Why Choose KU?

The University of Kansas School of Law is an excellent place to begin your legal career with over 140 courses, 6 certificate programs, 11 clinics and 8 joint degree options.

KU Law is committed to clinical legal education, offering 11 faculty-supervised clinics in which students can move from theory to practice and get a leg up in the job market by gaining practical experience.

KU Law has a low student-faculty ratio, a small-section program for first-year students, and numerous small upper-level classes, allowing students to develop close working relationships with faculty.

KU Law faculty members are dedicated teachers, open and accessible to students, and nationally recognized scholars.

KU Law’s students are a diverse group with a wide range of experiences and backgrounds.

KU Law is affordable.

KU Law is at the heart of a major university, enabling law students to take advantage of a rich array of cultural, social and athletic activities.

KU Law is located in Lawrence – one of the most beautiful college towns in the country, with excellent schools, cultural resources and opportunities – and near Kansas City-Johnson County, a major metropolitan area.

KU Law has significant connections to the U.S. Supreme Court, including more than six visits by Supreme Court Justices in the past six years. Chief Justice John Roberts visited in May 2008.

KU Law has had outstanding bar passage rates and placement rates.

And there are many, many more reasons to choose KU:

The school has a long and distinguished history.
Law was among the six departments contemplated when the 1864 Kansas Legislature established the University of Kansas.
Law classes were first taught at the university in 1878 (the year the American Bar Association was founded).
The school is accredited by the ABA and was a founding member (1900) of the Association of American Law Schools.
In 1924 the law school was awarded a chapter of the honorary law school society of Order of the Coif. It was only the 16th law school to be awarded a chapter.
The law school’s first African-American alumnus graduated in 1887 and the first African-American judge in Kansas was a KU law alumnus.
The first woman graduated from the law school in 1891.
In 2001, women made up 44 percent of the student body.
Women have been highly successful in the law school.
Six of the last 10 editors-in-chief of the Kansas Law Review have been women.
The law school offers an extensive, varied curriculum that provides a balance between theoretical study and practical experience.
The training is rigorous, and there is a strong emphasis on writing, the skills of lawyering, and professionalism.
An emphasis on the importance of professionalism begins with the lawyering class for first-year law students.
First-year students take one of their required courses in a small section of approximately 20 students. Taught by full-time faculty members, these classes provide an informal learning atmosphere and encourage in-depth discussion and critical analysis.
First-year students take basic courses that provide a solid foundation for upper-level classes and for the practice of law.
Second- and third-year students choose from over 130 electives, including a variety of seminars, clinical programs, and practice-oriented classes.
Joint degree programs are offered in business, economics, health services administration, philosophy, public administration, indigenous nations studies, social welfare, and urban planning.
The school is home to the Tribal Law and Government Center and offers a Certificate in Tribal Lawyering designed to ensure that law students aspiring to a career representing indigenous nations have the skills necessary to appreciate and strengthen the unique nature of tribal legal systems.
The school also offers four other certificate programs in Elder Law, Environmental and Natural Resources Law, Media, Law and Policy, and Tax Law.
Law students may study one semester in London through the London Law Consortium. The law school was a founding member of the Consortium.
The law school is a co-sponsor of summer study abroad programs in law in Cambridge, England, and Istanbul, Turkey.
The law school has been committed to providing legal services to the community since 1896, when 14 law students formed a law firm to represent persons who could not afford to pay regular attorneys’ fees.
Today the Legal Aid Clinic serves indigent citizens of Douglas County.
Law students serve the Kansas Legislature through the Legislative and Public Policy Clinics, and members of the law faculty are frequently asked to serve on commissions and to testify before committees on pending legislation.
The law school has been a pioneer in clinical legal education. Its Defender Project served as a model for similar programs at other schools.
Two scholarly publications, edited by students and including much student writing, are published at KU: The Kansas Law Review and the Kansas Journal of Law & Public Policy.
Students obtain positions on these publications by way of writing competitions open to all.
These publications are part of a long tradition. In 1895 KU law students began publication of The Kansas University Lawyer, the first publication for lawyers and judges in the state.
Students strengthen advocacy skills by participating in moot court (national, international, environmental, Native American, intellectual property, and First Amendment each year and others, like the Frederick Douglass competition, on an occasional basis), trial practice, and client counseling competitions at the school, regional and national level.
The school’s unique summer school program is fully integrated with the curriculum of the fall and spring semesters.
Students who begin law courses in May and attend summer school each of the following two summers may complete degree requirements in just 26 months.
Students socialize and develop leadership skills and appreciation for community service through membership in the SBA, BLSA, HALSA, NALSA, Women in Law, and many other student organizations which focus on politics, religion, service or a particular area of practice.
Visiting scholars from the United States and abroad come to the school to give public lectures but also to speak to classes and visit informally with students.
