哈佛法学院的第一年课程为学生提供扎实的知识基础，在此基础上进行法律教育，涵盖核心原则和概念，理论和法律实践技能，并为基本的法律推理和分析提供透彻的基础。一年级学生修读民事诉讼程序，宪法，合同，刑法，立法和法规，财产和侵权等课程，这些课程共同为理解普通法传统和美国法律体系的治理结构以及美国法律体系的作用提供了基础。该系统中的法规。为了弥合学术课程和律师实践中使用的技能之间的差距，所有一年级学生都参加了“一月体验期”。在本学期中，学生参加几门基于技能的课程之一，这些课程强调团队合作，实践训练和自我反省。一年级
Harvard Law School's first-year curriculum provides students with a solid intellectual foundation on which to build their legal education, covering core principles and concepts, theory, and skills of legal practice and providing a thorough grounding in fundamental legal reasoning and analysis. First-year students take courses in civil procedure, constitutional law, contracts, criminal law, legislation and regulation, property, and torts, which collectively provide a foundation for understanding the common law tradition and governing structures of the U.S. legal system and the role of statutes and regulations within that system. To bridge the gap between academic courses and the skills lawyers use in practice, all first-year students participate in the January Experiential Term. During this term, students enroll in one of several skills-based courses that emphasize teamwork, practical training, and self-reflection. First-year students also participate in a legal research and writing course, which includes the First-Year Ames Moot Court Program and other opportunities to practice the various forms of writing used in legal practice. During the spring term of the first year, students choose an elective based on their individual interests from a wide array of upper-level courses. The first-year class is divided into seven sections of eighty students each. Faculty section leaders, generally senior faculty members who teach one of the section's basic courses, provide guidance and support to the students in their sections and develop a program of extra-curricular activities related to the law. In addition to section-based activities, during the fall term, students participate in first-year reading groups of 10-12 students. Led by faculty members, who also serve as advisors to the students in their groups, these ungraded groups allow students to explore an intellectual interest outside the scope of the foundational first-year curriculum. Topics are as diverse as legal responses to terrorism, regulation of climate change, Biblical law, detective fiction, conservative jurisprudence, artificial intelligence, and bioethics.