George Mason University School of Law

The Antonin Scalia Law School (previously George Mason University School of Law) is the law school of George Mason University, a public research university in Virginia. It is located in Arlington, Virginia, roughly west of Washington, D.C., and east-northeast of George Mason University's main campus in Fairfax, Virginia.

U.S. News & World Report ranks the school 30th among American law schools, 12th among public schools, and third in the Washington metropolitan area, behind Georgetown University Law Center and George Washington University Law School. In 2021, the school had 604 students in its J.D., JD/MBA, and JD/MPP programs and 187 students in its LL.M. and J.M. programs. The median LSAT score among incoming J.D. students in 2022 was 166, and the median GPA was 3.83. The passage rate for first-time takers of the Virginia bar exam in July 2021 was 92%, second among Virginia's eight law schools.

History

George Mason University School of Law was authorized by the Virginia General Assembly in March 1979 and was founded on July 1, 1979. The school started as the International School of Law (ISL), which opened in 1972 in a classroom at the Federal Bar Building on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, DC. In 1973, it moved into the home of former United States Chief Justice Edward Douglass White on Rhode Island Avenue, and in 1975 purchased the old Kann's Department Store in Arlington. Despite the growth, ISL could never obtain accreditation. In 1976, it discussed a merger with George Mason University, which expressed interest in setting up a law school. In 1978, the Virginia State Council of Education denied GMU's proposal to start a law school and encouraged a merger with ISL instead. Later that year, the Council advised against allowing that merger, but the Virginia state legislature nonetheless approved the merger in early March 1979.

The school became fully accredited by the American Bar Association in 1986, but was still not widely known during the late 1980s. Since then, however, its rankings have risen rapidly, from 45th in 2020 to 30th in 2023.

In 2016, the school received $30 million to rename itself for Antonin Scalia, the late United States Supreme Court justice. The Charles Koch Foundation provided $10 million of the donation, with the remaining $20 million coming from an anonymous donor. On March 31, Mason's Board of Visitors approved the renaming. School officials soon announced a new name: Antonin Scalia Law School, a decision ratified by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia on May 17. In 2022 it was revealed that the anonymous donor was Barre Seid.

Rankings

'' U.S. News & World Report'' ranks the Antonin Scalia Law School 30th.

Tuition

The total cost of attendance (tuition, fees, and living expenses) for the 2022–23 academic year at Mason Law is $54,819 for in-state students attending full-time; the total cost of attendance for non-resident students attending full-time is $70,667.

Journals

Student-edited

* '' George Mason Law Review''()
* '' George Mason Civil Rights Law Journal'' ()
* ''George Mason International Law Journal''
* ''National Security Law Journal'' ()
* ''The Journal of Law, Economics & Policy'' ()

Other

* ''Supreme Court Economic Review'', published by University of Chicago Press in conjunction with the Law and Economics Center at the George Mason University School of Law

Law library

The George Mason Law Library has a collection of electronic and print materials providing access to legal treatises, journals, and databases. Non-legal materials are available through the GMU University Libraries. It is a selective depository for U.S. Government documents, and it provides inter-library lending services with other academic libraries, which enables students and faculty to borrow materials from major academic libraries. The library occupies four levels of the law school building. It has 14 study rooms, 70 carrel seats, and 196 table seats wired with electrical and network connections, and a wireless network is available. The library also operates two computer labs with a variety of software. The library employs 16 full-time staff members, including 6 librarians with degrees in law and library science and 3 technology specialists. Access is limited to university faculty, students, staff, alumni and members of the bar.

Academic and student climate

Antonin Scalia Law School has a reputation for tilting towards conservative principles, a perception that increased with the renaming in 2016 for the originalist Scalia. The donation was conditioned on a requirement that the donor be notified of any change in the law school's leadership. In 2019, the law school received a gift of $50 million, the largest ever received by the university, from the estate of Allison and Dorothy Rouse to "fund a chair or chairs that will promote the conservative principles of governance, statesmanship, high morals, civil and religious freedom and the study of the United States Constitution".

