Drake University Law School is a professional graduate

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, ...

Drake University Drake University is a private university in Des Moines, Iowa. It offers undergraduate and graduate programs, including professional programs in business, law, and pharmacy. Drake's law school is among the 25 oldest in the United States. Hi ...

, located in

Des Moines, Iowa Des Moines () is the capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small part of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moines, ...

. The school has over 330 full-time students. The school is led by Dean Jerry Anderson. Founded in 1865, Drake Law School is one of the 25 oldest law schools in the country. The Law School was established by Iowa Supreme Court justices George Wright and Chester Cole, who aimed to teach law in proximity to the courts so students could witness the law in action. Drake Law School's curriculum includes the nation's only First-Year Trial Practicum. In 2020, the American Bar Association ranked Drake University the 7th best competition school in the nation. In 2020, the ''U.S. News & World Report'' ranked Drake Law School as the 105th best overall law school in the nation''.''

History

Established in 1865 by Chester C. Cole, a justice of the

Iowa Supreme Court The Iowa Supreme Court is the highest court in the U.S. state of Iowa. The Court is composed of a Chief Justice and six Associate Justices. The Court holds its regular sessions in Des Moines in the Iowa Judicial Branch Building located at 1111 E ...

, Drake Law School is one of the 25 oldest law schools in the country and the second law school founded west of the Mississippi River after the University of Iowa, which Justice Cole co-founded with Justice George G. Wright. Justice Cole felt that having a law school located in the state capital would be advantageous. In time, Drake Law alumni would fill the ranks of all branches of Iowa local and state government.

Programs

In addition to the full-scale, three-year,

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...

program, the law school features the following special programs: * ''Drake Law Review'' * ''Drake Journal of Agricultural Law'' * 5 Research Centers: Agricultural Law, Children's Rights, Constitutional Law, Intellectual Property, and Legislative Practice * Certificate programs in several fields * Civil and Criminal Clinical Programs * Multiple Moot Court and Mock Trial teams * Summer in France Program * Summer Institute in Constitutional Law (for entering 1L's) * LL.M./M.J. Program in Intellectual Property * M.J. Program in Health Law * LL.M./M.J. Program in Individualized Legal Studies (Concentrations in: Business Law, Criminal Law, Estate Planning, Family Counseling and the Law, Human Rights and Global Citizenship, Legislative Practice and Government Relations, Sustainable Development)

Opperman Lecture Series

Drake University Law School - Opperman Hall and Sundial

The Dwight D. Opperman Lecture series, endowed by the former CEO of West Publishing and Drake Alumnus, is an annual event of national importance in constitutional law. Several

Supreme Court Justices The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest-ranking judicial body in the United States. Its membership, as set by the Judiciary Act of 1869, consists of the chief justice of the United States and eight associate justices, any six of ...

have visited campus to deliver lectures on American jurisprudence.

''Drake Law Review''

As of 2014, the ''Drake Law Review'' is nationally ranked among the top 40 law journals for the number of times courts have cited its articles. The rankings, compiled by John Doyle of the

Washington and Lee Law School The Washington and Lee University School of Law (W&L Law) is the professional graduate law school of Washington and Lee University. It is a private American Bar Association-accredited law school located in Lexington in the Shenandoah Valley reg ...

Library, show the ''Drake Law Review'' had 56 citations, according to the 2014 data. Drake is in the top group of more than 1,640 journals in the rankings. Drake University Law School - Cartwright Hall

Drake University Law School - Cartwright Hall

The ''Drake Law Review'' is published quarterly by Drake Law students. In the past few years, the ''Drake Law Review'' has published articles by distinguished legal scholars and judges, including:

Erwin Chemerinsky Erwin Chemerinsky (born May 14, 1953) is an American legal scholar known for his studies of United States constitutional law and federal civil procedure. Since 2017, Chemerinsky has been the dean of the UC Berkeley School of Law. Previously, he a ...

Cass Sunstein Cass Robert Sunstein (born September 21, 1954) is an American legal scholar known for his studies of constitutional law, administrative law, environmental law, law and behavioral economics. He is also ''The New York Times'' best-selling author of ...

Randy Barnett Randy Evan Barnett (born February 5, 1952) is an American legal scholar. He serves as the Patrick Hotung Professor of Constitutional Law at Georgetown University, where he teaches constitutional law and contracts, and is the director of the Georg ...

, Cheryl Harris,

Paul Brest Paul Brest (born 1940) is an American scholar of constitutional law, a former president of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and a former dean of Stanford Law School. He is an influential theorist on the role of non-profit organizations i ...

, Stephen Carter, Michael Gerhardt, Chief Justice

John G. Roberts John Glover Roberts Jr. (born January 27, 1955) is an American lawyer and jurist who has served as the 17th chief justice of the United States since 2005. Roberts has authored the majority opinion in several landmark cases, including '' Nat ...

Jr., and Stephen Rapp (Chief Prosecutor of the United Nations Special Court for Sierra Leone). The ''Drake Law Review'' increased its online presence in 2015 with a new website. The site hosts articles, notes, and lectures published in the pages of the ''Drake Law Review''. In addition, this site is home to ''Discourse'', an online journal founded in 2012 by the ''Drake Law Review''.

Notable alumni

Drake Law has graduated numerous significant lawyers, including several state/federal judges and politicians, including: * Turner W. Bell, pioneering black criminal defence attorney * Mark W. Bennett, former federal judge for the Northern District of Iowa * Robert D. Blue, former governor of Iowa *

Terry Branstad Terry Edward Branstad (born November 17, 1946) is an American politician and former diplomat. A member of the Republican Party, he served three terms in the Iowa House of Representatives from 1973 to 1979 before serving as governor of Iowa fro ...

