descriptions, syllabi, or communication with the transferring school indicates that the course goals were substantially equivalent and that the Course was delivered in the traditional format; or which were delivered in an alternative format which complied with the ABA Paralegal Guidelines applicable to the alternative delivery formats.
3. Transfer substitution of the Capstone course is not permitted.
4. Further subject to other requirements set forth in the Catalog, including but not limited to those regulating Graduation and Degrees, transfer credits for legal specialty courses are limited to fifteen (15) total credit hours.
5. TCC will refuse courses or credits for transfer legal specialty courses earned by prior learning assessment, college level examination, departmental examination, advanced placement, extrainstitutional learning or other formats which don’t meet the hour requirements of the ABA Paralegal Guidelines.
6. TCC will refuse program completion credit for legal specialty credit courses taken more than six (6) years prior to completion of the program, unless student’s proficiency in the area can be demonstrated.