National Security Institute

The law school is also home to the National Security Institute, a think tank dedicated to research in national security, especially legal issues pertaining to national security.

Notable people

Alumni

* Jonathan H. Adler, American legal commentator and law professor at the Case Western Reserve University School of Law
* John Bartrum, American lawyer and colonel in the United States Air Force Reserve
* Robert Bixby, Executive Director of the Concord Coalition
* Martha Boneta, American policy advisor, commentator, and farmer known for her role in the passage of a landmark right-to-farm law in Virginia
* Anna Escobedo Cabral, Treasurer of the United States under President George W. Bush
* Michael F. Cannon, director of health policy studies at the Cato Institute
* James W. Carroll, director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy under President Donald Trump
* Kathleen L. Casey, Commissioner of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
* Rabia Chaudry, Pakistani-American attorney, author, and podcast host; founder and president of the Safe Nation Collaborative
* John Critzos II, American martial arts fighter and instructor teaching martial arts at the United States Naval Academy and personal injury lawyer
* Katherine A. Crytzer, United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee
* Ken Cuccinelli, Acting United States Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security, 46th Attorney General of Virginia, a former member of the Virginia Senate from the 37th district
* William W. Eldridge IV, American General District Court Judge for the 26th Judicial District of Virginia
* David Jolly, a former member of the U.S. House of Representatives
* Colleen Kiko, chairman of the United States Federal Labor Relations Authority under Presidents Donald Trump and Joe Biden
* Chris Krebs, director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency under President Donald Trump
* Robert A. Levy, chairman of the Cato Institute and director of the Institute of Justice
* Melissa A. Long, Associate Justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court
* William W. Mercer, United States Associate Attorney General under President George W. Bush and member of the Montana House of Representatives
* Kendrick Moxon, lead counsel for the Church of Scientology
* Paul F. Nichols, former delegate to the Virginia General Assembly
* Liam O'Grady, judge of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia
* Maureen Ohlhausen, former commissioner of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission
* Paul S. Phillips, a mystery novelist who writes under the pen name o
James Chandler
* Scott Pinsker, American filmmaker, talk-show host, author, and celebrity publicist
* David J. Porter, judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
* Steve Ricchetti, counselor to the president under President Joe Biden
* Wesley G. Russell Jr., Justice of the Supreme Court of Virginia
* Harlan M. Sands, 7th President of Cleveland State University
* Charles Stimson, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Detainee Affairs under President George W. Bush
* Glen Sturtevant, member of the Senate of Virginia from 2016-2020
* Mary Kirtley Waters, Director of the United Nations Information Centre
* John Whitbeck, chairman of the Republican Party of Virginia from 2015-2018
* Mark Willis, American businessman, politician, and former United States Army counterintelligence agent
* Richard L. Young, judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana

Faculty

* David Bernstein, University Professor, constitutional law scholar, and legal blogger at ''The Volokh Conspiracy''
* Francis H. Buckley, George Mason University Foundation Professor of Law
* Henry N. Butler, Henry G. Manne Chair in Law and Economics, director of Law & Economics Center and former dean
* Ernest W. DuBester, member of the Federal Labor Relations Authority
* Douglas H. Ginsburg, Senior Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and former U.S. Supreme Court nominee
* Neil Gorsuch, Associate Justice, United States Supreme Court
* Timothy J. Muris, George Mason University Foundation Professor of Law
* Joshua D. Wright, University Professor, executive director of the Global Antitrust Institute, former commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC)
* Todd J. Zywicki, George Mason University Foundation Professor of Law

References

External links

Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University

{{DEFAULTSORT:Antonin Scalia Law School
Educational institutions established in 1972
Educational institutions established in 1979
George Mason University
Law schools in Virginia
Education in Arlington County, Virginia
1972 establishments in Virginia
1979 establishments in Virginia