Duke University School of Law

Last updated

Duke University School of Law
Dukelawschool.JPG
Parent school Duke University
Established1868;156 years ago (1868)
School type Private law school
Parent endowment$8.5 billion
Dean Kerry Abrams
Location Durham, North Carolina, U.S.
USNWR ranking4th (tie) (2024)
Bar pass rate98% (2019) [1]
Website law.duke.edu
Duke Law logo.svg

Duke University School of Law is the law school of Duke University, a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. One of Duke's 10 schools and colleges, the School of Law is a constituent academic unit that began in 1868 as the Trinity College School of Law. In 1924, following the renaming of Trinity College to Duke University, the school was renamed Duke University School of Law.

Contents

Admission is selective, with only about 10 percent of applicants being admitted. [2]

History

Built in 1929, the Languages Building (as it is currently known) was the home of Duke Law from 1930 to 1962 DukeLanguages.jpg
Built in 1929, the Languages Building (as it is currently known) was the home of Duke Law from 1930 to 1962

The date of founding is generally considered to be 1868 or 1924.

However, in 1855 Trinity College, the precursor to Duke University, began offering lectures on (but not degrees in) Constitutional and International Law (during this time, Trinity was located in Randolph County, North Carolina).

In 1865, Trinity's Law Department was officially founded, while 1868 marked the official chartering of the School of Law. After a ten-year hiatus from 1894 to 1904, James B. Duke and Benjamin Newton Duke provided the endowment to reopen the school, with Samuel Fox Mordecai as its senior professor (by this time, Trinity College had relocated to Durham, North Carolina). When Trinity College became part of the newly created Duke University upon the establishment of the Duke Endowment in 1924, the School of Law continued as the Duke University School of Law. In 1930, the law school moved from the Carr Building on Duke's East Campus to a new location on the main quad of West Campus. During the three years preceding this move, the size of the law library tripled. Among other well-known alumni, President Richard Nixon graduated from the school in 1937. In 1963, the school moved to its present location on Science Drive in West Campus.

Law students at Duke University established the first U.S. Chapter of the International Criminal Court Student Network (ICCSN) in 2009. [3]

Admissions

For the class entering in the fall of 2023, 244 students enrolled out of 6,205 applicants. The 25th and 75th LSAT percentiles for the 2023 entering class were 168 and 172, respectively, with a median of 170 (top three percent of test takers worldwide). The 25th and 75th undergraduate GPA percentiles were 3.78 and 3.96, respectively, with a median of 3.87. [4] The school has approximately 750 JD students and 100 students in the LLM and SJD programs.

Rankings

Duke University School of Law (February 2023) Duke Law School.jpg
Duke University School of Law (February 2023)

Duke Law School is currently ranked number four, along with Harvard Law School, University of Pennsylvania Law School, and University of Virginia School of Law in the 2024 U.S. News' Best Law Schools ranking. [5] It is currently ranked number one in the Above the Law Rankings. [6] The Law School is consistently ranked within the top 14 law schools in the country, and is a member of the "T-14" law schools; it has never been ranked lower than 12th by U.S. News, or lower than 7th by Above the Law. [7] Duke Law is one of three T14 law schools to have graduated a President of the United States (Richard Nixon). Duke Law was ranked by Forbes as having graduated lawyers with the 2nd highest median mid-career salary amount. [8] [9] In 2017, The Times Higher Education World University Rankings listed Duke Law as the number one ranked law school in the world. [10]

Other rankings include:

Facilities

The rear entrance to the Law School's present location, on Science Drive Duke Law - panoramio.jpg
The rear entrance to the Law School's present location, on Science Drive

The Trinity College School of Law was located in the Carr Building prior to the renaming of Trinity to Duke University in 1924. The Duke University Law School was originally housed in what is now the Languages Building, built in 1929 on Duke's West Campus quad.

The law school is presently located at the corner of Science Drive and Towerview Road and was constructed in the mid-1960s.

The first addition to the law school was completed in 1994, and a dark polished granite façade was added to the rear exterior of the building, enclosing the interior courtyard.

In 2004, Duke Law School broke ground on a building construction project officially completed in fall 2008. The renovation and addition offers larger and more technologically advanced classrooms, expanded community areas and eating facilities, known as the Star Commons, improved library facilities, and more study options for students.

