UCLA School of Law

UCLA School of Law
Parent school	University of California, Los Angeles
Established	1949
School type	Public
Parent endowment	$3 billion (2018)[1]
Dean	Jennifer Mnookin (June 2015)[2]
Location	Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Enrollment	942[3]
Faculty	104
USNWR ranking	16
Bar pass rate	88%
Website	law.ucla.edu
ABA profile	[4]

The UCLA School of Law, also referred to as UCLA Law, is one of 12 professional schools^[5] at the University of California, Los Angeles. UCLA Law has been ranked by U.S. News & World Report as one of the nation's top 20 law schools since the inception of the rankings in 2009. Its 17,000 alumni include more justices on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit than any other law school, as well as leaders in private law practice, government service, the judiciary, entertainment and entertainment law, and public interest law. As part of a renowned public university, the school's mission is to provide an excellent legal education while expanding access to the legal professional to those who otherwise would not be able to pursue a legal degree.^[6] The dean of the school is Jennifer L. Mnookin., an evidence scholar who joined the UCLA Law faculty in 2005 and became the school's ninth dean, and third female dean, in 2015.^[7]

History

The Hugh and Hazel Darling Law Library, UCLA School of Law

Founded in 1949, UCLA School of Law is one of five law schools within the University of California system. L. Dale Coffman became the school's first dean and recruited former Harvard Law School dean Roscoe Pound to become one of its first professors.^[8] The school operated in Quonset huts for its first two years until a proper building was constructed. The original building has been expanded several times, including the 2001 addition of the Hugh and Hazel Darling Law Library.

Academics

UCLA Law has approximately 950 students in its Juris Doctor (J.D.) program and 200 students in its Masters of Law (LL.M.) program, which is popular among foreign students intending to take the California Bar Exam. It also offers a Doctor of Juridical Science (S.J.D.) program for students who already have a J.D. and hope to become law professors.

The school was a pioneer in clinical legal education and today offers a strong experiential education program. Through clinical courses and related offerings, the school gives students the opportunity to directly represent clients in a variety of settings while under expert supervision. UCLA Law’s clinics also provide service to many people who cannot afford to pay for their own legal services, including veterans, the homeless, and indigent individuals appearing in criminal and immigration courts. In 2017, the school opened the Documentary Film Legal Clinic and Music Industry Clinic, which provide legal services to aspiring visual journalists, musicians and entrepreneurs in the arts, and the Veterans Justice Clinic at the West Los Angeles VA Medical Center.

UCLA Law offers the only Critical Race Studies program in the country, focusing on the intersection between race and law. It also has a robust public interest program, offering TK. Its most prominent centers, programs and institutes include the Critical Race Studies program, the David J. Epstein Program in Public Interest Law and Policy; the Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment; the Lowell Milken Institute on Business Law and Policy; the Promise Institute for Human Rights; the Resnick Center for Food Law and Policy; the Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Law and Public Policy; and the Ziffren Center on Media, Entertainment, Technology and Sports Law.

Students can elect to specialize in Business Law and Policy, Entertainment Law, Environmental Law, Public Interest Law, Critical Race Studies, and Law and Philosophy. The roughly 300 students who begin Law School at UCLA every year are divided into sections to encourage a sense of community. Students take all of their first year courses with their sections.^[9]

Several joint degree programs are available, which require four years of study and result in the simultaneous award of a Juris Doctor and master's degree in Afro-American Studies, American Indian Studies, Law and Management, Public Health, Public Policy, Philosophy, Social Welfare, and Urban Planning.^[10]

Faculty and Students

UCLA School of Law has a faculty of over 100 members with expertise in all major disciplines of law, representing "one of the most diverse in the country."^[11] Thirteen members of the school's tenured faculty have been recognized for being the most-cited scholars in their areas of specialty.^[12] The school faculty is ranked 11th^[13] for scholarship, up from 15th in 2010 and 13th in 2013.

In 2018, 6,243 students applied to attend UCLA Law, and 311 were enrolled.^[14] The average LSAT score for members of the entering Class of 2018 is 168. The average LSAT score for students in the 75th percentile is 169, and 165 for students in the 25th percentile it is 165. The average GPA for members of the entering Class of 2018 is 3.72. The average GPA score for students in the 75th percentile is 3.85, and for students in the 25th percentile it is 3.52.

Location

UCLA School of Law's south entrance facing Charles E. Young Drive East

UCLA School of Law is located on the UCLA campus in the Westwood area of Los Angeles.^[16] The school is located approximately five miles from the Pacific Ocean and 12 miles from downtown Los Angeles. The UCLA campus sits in the foothills of the Santa Monica Mountains, between the communities of Brentwood to the west, Bel Air to the north, Holmby Hills to the east and Westwood to the south. The school is easily accessible via Wilshire Boulevard, Sunset Boulevard and Interstate 405.

The school proper is housed in a three-story brick building, with the library tower extending to four stories. A few offices, including the Office of Career Services, the Office of Admissions and the Office of Graduate Studies and International Programs, are housed in an adjacent building, Dodd Hall.

Rankings

In 2018 US News & World Report ranked UCLA as 16th among U.S. law schools.^[17] US News also ranked UCLA Law as 6th in environmental law,^[18] 9th for tax law^[19] and 12th in international law.^[20]

According to Brian Leiter's Law School rankings, UCLA Law ranks 8th in the nation in terms of scholarly impact as measured by academic citations of tenure-stream faculty during the years 2009–2013.^[21]

The Hollywood Reporter ranked UCLA the number one school for entertainment law in its inaugural 2012 rankings, and every year from 2014 through 2018.^{[22][23][24][25][26] [27]}

Journals

Notable people

References

External links

• UCLA School of Law

Coordinates: 34°04′23″N 118°26′18″W / 34.073023°N 118.438443°W / 34.073023; -118.438443