, former and longest-serving governor of Iowa, former U.S. Ambassador to China *

Mark Cady Mark Steven Cady (July 12, 1953 – November 15, 2019) was an American jurist. He served on the Iowa Supreme Court for 21 years from 1998 to 2019. From 2011 to 2019, he was the chief justice of the court. He was the author of the court's opinion ...

, former chief justice of the Iowa Supreme Court * Russell C. Davis, United States Air Force lieutenant general * George Gardner Fagg,

United States federal judge In the United States, federal judges are judges who serve on courts established under Article Three of the U.S. Constitution. They include the chief justice and the associate justices of the U.S. Supreme Court, the circuit judges of the U.S. Cou ...

on 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 ...

* Adam Gregg, current

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

lieutenant governor A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...

James E. Gritzner James Edward Gritzner (born November 19, 1947) is a Senior status, senior United States federal judge, United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa. Education and career Gritzner was born on ...

, federal judge for the Southern District of Iowa since 2002 * John Alfred Jarvey, former federal judge for the Southern District of Iowa from 2007 to 2022 * Daniel Jay, former member of the

Iowa House of Representatives The Iowa House of Representatives is the lower house of the Iowa General Assembly, the upper house being the Iowa Senate. There are 100 seats in the Iowa House of Representatives, representing 100 single-member districts across the state, formed ...

Gary Lambert (politician) Gary Lambert is an American politician from the state of New Hampshire. A Republican from Nashua, he served in the New Hampshire Senate for the 13th district and ran for the Republican nomination for the United States House of Representatives ...

, former

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

state senator A state senator is a member of a state's senate in the bicameral legislature of 49 U.S. states, or a member of the unicameral Nebraska Legislature. Description A state senator is a member of an upper house in the bicameral legislatures of 49 U ...

* Louis A. Lavorato, former chief justice of the Iowa Supreme Court *

Dustin Manwaring Dustin Whitney Manwaring is an American attorney and politician serving as a Republican member of the Idaho House of Representatives. Early life and education Manwaring was raised in Blackfoot, Idaho, and graduated from Blackfoot High School. He ...

, member of the

Idaho House of Representatives The Idaho House of Representatives is the lower chamber of the Idaho State Legislature. It consists of 70 representatives elected to two-year terms. The state is divided into 35 districts, each of which elects two representatives to separate se ...

* Brian Meyer, member of the

* C. Edwin Moore, former chief justice of the Iowa Supreme Court *

Jim Nussle James Allen Nussle (born June 27, 1960) is an American businessman and retired politician who has been president and chief executive officer of the Credit Union National Association since 2014. Nussle served as a Republican member of the United S ...

, former member of the

U.S. House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

and Director of the

Office of Management and Budget The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is the largest office within the Executive Office of the President of the United States (EOP). OMB's most prominent function is to produce the president's budget, but it also examines agency programs, pol ...

* Dwight D. Opperman, former CEO of

West Publishing Company West (also known by its original name, West Publishing) is a business owned by Thomson Reuters that publishes legal, business, and regulatory information in print, and on electronic services such as Westlaw. Since the late 19th century, West ha ...

* James W. Porter, chief justice of the Idaho Supreme Court"Justice Porter Is Claimed by Death", ''The Twin Falls Times-News'' (December 9, 1959), p. 1, 2. *

Robert D. Ray Robert Dolph Ray (September 26, 1928 – July 8, 2018) was an American lawyer and Republican politician. He served as the 38th governor of Iowa from January 16, 1969 to January 14, 1983. During his tenure as governor, Ray served as chair of t ...

, former governor of Iowa * Neal Smith, former member of the

* Marsha Ternus, former chief justice of the Iowa Supreme Court *

Jack Whitver Jack Whitver (born September 4, 1980) is an American businessman and politician, who is currently the Iowa State Senator for the Iowa Senate, District 23, 23rd District. Since 2018 he has served as Iowa Senate, Senate Majority Leader. Whitver play ...

, current

and Senate Majority Leader *

David Wiggins David Wiggins (born 1933) is an English moral philosopher, metaphysician, and philosophical logician working especially on identity and issues in meta-ethics. Biography David Wiggins was born on 8 March 1933 in London, the son of Norman ...

, former justice of the Iowa Supreme Court

Employment

According to Drake's official ABA-required disclosures, 68.4% of the Class of 2015 obtained full-time, long-term, bar passage required jobs 10 months after graduation. 5% of the Class of 2015 was unemployed 10 months after graduation.

Costs

The total cost of attendance (indicating the cost of tuition, fees, and living expenses) at Drake for the 2014-2015 academic year is $58,146. The Law School Transparency estimated debt-financed cost of attendance for three years is $214,740. The average amount actually borrowed in law school by 2013-14 JD graduates at Drake Law School was $108,857. Drake Law School offers both guaranteed and conditional scholarships, that latter of which depend upon the student maintaining a specific grade point average, rather than remaining in good academic standing. Conditional scholarships are controversial because courses are often graded on a strict curve. During the 2014-2015 academic year, 21 Drake law students had their conditional scholarships reduced or eliminated.

References

External links

''The Drake University Bulletin''
Volume 7, Issue 1, (Drake University Law School history), Drake University, 1903. {{authority control Law schools in Iowa Drake University Educational institutions established in 1865 1865 establishments in Iowa