Law journals

The Trinity College School of Law was located in the Carr Building prior to the renaming of Trinity to Duke University in 1924 CarrBldg.jpg
The Trinity College School of Law was located in the Carr Building prior to the renaming of Trinity to Duke University in 1924

Duke Law School publishes eight academic journals or law reviews, which are, in order of their founding:

Law and Contemporary Problems is a quarterly, interdisciplinary, faculty-edited publication of the law school. Unlike traditional law reviews, L&CP uses a symposium format, generally publishing one symposium per issue on a topic of contemporary concern. L&CP hosts an annual conference at the law school featuring the authors of one of the year’s four symposia. [15] Established in 1933, it is the oldest journal published at the law school.

The Duke Law Journal was the first student-edited publication at Duke Law and publishes articles from leading scholars on topics of general legal interest.

Duke publishes the Alaska Law Review in a special agreement with the Alaska Bar Association, as the state of Alaska has no law school.

The Duke Journal of Gender Law & Policy (DJGLP) is the preeminent journal for its subject matter in the world.[ citation needed ]

The Duke Law & Technology Review has been published since 2001 and is devoted to examining the evolving intersection of law and technology.

The Duke Journal of Constitutional Law & Public Policy was founded by members of the Class of 2006. Professors Erwin Chemerinsky and Christopher H. Schroeder served as the ConLaw journal's inaugural faculty advisors. Mikkelsen was the first editor-in-chief; the current editor-in-chief is Daniel Browning. [16] The journal intends to fill a gap in law journal scholarship with a publication that could "cover constitutional developments and litigation, and their intersection with public policy". To ensure that the journal would remain timely, it established a partnership with the Duke Program in Public Law to produce "Supreme Court Commentaries" summarizing and explaining the impact recent cases could have on current issues. The journal publishes continually online and annually in print. It has sponsored speaker series and conferences that explore various issues in constitutional law and public policy.

The law school provides free online access to all of its academic journals, including the complete text of each journal issue dating back to January 1996 in a fully searchable HTML format and in Adobe Acrobat format (PDF). New issues are posted on the web simultaneously with print publication.

In 2005, the law school was featured in the June 6 unveiling of the Open Access Law Program, an initiative of Creative Commons, for its work in pioneering open access to legal scholarship.

Joint-degree programs

The School offers joint-degree programs with the Duke University Graduate School, the Duke Divinity School, Fuqua School of Business, the Medical School, the Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences, the Pratt School of Engineering, and the Sanford School of Public Policy; and a JD/LLM dual degree program in International and Comparative Law. Approximately 25 percent of students are enrolled in joint-degree programs.

Employment

According to Duke's 2017 ABA-required disclosures, 93.8 percent of the class of 2017 obtained full-time, long-term, JD-required employment nine months after graduation and not funded by the school – the highest number for any law school in the country. [17] According to the NLJ, Duke ranks third among all law schools in the percentage of 2017 graduates working in federal clerkships or jobs at firms of 100 or more lawyers, a category NLJ terms "elite jobs". Duke also ranks fourth in federal clerkships. [17]

Law School Transparency gave Duke Law the highest "Employment Score" in the country at 93.8 percent and lowest "Under-Employment Score" of 0.4 percent in 2017. [18]

Notable alumni

Notable faculty

Notable faculty include a sitting Supreme Court Justice, a former United States Senator, 14 former Supreme Court clerks, a former federal judge and a former Judge Advocate General.

Former faculty

Deans of Duke Law School

Related Research Articles

The University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School is the law school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Penn Carey Law offers the degrees of Juris Doctor (J.D.), Master of Laws (LL.M.), Master of Comparative Laws (LL.C.M.), Master in Law (M.L.), and Doctor of the Science of Law (S.J.D.).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stanford Law School</span> Law school of Stanford University, California, U.S

Stanford Law School (SLS) is the law school of Stanford University, a private research university near Palo Alto, California. Established in 1893, Stanford Law had an acceptance rate of 6.28% in 2021, the second-lowest of any law school in the country. Paul Brest currently serves as Interim Dean.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of Georgia School of Law</span> Public law school in Athens, Georgia, US

The University of Georgia School of Law is the law school of the University of Georgia, a public research university in Athens, Georgia. It was founded in 1859, making it among the oldest American university law schools in continuous operation. Georgia Law accepted 14.77% of applicants for the class entering in 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of Chicago Law School</span> Law school in Chicago, US

The University of Chicago Law School is the law school of the University of Chicago, a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. It employs more than 180 full-time and part-time faculty and hosts more than 600 students in its Juris Doctor program, while also offering the Master of Laws, Master of Studies in Law and Doctor of Juridical Science degrees in law.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yale Law School</span> Law school in New Haven, Connecticut, US

Yale Law School (YLS) is the law school of Yale University, a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was established in 1824. The 2020–21 acceptance rate was 4%, the lowest of any law school in the United States. Its yield rate of 87% is also consistently the highest of any law school in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Georgetown University Law Center</span> Private law school in Washington, D.C., US