In recent years four Supreme Court Justices (retired Justice White, Justice Thomas, Justice Scalia and Justice Breyer) visited the law school. Each gave a public lecture, attended classes, and met with student groups informally.
Justice Thomas has twice served as the Chief Justice of the panel that judged the final round of the school’s moot court competition.
Law faculty are honor graduates of outstanding law schools in the country. They bring to the school healthy diversity in background, scholarly interests, and approaches to teaching.
Seven members of the law school faculty are university distinguished professors.
Kemper Foundation Awards for excellence in teaching have been given to five members of the law faculty.
Virtually all faculty have had substantial experience in private practice, government service, or public interest work. Two (Dean Stephen McAlllister and Professor Christopher Drahozal) have clerked for justices on the U.S. Supreme Court.
Law faculty are prolific scholars. They contribute to the development of the law through publications in law reviews and in journals directed toward members of the practicing bar and are called upon to advise the legislature and governmental agencies at all levels about potential or pending legislation and regulations.
Two members of the faculty, George Coggins and Robert Glicksman, author Public Natural Resources Law, the most prestigious treatise on the subject.
Elinor Schroeder is the co-author of the leading employment law treatise and the editor in chief of the Kansas Employment Law handbook and a forthcoming book on Damages in Employment Related Actions.
Martin Dickinson, a tax teacher who has won numerous awards for excellence in teaching and for counseling students, edits the version of the tax code and regulations used at 116 law and business schools as well as text books on Federal Income Tax and Estate and Gift Taxation.
Stephen Mazza’s new work on Tax Procedure is expected to be widely used throughout the country.
Robert Casad is author of the standard treatise on jurisdiction as well as a Civil Procedure textbook.
Sidney Shapiro is the author of a widely used treatise on administrative law.
Dennis Prater is the primary author of a new and innovative textbook on evidence that has been adopted by many law schools throughout the country.
Many other faculty have authored important books ranging from textbooks to scholarly treatises.
A number of faculty have been chosen by West Publishing to author works in the company’s Nutshell series including Keith Meyer (Agriculture Law in a Nutshell) and Robert Glicksman & George Coggins (Modern Public Land Law).
Among the school’s adjunct faculty are state and federal trial and appellate judges and outstanding practicing lawyers. They bring a wealth of practical experience into the classroom.
KU law graduates have been highly successful on Kansas and other bar exams. For example, the pass rate for KU takers on the July 2002 Kansas bar was14.3% higher than the overall rate.
The school’s Office of Career Services helps students define career goals and search for employment during law school and after graduation.
The offices sponsors a mentor program for first year students, an alumni network, and workshops to explore career options and help students develop job seeking skills.
KU is well regarded by the practicing bar and the judiciary.
Among lawyers and judges, KU maintains a reputation as a top tier law school.
KU students and graduates are highly sought after by employers throughout the state, region and nation.
In the 2001-2002 academic year, the law school’s Office of Career Services scheduled over 1300 on-campus interviews.
In addition, 50 firms from 25 states requested resumes from students and 698 job listings were posted.
In recent years, most graduates responding to surveys have reported employment in private law firms, but many others have reported employment in a variety of other settings.
Twelve percent of employed 2001 graduates pursued careers in government, while 8% accepted judicial clerkships and over 19% were employed in legal and non-legal careers in business and industry. Smaller percentages of those employed accepted positions with public interest organizations, the military and academia.
Employment statistics for the class of 2001 show that, as of February 2002, 157 (96%) of the 163 graduates had provided information about their status. Of those, 148 (94%) were employed or in graduate school, 6 (4%) were seeking employment, and 3 (2%) were not seeking employment. This compares very favorably with other schools in the area.
The average reported starting salary for KU law graduates was $55,140 for 2001.
In the past four years, 8-11% of graduates have accepted prestigious judicial clerkships in courts at all levels. Thirteen members of the class of 2000 accepted judicial clerkships.
Two recent graduates have accepted clerkships with the United States Supreme Court..
The school’s approximately 6,000 alumni live and practice in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and 19 foreign countries.
Many KU graduates serve as judges.
Both Kansas judges on the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit have KU ties. One, Mary Briscoe, is a KU Law School Graduate, the other, Deanell Tacha, was a member of the law faculty and associate dean of the law school.
There are KU law alumni on the Kansas Supreme Court, the Kansas Court of Appeals, and on many trial courts in Kansas and elsewhere.
In 2002, five of the six judges on active status on the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas were KU law graduates: John W. Lungstrum, Monti L. Belot, Kathryn H. Vratil, Carlos Murguia, and Julie Robinson.
Mary Murguia, the sister of Judge Carlos Murguia, is a judge in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona.
Three of the seven Kansas state senators who are lawyers are KU law graduates (three times the number of graduates from any other school).
Four of the 12 Kansas state representatives who are lawyers are KU law graduates (more than the number of graduates from any other school).
The Kansas Attorney General, formerly president of the National Association of Attorneys General, is a KU law graduate.