The University of the District of Columbia David A. Clarke School of Law (UDC Law) is the law school of the

University of the District of Columbia The University of the District of Columbia (UDC) is a public historically black land-grant university in Washington, D.C. It was established in 1851 and is the only public university in the city. UDC is a member school of the Thurgood Marshall ...

, 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 sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichk ...

historically black land-grant university in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

It is named after David A. Clarke and was established in 1986 when, in response to a local grassroots campaign, the Council of the District of Columbia decided to take over the

Antioch School of Law Antioch School of Law was a law school in Washington, D.C. which specialized in public advocacy. The school now operates as the University of the District of Columbia David A. Clarke School of Law (UDC-DCSL). The school was located on 16th Str ...

, whose parent institution

Antioch University Antioch University is a private university with multiple campuses in the United States and online programs. Founded in 1852 as Antioch College, its first president was politician, abolitionist, and education reformer Horace Mann. It changed its ...

had decided to close it in the face of increasing financial problems. The school was formally merged into the University of the District of Columbia in 1996.

History

UDC Law was established as the District of Columbia School of Law after

decided to close its law school. The

was a

school established as part of

Antioch College Antioch College is a private liberal arts college in Yellow Springs, Ohio. Founded in 1850 by the Christian Connection, the college began operating in 1852 as a non-sectarian institution; politician and education reformer Horace Mann was its ...

's Antioch Network in 1972 by Jean Camper Cahn and Edgar S. Cahn, a married interracial couple dedicated to improving legal services for poor people. Eager to retain the Antioch School of Law's mission, curriculum, clinical programs, and personnel for the benefit of the city, in 1986 Antioch School of Law students, alumni and local legal and civic leaders mounted a successful grassroots campaign to persuade the Council of the District of Columbia to pass legislation that re-established the school as the District of Columbia School of Law (DCSL). The Council of the District of Columbia later passed legislation merging the School of Law with the

in 1996. In 1998 President Clinton signed legislation renaming the School after former D.C. Council Chair David A. Clarke, a civil rights leader and long-time advocate for the law school and its mission. The District of Columbia School of Law was awarded provisional accreditation by the

American Bar Association The American Bar Association (ABA) is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students, which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. Founded in 1878, the ABA's most important stated activities are the setting of aca ...

in 1991, while the David A. Clarke School of Law was awarded provisional accreditation shortly after its renaming in 1998. It was awarded full accreditation by a unanimous vote of the ABA House of Delegates on August 8, 2005. On May 15, 2020, the council of the American Bar Association's Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar met remotely and determined this school and nine others had significant noncompliance with Standard 316. This Standard was revised in 2019 to provide that at least 75% of an accredited law school's graduates who took a bar exam must pass one within two years of graduation. The school had been asked to submit a report by Feb. 1, 2021; and, if the council did not find the report demonstrated compliance, the school would be asked to appear before the council at its May, 2021 meeting. By August 2020, the School of Law was able to demonstrate compliance, asserting the class of 2018 had a two-year bar passage rate of 75.3%, and its class of 2019 was showing progress toward a 75% pass rate. The August council also specifically found that the school was in compliance with Standards 501(b) and Interpretation 501–1, which deal with admissions policies and practices. However, in late 2022, the school was again found out of compliance for having an actual 67.24% pass rate for the class of 2019. The school indicated the 2019 results were an anomaly.

Academics

Curriculum

UDC Law requires more hands-on work in a clinical setting – on real cases on behalf of low-income people and the public interest – than any other U.S. law school. The school requires full-time first year students to take courses on

Civil Procedure Civil procedure is the body of law that sets out the rules and standards that courts follow when adjudicating civil lawsuits (as opposed to procedures in criminal law matters). These rules govern how a lawsuit or case may be commenced; what kin ...

, Contracts, Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure, Law & Justice, Lawyering Process, and

Torts A tort is a civil wrong 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 criminal wrongs that are punishabl ...

. Upper-division full-time students are required to take clinical courses and courses on

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 fe ...

, Evidence,

Moot Court Moot court is a co-curricular activity at many law schools. Participants take part in simulated court or arbitration proceedings, usually involving drafting memorials or memoranda and participating in oral argument. In most countries, the phrase " ...

, Professional Responsibility, 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, r ...

Degrees offered

UDC Law students can earn their J.D. in three years as full-time students or in four years as part-time students. The school also offers a two-year LL.M. program with concentrations in Clinical Education, Social Justice, and Systems Change.

Faculty

The school had 28 full-time faculty and three part-time/visiting faculty, including Antioch founder Edgar S. Cahn, as of Spring 2018.

Experiential learning

Each first-year UDC Law student provides a minimum of 40 hours of community service with a DC non-profit or government agency as part of th
Law and Justice
course. After completion of the first year, all UDC Law students are eligible for a pai
Summer Public Interest Fellowship
UDC Law also has a
Externship Program
allowing students to earn academic credit for closely supervised law-related work done in conjunction with the School of Law's Externship Course. In addition, UDC Law has a service-learning program that facilitates law student, staff and faculty service at family detention centers in Texas and elsewhere. However, the heart of UDC Law's experiential program are its

legal clinics A legal clinic (also law clinic or law school clinic) is a legal aid or law school program providing services to various clients and often hands-on-legal experience to law school students. Clinics are usually directed by clinical professors. ...

