The University of Kansas School of Law 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 Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States. Two branch campuses are in the Kansas City metropolitan area on the Kansas side: the university's medical school and hospital ...

, 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 ...

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 ...

Lawrence, Kansas Lawrence is a city in and the county seat of Douglas County, Kansas, United States, and the sixth-largest city in the state. It is in the northeastern sector of the state, astride Interstate 70 in Kansas, Interstate 70, between the Kansas River ...

. The University of Kansas Law School was founded in 1893, replacing the earlier Department of Law, which had existed since 1878. The school has more than 60 faculty members and approximately 315 students. The school is accredited by the

American Bar Association The American Bar Association (ABA) is a voluntary association, voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students in the United States; national in scope, it is not specific to any single jurisdiction. Founded in 1878, the ABA's stated acti ...

and is a member of the

Association of American Law Schools The Association of American Law Schools (AALS), formed in 1900, is a non-profit organization of 175 law schools in the United States. An additional 19 schools pay a fee to receive services but are not members. AALS incorporated as a 501(c)(3) non- ...

. With over 400,000 volumes, the Wheat Law Library at the University of Kansas School of Law is the second largest and oldest law library in the state of Kansas.

Admissions

For the class entering in 2023, the school accepted 48.71% of applicants with 32.84% of accepted applicants enrolling. The class had an average

LSAT The Law School Admission Test (LSAT ) is a standardized test administered by the Law School Admission Council (LSAC) for prospective law school candidates. It is designed to assess reading comprehension and logical reasoning. The test is ...

score of 160 and an average undergraduate

GPA Grading in education is the application of standardized measurements to evaluate different levels of student achievement in a course. Grades can be expressed as letters (usually A to F), as a range (for example, 1 to 6), percentages, or as num ...

of 3.71.

Centers and programs

* Shook, Hardy & Bacon Center for Excellence in Advocacy *

Polsinelli Polsinelli is an American law firm headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri. History Polsinelli is an Am Law 100 firm with more than 1,000 attorneys in 22 offices nationwide. The firm's attorneys focus on health care, finance, real estate, tech ...

Transactional Law Center *Tribal Law and Government Center *Advocacy Skills Certificate *Business and Commercial Law Certificate *Environment, Energy and Natural Resources Law Certificate *International Trade and Finance Certificate *Media, Law and Technology Certificate *Tax Law Certificate *Study Abroad Program Ten clinical and field placement programs permit students, acting under faculty supervision, to develop legal skills and learn professional values in actual practice settings: Criminal Prosecution Field Placement, Elder Law Field Placement, Judicial Field Placement, Legal Aid Clinic, 6th Semester in Washington, D.C. Externship, Medical-Legal Partnership Field Placement, Paul E. Wilson Project for Innocence and Post-Conviction Remedies, and Tribal Judicial Support Clinic.

Publications at the University of Kansas School of Law

*''The Kansas Journal of Law & Public Policy'' *''The Kansas Law Review'' *''KU Law Magazine'' *''Dean's Note'' *''Hearsay: News from KU's Wheat Law Library''

Curriculum

The first-year curriculum includes

Civil Procedure Civil procedure is the body of law that sets out the rules and regulations along with some standards that courts follow when adjudicating civil lawsuits (as opposed to procedures in criminal law matters). These rules govern how a lawsuit or ca ...

Constitutional Law Constitutional law is a body of law which defines the role, powers, and structure of different entities within a state, namely, the executive, the parliament or legislature, and the judiciary; as well as the basic rights of citizens and, in ...

Contracts A contract is an agreement that specifies certain legally enforceable rights and obligations pertaining to two or more parties. A contract typically involves consent to transfer of goods, services, money, or promise to transfer any of thos ...

Criminal Law Criminal law is the body of law that relates to crime. It proscribes conduct perceived as threatening, harmful, or otherwise endangering to the property, health, safety, and Well-being, welfare of people inclusive of one's self. Most criminal l ...

Torts A tort is a civil wrong, other than breach of contract, that causes a claimant to suffer loss or harm, resulting in legal liability for the person who commits the tortious act. Tort law can be contrasted with criminal law, which deals with c ...

, and

Property Property is a system of rights that gives people legal control of valuable things, and also refers to the valuable things themselves. Depending on the nature of the property, an owner of property may have the right to consume, alter, share, re ...

