The Paul M. Hebert Law Center, often styled "LSU Law", is 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 ...

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 ...

Baton Rouge, Louisiana Baton Rouge ( ; , ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It had a population of 227,470 at the 2020 United States census, making it List of municipalities in Louisiana, Louisiana's second-m ...

. It is part of the

Louisiana State University System The Louisiana State University System is a system of public colleges and universities in Louisiana. It is budgetarily the largest public university system in the state. William F. Tate IV is president of the LSU system, and also serves as chance ...

and located on the main campus of

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as Louisiana State University (LSU), is an American Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louis ...

. Because Louisiana is a civil law state, unlike its 49

common law Common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law primarily developed through judicial decisions rather than statutes. Although common law may incorporate certain statutes, it is largely based on prece ...

sister states, the curriculum includes both civil law and common law courses, requiring 94 hours for graduation, the most in the United States. In the Fall of 2002, the LSU Law Center became the sole United States law school, and only one of two law schools in the Western Hemisphere, offering a course of study leading to the simultaneous conferring of a J.D. (

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 ...

), which is the normal first degree in American law schools, and a D.C.L. ( Diploma in Comparative Law), which recognizes the training its students receive in both the common and the civil law. Until voting in April 2015 to realign itself as an academic unit of Louisiana State University, the Paul M. Hebert Law Center was an autonomous school. Its designation as a Law Center, rather than Law School, derives not only from its formerly independent campus status but also from the centralization on its campus of J.D. and post-J.D. programs, foreign and graduate programs, including European programs at the Jean Moulin University Lyon 3 School of Law,

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, and the University of Louvain,

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

, and the direction of the Louisiana Law Institute and the Louisiana Judicial College, among other initiatives. According to the school's 2017 ABA-required disclosures, 81.3% of the Class of 2017 obtained full-time, long-term, bar passage-required employment nine months after graduation, excluding solo practitioners.

History

In 1904, LSU constitutional law professor Arthur T. Prescott, who earlier had been the founding president of

Louisiana Tech University Louisiana Tech University (Louisiana Tech, La. Tech, or simply Tech) is a public university, public research university in Ruston, Louisiana, United States. It is part of the University of Louisiana System and Carnegie Classification of Institu ...

, became the first to propose the establishment of a law school at LSU. The law school came to fruition in 1906, under LSU president Thomas Duckett Boyd, with nineteen founding students. Since 1924, the LSU Law Center has been a member of the Association of American Law Schools and approved by the American Bar Association. The Law Center was renamed in honor of Dean Paul M. Hebertbr>
(1907–1977), the longest serving Dean of the LSU Law School, who served in that role with brief interruptions from 1937 until his death in 1977. One of these interruptions occurred in 1947–1948, when he was appointed as a judge for the Nuremberg Trials, United States Military Tribunals in Nuremberg.

Demographics

In 2011, the Law Center received 1,437 applications for the J.D./C.L. program for an enrolled class of 239. The current first-year class includes graduates from 80 colleges and universities throughout the nation. Women make up 49% of the class, 51% are men. Approximately 35% of the class of 2014 came from outside Louisiana representing 19 others states,

United States Virgin Islands The United States Virgin Islands, officially the Virgin Islands of the United States, are a group of Caribbean islands and a territory of the United States. The islands are geographically part of the Virgin Islands archipelago and are located ...

, France, and China.

''Louisiana Law Review''

The Center publishes ''Louisiana Law Review'', the flagship law review for the State of Louisiana. The first issue of the ''Louisiana Law Review'' went into print in November 1938. The ''Louisiana Law Review'' currently ranks in the top 200 student-edited journals, and among the top 100 journals for the highest number of cases citing to a law review.

''LSU Journal of Energy Law and Resources''

The Center publishes the biannual

open-access Open access (OA) is a set of principles and a range of practices through which nominally copyrightable publications are delivered to readers free of access charges or other barriers. With open access strictly defined (according to the 2001 de ...

''LSU Journal of Energy Law and Resources'' that focuses on the law of energy development, energy industries, natural resources, and sustainable development.Aladin - Washington Research Libraries Consortium - Libraries catalog
/ref>

Employment

According to the Law Center's official 2018 ABA-required disclosures, 89% of the Class of 2018 obtained full-time, long-term, bar passage-required employment 10 months after graduation, excluding solo-practitioners. The school's

Law School Transparency Law School Transparency (LST) is a nonprofit consumer advocacy and education organization concerning the legal profession in the United States. LST was founded by Vanderbilt Law School graduates Kyle McEntee and Patrick Lynch. LST describes its ...

under-employment score is 11.6%, indicating the percentage of the Class of 2018 unemployed, pursuing an additional degree, or working in a non-professional, short-term, or part-time job nine months after graduation.

Costs

The total cost of attendance (indicating the cost of tuition, fees, and living expenses) at the Law Center for the 2014–2015 academic year is $39,880.75. The Law School Transparency estimated debt-financed cost of attendance for three years is $160,966.

Notable alumni

References

External links

* {{authority control Universities and colleges established in 1906

Universities and colleges accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Louisiana State University System Universities and colleges in Baton Rouge, Louisiana 1906 establishments in Louisiana