The University of Illinois College of Law at Urbana-Champaign is the

law school A law school (also known as a law centre/center, college of law, or faculty of law) is an institution, professional school, or department of a college or university specializing in legal education, usually involved as part of a process for b ...

of the

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United ...

, a

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...

land-grant A land grant is a gift of real estate—land or its use privileges—made by a government or other authority as an incentive, means of enabling works, or as a reward for services to an individual, especially in return for military service. Grants ...

research university A research university or a research-intensive university is a university that is committed to research as a central part of its mission. They are "the key sites of Knowledge production modes, knowledge production", along with "intergenerational ...

in Champaign and

Urbana, Illinois Urbana ( ) is a city in Champaign County, Illinois, United States, and its county seat. As of the 2020 census, Urbana had a population of 38,336. It is a principal city of the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, which had 236,000 residents i ...

. It was established in 1897 and offers the

Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...

Master of Laws A Master of Laws (M.L. or LL.M.; Latin: ' or ') is a postgraduate academic degree, pursued by those either holding an undergraduate academic law degree, a professional law degree, or an undergraduate degree in another subject. In many jurisdi ...

, and

Doctor of Juridical Science A Doctor of Juridical Science (SJD; ), or a Doctor of the Science of Law (JSD; ), is a research doctorate degree in law that is equivalent to a Ph.D. degree. In most countries, it is the most advanced law degree that can be earned. Australia ...

degrees. The law school is located on the south end of the main University of Illinois campus in Champaign, near Memorial Stadium and the

State Farm Center The State Farm Center is a large dome-shaped 15,544-seat indoor arena located in Champaign, Illinois, owned and operated by the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The arena hosts games for the Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball, ...

History

The University of Illinois College of Law at Urbana-Champaign was founded in 1897 and is a

charter member A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the reci ...

of the Association of American Law Schools. The law

honor society In the United States, an honor society is an organization that recognizes individuals who rank above a set standard in various domains such as academics, leadership, and other personal achievements, not all of which are based on ranking systems. ...

known as the Order of the Coif was founded at Illinois Law in 1902. On September 11, 2011, ''The News-Gazette'' reported that the law school posted inaccurate information on its website about the LSAT scores and GPAs of its incoming first-year law students. Two months later, the law school announced that a report commissioned from Jones Day and Duff & Phelps had found admission data for six of the seven previous years to have been manipulated by the Assistant Dean of Admissions Paul Pless, that Pless had acted alone and would no longer work for the College.

Admissions

For the class entering in 2023, the law school accepted 43.69% of applicants, with 21.57% of those accepted enrolling. The median enrollee had a 165 LSAT score and 3.75 undergraduate GPA.

Academics

The law school offers the

(J.D.), the

professional degree A professional degree, formerly known in the US as a first professional degree, is a degree that prepares someone to work in a particular profession, practice, or industry sector often meeting the academic requirements for licensure or accreditatio ...

in law, as well as the

(LL.M) and

(J.S.D.),

academic An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

graduate degree Postgraduate education, graduate education, or graduate school consists of academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications usually pursued by post-secondary students who have earned an undergraduate (bachelor ...

s in law. The Albert E. Jenner, Jr. Memorial Library is the college's

law library A law library is a special library, specialist library used by Legal education, law students, lawyers, judges and their Law clerk, legal assistants, and academics in order to Legal research, research the law or its Legal history, history. Law ...

. The flagship

law review A law review or law journal is a scholarly journal or publication that focuses on legal issues. A law review is a type of legal periodical. Law reviews are a source of research, imbedded with analyzed and referenced legal topics; they also provide ...

is the '' University of Illinois Law Review''; the law school also publishes two specialized law journals, the ''Elder Law Journal'' and the ''Journal of Law, Technology & Policy''. The law school is also the home institution for the '' Comparative Labor Law and Policy Journal'', and for ''Law and Philosophy''.

Employment

According to the law school's official 2016 ABA-required disclosures, 78.92% of the Class of 2016 obtained full-time, long-term, JD-required employment 10 months after graduation. This was then the 19th highest out of all law schools in the United States. Law School Transparency under-employment score is 10.8%, indicating the percentage of the Class of 2016 unemployed, pursuing an additional degree, or working in a non-professional, short-term, or part-time job 10 months after graduation.

Rankings and reputation

In the 2024 '' U.S. News & World Report'' ranking, the college was ranked 36th in the country, tied with four others. In 2023, '' Above the Law'' ranked the college 19th in the nation. In 1957, the '' Chicago Sunday Tribune'' released the first modern rankings of law schools, and included Illinois among the top 10 law schools in America.

Notable alumni

Notable alumni include Albert E. Jenner Jr., name partner at the law firm Jenner & Block; Annette Lu,

Vice President of the Republic of China The vice president of the Republic of China, commonly referred to as the vice president of Taiwan, is the second-highest constitutional office of the government in Taiwan, after the president, and ranks first in the presidential line of success ...

from 2000 to 2008; and Philip McConnaughay, dean of Peking University School of Transnational Law and former dean of Penn State Dickinson Law.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Illinois Law, University of Law schools in Illinois Universities and colleges established in 1897 1897 establishments in Illinois

Law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...