. In addition, students take Lawyering I and II,

legal writing Legal writing involves the analysis of fact patterns and presentation of arguments in documents such as legal memoranda and Brief (law), briefs. One form of legal writing involves drafting a balanced analysis of a legal problem or issue. Another ...

classes designed to teach

legal research Legal research is "the process of identifying and retrieving information necessary to support legal decision-making. In its broadest sense, legal research includes each step of a course of action that begins with an analysis of the facts of a prob ...

and writing in a context that emphasizes professionalism and practical skills. All first-year students have one of their classes in a small section of approximately 20 students, providing an informal learning atmosphere.

Employment

According to The University of Kansas official 2020 ABA-required disclosures, 72% of the Class of 2019 obtained full-time, long-term, bar passage-required employment 10 months after graduation.

Costs

The total cost of attendance (indicating the cost of tuition, fees, and living expenses) at the University of Kansas for the 2020–2021 academic year was $40,421 for residents of Kansas and $46,456 for residents of other states. 90 percent of students received grants for the 2020–2021 academic year.

Notable alumni

* Michael J. Allen - District Attorney for Colorado's largest District Attorney's office *

Sheila Bair Sheila Colleen Bair (born April 3, 1954) is an American former government official who was the 19th Chair of the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) from 2006 to 2011, during which time she shortly after taking charge of the FDIC i ...

– Former Chairman of the

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) is a State-owned enterprises of the United States, United States government corporation supplying deposit insurance to depositors in American commercial banks and savings banks. The FDIC was cr ...

* Valerie L. Baldwin –

Assistant Secretary of the Army (Financial Management and Comptroller) Assistant Secretary of the Army (Financial Management and Comptroller) (abbreviated ASA(FM&C)) is a civilian office in the United States Department of the Army. The office of Assistant Secretary of the Army (Financial Management and Comptroller) ...

(2004–06) * Mary Beck Briscoe - Judge of the

United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit (in case citations, 10th Cir.) is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts: * District of Colorado * District of Kansas * Dist ...

Sam Brownback Samuel Dale Brownback (born September 12, 1956) is an American attorney, politician, and diplomat who served as a United States Senate, United States senator from Kansas from 1996 to 2011 and as the List of governors of Kansas, 46th governor of K ...

–

United States Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom The United States ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom is the ambassador-at-large of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom in the U.S. Department of State. The position was created by the Interna ...

(2018-2021), former

Governor of Kansas A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the type of political region or polity, a ''governor'' ma ...

(2011-2018), former

United States Senator The United States Senate consists of 100 members, two from each of the 50 U.S. state, states. This list includes all senators serving in the 119th United States Congress. Party affiliation Independent Senators Angus King of Maine and Berni ...

for Kansas (1996-2011), former

Member of Congress A member of congress (MOC), also known as a congressman or congresswoman, is a person who has been appointed or elected and inducted into an official body called a congress, typically to represent a particular constituency in a legislature. The t ...

representing

Kansas's 2nd congressional district Kansas' 2nd congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of Kansas that covers most of the eastern part of the state, except for the core of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area. The district encompasses less than a quarter ...

(1995–96), former Secretary of the

Kansas Department of Agriculture The Kansas Department of Agriculture (KDA) is a department of the government of Kansas under the Governor of Kansas. It is responsible for providing services and expertise that promote agriculture and protect Kansas' food supply and natural re ...

(1986-1990)(1991-1993), and former

White House Fellow The White House Fellows program is a non-partisan fellowship established via Executive Order 11183 by President Lyndon B. Johnson in October 1964. The fellowship is one of the United States' most prestigious programs for leadership and public se ...

under President

George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushBefore the outcome of the 2000 United States presidential election, he was usually referred to simply as "George Bush" but became more commonly known as "George H. W. Bush", "Bush Senior," "Bush 41," and even "Bush th ...

(1990–91). *

Jerry Moran Gerald Wesley Moran ( ; born May 29, 1954) is an American lawyer and politician who is the senior United States senator from Kansas, a seat he has held since 2011. A member of the Republican Party, he was chair of the National Republican Senato ...

–

for Kansas and former

representing

Kansas's 1st congressional district Kansas's 1st congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of Kansas. Commonly known as "The Big First", the district encompasses all or part of 60 counties spanning more than half of the state, making it the seventh-larg ...

