The University of Kansas School of Law is the

law school A law school (also known as a law centre or college of law) is an institution specializing in legal education, usually involved as part of a process for becoming a lawyer within a given jurisdiction. Law degrees Argentina In Argentina, ...

of the

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States, and several satellite campuses, research and educational centers, medical centers, and classes across the state of Kansas. Tw ...

, 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 ''Öffentlichkei ...

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 most important sites at which knowledge production occurs, along with "intergenerational kno ...

Lawrence, Kansas Lawrence is the county seat of Douglas County, Kansas, 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, between the Kansas River, Kansas and Waka ...

. 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 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 acad ...

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 176 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 370,000 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 2021, the school accepted 53.86% of applicants with 32.16% 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 as well as logical and verbal reas ...

score of 158 and an average undergraduate

GPA Grading in education is the process of applying standardized measurements for varying levels of achievements in a course. Grades can be assigned as letters (usually A through F), as a range (for example, 1 to 6), as a percentage, or as a numbe ...

of 3.69.

Centers and programs

Shook, Hardy & Bacon Shook, Hardy & Bacon (SHB), L.L.P. (previously Shook, Hardy, Ottman, Mitchell and Bacon) is a U.S. law firm based in Kansas City, Missouri. In 2012, ''The National Law Journal'' ranked the firm as the 87th largest in the United States. The firm ha ...

Center for Excellence in Advocacy *

Polsinelli Polsinelli is an AmLaw 100 firm with more than 1,000 attorneys in 23 offices nationwide. History Polsinelli is an Am Law 100 firm with more than 1,000 attorneys in 23 offices nationwide. The firm’s attorneys focus on health care, finance, r ...

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 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 ki ...

Constitutional Law Constitutional law is a body of law which defines the role, powers, and structure of different entities within a State (polity), state, namely, the executive (government), executive, the parliament or legislature, and the judiciary; as well as th ...

Contracts A contract is a legally enforceable agreement between two or more parties that creates, defines, and governs mutual rights and obligations between them. A contract typically involves the transfer of goods, services, money, or a promise to tran ...

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

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 punishable ...

, 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 ...

. 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 briefs. One form of legal writing involves drafting a balanced analysis of a legal problem or issue. Another form of legal ...

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 probl ...

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

Sheila Bair Sheila Colleen Bair (born April 3, 1954) is an American civil servant who was the 19th Chair of the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), during which time she assumed a prominent role in the government's response to the 2008 financi ...

– Former Chairman of the

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) is one of two agencies that supply deposit insurance to depositors in American depository institutions, the other being the National Credit Union Administration, which regulates and insures cred ...

* 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 Mary Kathryn Beck Briscoe (born April 4, 1947) is a Senior United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. Early life and education Briscoe was born in Council Grove, Kansas, and grew up on a farm ne ...

- 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, diplomat, and member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party who served as the United States Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Fr ...

–

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

, former

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

, former

United States Senator The United States Senate is the Upper house, upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States House of Representatives, House of Representatives being the Lower house, lower chamber. Together they compose the national Bica ...

for Kansas (1996-2011), former

Member of Congress A Member of Congress (MOC) 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 term member of parliament (MP) is an equivalen ...

representing Kansas's Second Congressional District (1995–96), former Secretary of the

Kansas Department of Agriculture The Kansas Department of Agriculture is a department of the government of Kansas under the Governor of Kansas. It is responsible for providing services and expertise that promote and protect Kansas' food supply and natural resources while stimula ...

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

White House Fellow The White House Fellows program is a federal fellowship program established via Executive Order by President of the United States Lyndon B. Johnson in October 1964, based upon a suggestion from John W. Gardner, then the president of Carnegie Corp ...

under President

George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushSince around 2000, he has been usually called George H. W. Bush, Bush Senior, Bush 41 or Bush the Elder to distinguish him from his eldest son, George W. Bush, who served as the 43rd president from 2001 to 2009; pr ...

(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 Senat ...

–

for Kansas and former

representing Kansas's First Congressional District (1997-2011). * Carol Beier – former Justice of the Kansas Supreme Court *

Chris Biggs Chris Biggs (born October 14, 1958) is an American lawyer and politician who was the 30th Secretary of State of Kansas. He was appointed on March 16, 2010 by Governor Mark Parkinson to replace Ron Thornburgh who resigned on February 15, 2010. On ...

– 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 Ja ...

* 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 pos ...

– All-American basketball player at Kansas *

Lawrence E. Meyers Lawrence may refer to: Education Colleges and universities * Lawrence Technological University, a university in Southfield, Michigan, United States * Lawrence University, a liberal arts university in Appleton, Wisconsin, United States Preparato ...

- 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 of ...

since 1993; based in

Fort Worth Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. According ...

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

Carlos Murguia Carlos Murguia (born 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 emigrated from Mexico ...

– 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 Janet may refer to: Names * Janet (given name) * Janet (French singer) (1939–2011) Surname * Charles Janet (1849–1932), French engineer, inventor and biologist, known for the Left Step periodic table * Jules Janet (1861–1945), French psych ...

– 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 citizens ...

Mary H. Murguia Mary Helen Murguia (born September 6, 1960) is an American lawyer and jurist serving as the Chief United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. She previously served as a U.S. district judge of the Unite ...

– 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 in the following federal judicial districts: * District ...

Lawton Nuss Lawton R. Nuss (born December 30, 1952) is a former Kansas Supreme Court justice appointed by Governor Bill Graves in August 2002. By virtue of tenure, he became chief justice upon Robert E. Davis's resignation. Nuss announced his decision to re ...

– 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 David Ryan Stras (born July 4, 1974) is a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. He is a former Associate Justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court. Early life and education Stras was born in 1974 ...

– 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 Dis ...

*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 J ...

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

References

External links

* {{authority control University of Kansas Educational institutions established in 1893 Law schools in Kansas 1893 establishments in Kansas