, and all upper-division students to take two clinical classes. The school offers the following clinics: *Community Development Clinic *Criminal Law Clinic (with DC Law Students in Court, located in the UDC Law building) *Whistleblower Protection Clinic – at th
Government Accountability Project
*General Practice Law Clinic *Housing & Consumer Law Clinic *Immigration & Human Rights Clinic *Juvenile & Special Education Law Clinic *Legislation Clinic *Low-Income Taxpayers Clinic

Admissions

UDC Law enrolled 247 students for the 2018–19 academic year 63% of J.D. students were racial minorities. In 2018, UDC received 584 applications, of which 207 (35.4%) were offered admission. Of those 207 admitted, 61 (29.5%) matriculated. The median LSAT score for students enrolling in UDC in 2018 was 147.

Employment

According to UDC Law's 2019 ABA-required disclosures, 38.8% of the Class of 2018 obtained full-time long-term JD-required employment nine months after graduation.EMPLOYMENT SUMMARY FOR 2018 GRADUATES. http://www.abarequireddisclosures.org/EmploymentOutcomes.aspx

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

, and

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

were the top employment locations for 2016 graduates.

Student life

UDC Law students can participate in more than 30 student organizations, reflecting a variety of legal and social justice interests.

Costs

The 2018–2019 tuition rates for full-time students are $12,838 for District residents, $18,756 for metropolitan area residents, and $24,674 per semester for non-District residents. Tuition rates for part-time, visiting and non-matriculating students are $402 per credit hour for D.C. residents, $601 per credit hour for metropolitan area residents, and $802 per credit hour for non-District residents. The total cost of attendance (including the cost of tuition, fees, and living expenses) at UDC Law for the 2018–2019 academic year is estimated to be $55,301 for full-time students who are D.C. residents and $78,973 for full-time students who are non-residents.

Notable alumni

Including graduates of the closed

: * Tiffany T. Alston (2002), member of the

Maryland House of Delegates The Maryland House of Delegates is the lower house of the legislature of the State of Maryland. It consists of 141 delegates elected from 47 districts. The House of Delegates Chamber is in the Maryland State House on State Circle in Annapolis, ...

Thelma Buchholdt Thelma Garcia Buchholdt (August 1, 1934 – November 5, 2007) was a Filipino American community activist, politician, historian, public speaker, cultural worker, and author. She was elected to the Alaska House of Representatives for four consecut ...

(1988), member of the

Alaska House of Representatives The Alaska State House of Representatives is the lower house in the Alaska Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Alaska. The House is composed of 40 members, each of whom represents a district of approximately 17,756 people per ...

and author *

Tom Devine Sir Thomas Martin Devine (born 30 July 1945) is a Scottish academic and author, who specializes in the history of Scotland. He is known for his overviews of modern Scottish history. He is an advocate of the total history approach to the h ...

(Antioch 1980), attorney specializing in

whistleblower A whistleblower (also written as whistle-blower or whistle blower) is a person, often an employee, who reveals information about activity within a private or public organization that is deemed illegal, immoral, illicit, unsafe or fraudulent. Whi ...

rights * Kenneth Eichner (Antioch 1984), attorney, author and film producer * Maryellen Fullerton (Antioch 1978), attorney and law professor * Michael Horsey (Antioch attended), member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives * Aviva Kempner (Antioch 1976), documentary filmmaker * Thomas Kilbride (Antioch 1981), Chief Justice and Associate Justice, Supreme Court of Illinois * Michael D. Kohn (Antioch 1985), attorney specializing in

protection law * Stevan Lieberman (1994), attorney specializing in

intellectual property Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, cop ...

law and

patent law A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A p ...

* Keiffer Mitchell (1994), former Member of the

* Susanne Steinem Patch (Antioch 1978), staff attorney for the Federal Trade Commission * Tim Rieser (Antioch 1979), U.S. Senate staff member specializing in foreign policy * Penfield Tate III (Antioch 1981), member of the Colorado House of Representatives and Colorado Senate * George J. Terwilliger III (Antioch 1978),

United States Attorney United States attorneys are officials of the U.S. Department of Justice who serve as the chief federal law enforcement officers in each of the 94 U.S. federal judicial districts. Each U.S. attorney serves as the United States' chief federal ...

for the District of Vermont,

United States Deputy Attorney General The United States deputy attorney general is the second-highest-ranking official in the United States Department of Justice and oversees the day-to-day operation of the Department. The deputy attorney general acts as attorney general during the ...

Jon Wellinghoff Jon B. Wellinghoff (born May 30, 1949) is an American attorney who served as the chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) from 2009 to 2013. The FERC is a U.S. government agency that regulates the interstate transmission of el ...

(Antioch 1975), Chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission * Michael D. Wilson (Antioch 1979), Associate Justice of the

Supreme Court of Hawaii The Supreme Court of Hawaii is the highest court of the State of Hawaii in the United States. Its decisions are binding on all other courts of the Hawaii State Judiciary. The principal purpose of the Supreme Court is to review the decisions of ...

References

External links

Official website
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Clark Clark is an English language surname, ultimately derived from the Latin with historical links to England, Scotland, and Ireland ''clericus'' meaning "scribe", "secretary" or a scholar within a religious order, referring to someone who was educate ...

Educational institutions established in 1986 1986 establishments in Washington, D.C. Historically black law schools David A Clark Law schools in Washington, D.C.