(1997-2011). * Carol Beier – former Justice of the Kansas Supreme Court * Chris Biggs – former

Kansas Secretary of State The secretary of state of Kansas is one of the constitutional officers of the U.S. state of Kansas. The current secretary of state is the former speaker ''pro tempore'' of the Kansas House of Representatives, Scott Schwab, who was sworn in on J ...

* Eugenia Charles-Newton – Navajo Nation tribal councilor (2019-present) * Robert Coldsnow, Kansas state legislator * C. H. Elting, Durant, Oklahoma - Justice of the Oklahoma State Supreme Court (1921-1923), died in office *

Howard Engleman Howard George "Rope" Engleman (November 20, 1919 – January 12, 2011) was an American college basketball standout at the University of Kansas from 1939 to 1941. He was tall, weighed 170 pounds (82 kg). and played the forward posi ...

– All-American basketball player at Kansas * Phillip D. Kline – former attorney (license indefinitely suspended), former Kansas state legislator and Kansas Attorney General, assistant professor

Liberty University School of Law The Liberty University School of Law is the law school of Liberty University, a private evangelical Christian university in Lynchburg, Virginia. The school offers the J.D., L.L.M., and J.M. degrees. History The Liberty University School of L ...

*Lawrence E. Meyers - former Judge of the

Texas Court of Criminal Appeals The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (CCA) is the court of last resort for all criminal matters in Texas. The Court, which is based in the Supreme Court Building in Downtown Austin, is composed of a presiding judge and eight judges. Article V ...

* Robert H. Miller – Chief Justice of the Kansas Supreme Court (1988-1990) *

Carlos Murguia Carlos Murguia (born September 21, 1957) is a former United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Kansas. Early life and education Murguia is one of seven children of Alfred and Amalia Murguia, who emigrat ...

– former Judge of the

United States District Court for the District of Kansas The United States District Court for the District of Kansas (in case citations, D. Kan.) is the federal district court whose jurisdiction is the state of Kansas. The Court operates out of the Robert J. Dole United States Courthouse in Kansas Ci ...

* Janet Murguia – President and chief executive officer of the

National Council of La Raza UnidosUS, formerly National Council of La Raza (NCLR) ( La Raza), is the United States's largest Latino nonprofit advocacy organization. It advocates in favor of progressive public policy changes including immigration reform, a path to citize ...

* Mary H. Murguia – Chief Judge of the

United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (in case citations, 9th Cir.) is the U.S. federal court of appeals that has appellate jurisdiction over the U.S. district courts for the following federal judicial districts: * Distric ...

* Lawton Nuss – former Chief Justice of the Kansas Supreme Court *

Julie A. Robinson Julie Ann Robinson (born January 14, 1957) is a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Kansas. Education and career Born in Omaha, Nebraska, Robinson received a Bachelor of Science from the ...

– Chief Judge of the

* David Stras – Judge of the

United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit (in case citations, 8th Cir.) is a United States federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the following United States district courts: * Eastern District of Arkansas * Western ...

*Major General Clyde J. Tate II –

Deputy Judge Advocate General of the United States Army The Deputy Judge Advocate General of the Army (DJAG)
10 USC 5149 Office of the Judge Advocate General: Deputy ...

William H. Towers William Henry Towers (died July 12, 1959) was a lawyer and state legislator from Kansas. He was born in Kansas City and graduated from the University of Kansas Law School. He served as first assistant city attorney in Kansas City. He litigated ...

, state legislator (the only African American in the Kansas legislature during his tenure)

Notable faculty

Christine Arguello Christine Marie Arguello (born July 15, 1955) is an American lawyer and jurist serving as a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Colorado and is a former Colorado state official. Previously, ...

(born 1955), federal judge * Elinor Schroeder, Paul E. Wilson Distinguished Professor Emeritus *

Melanie D. Wilson Melanie D. Wilson is an American academic administrator and law professor serving as the dean and Roy L. Steinheimer Jr. Professor of Law of the Washington and Lee University School of Law since 2022. She is an expert on criminal procedure, the F ...

, academic administrator and law professor

References

External links

* {{authority control University of Kansas Universities and colleges established in 1893 Law schools in Kansas 1893 establishments in Kansas