The Georgetown University Law Center is the law school of Georgetown University, a private research university in Washington, D.C., United States. It was established in 1870 and is the largest law school in the United States by enrollment, with over 2000 students. It frequently receives the most full-time applications of any other law school in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of Virginia School of Law</span> Public law school in Charlottesville, Virginia

The University of Virginia School of Law is the law school of the University of Virginia, a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Washington University Law School</span> Law school in Washington, D.C., US

The George Washington University Law School is the law school of George Washington University, in Washington, D.C. Established in 1865, GW Law is the oldest law school in the national capital. GW Law has 275 elective courses in business and finance law, environmental law, government procurement law, intellectual property law, international comparative law, litigation and dispute resolution, and national security and U.S. foreign relations law.

<i>Michigan Law Review</i> Academic journal

The Michigan Law Review is an American law review and the flagship law journal of the University of Michigan Law School.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ohio State University Moritz College of Law</span> Law school of the Ohio State University in Columbus, OH, US

The Michael E. Moritz College of Law is the law school of Ohio State University, a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. Founded in 1891, the school is located in Drinko Hall on the main campus of the Ohio State University in Columbus. The school is accredited by the American Bar Association (ABA) and is a charter member of the Association of American Law Schools.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law</span> Law school in Chicago, Illinois, US

The Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law is the law school of Northwestern University, a private research university. The law school is located on the university's Chicago campus. Northwestern Law is considered part of the T14, an unofficial designation in the legal community as the best 14 law schools in the United States.

The University of Texas School of Law is the law school of the University of Texas at Austin, a public research university in Austin, Texas. According to Texas Law’s ABA disclosures, 87.20% of the Class of 2022 obtained full-time, long-term bar passage required employment nine months after graduation.

The Faculty of Law and Justice of the University of New South Wales is a law school situated in Sydney, Australia. It is widely regarded as one of Australia's top law schools. The 2021 QS World University Rankings rank the UNSW Law Faculty 13th in the world, first for undergraduate law in Australia, 2nd overall in Australia and 3rd in the Asia-Pacific region, and the 2021 Times Higher Education subject rankings also rank it second in Australia, making it the top ranked law school in New South Wales according to both tables, as well as being the top undergraduate Law school in the country.

The University of Kansas School of Law is the law school of the University of Kansas, a public research university in Lawrence, Kansas. 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 and is a member of the Association of American Law Schools.

Widener University Delaware Law School is a private law school in Wilmington, Delaware. It is one of two separate ABA-accredited law schools of Widener University. Widener University Law School was founded in 1971 as the Delaware Law School and became affiliated with Widener in 1975. In 1989, it was known as Widener University School of Law when it was combined with the campus in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. In 2015, the two campuses separated, with the Harrisburg one renamed to Widener University Commonwealth Law School.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Washington and Lee University School of Law</span> Private law school in Lexington, Virginia, US

The Washington and Lee University School of Law is the law school of Washington and Lee University, a private liberal arts college in Lexington, Virginia. It is accredited by the American Bar Association. Facilities are on the historic campus of Washington and Lee University in Sydney Lewis Hall. W&L Law has a total enrollment of approximately 365 students in the Juris Doctor program and a 6-to-1 student-to-faculty ratio.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of Missouri School of Law</span> Public law school in Columbia, Missouri, US

The University of Missouri School of Law is the law school of the University of Missouri. It is located on the university's main campus in Columbia, forty minutes from the Missouri State Capitol in Jefferson City. The school was founded in 1872 by the Curators of the University of Missouri. Its alumni include governors, legislators, judges, attorneys general, and law professors across the country. According to Mizzou Law's 2016 ABA-required disclosures, 82 percent of the 2016 class obtained full-time, long-term, JD-required employment nine months after graduation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rutgers Law School</span> Law school in New Jersey

Rutgers Law School is the law school of Rutgers University, with classrooms in Newark and Camden, New Jersey. It is the largest public law school and the 10th largest law school, overall, in the United States. Each class in the three-year J.D. program enrolls approximately 350 law students. Although Rutgers University dates from 1766, its law school was founded in Newark in 1908. Today, Rutgers offers the J.D. and a foreign-lawyer J.D., as well as joint-degree programs that combine a J.D. with a graduate degree from another Rutgers graduate program.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indiana University Maurer School of Law</span> Law school in Bloomington, Indiana, U.S.

The Indiana University Maurer School of Law is the law school of Indiana University Bloomington, a public research university in Bloomington, Indiana. Established in 1842, the school is named after alumnus Michael S. "Mickey" Maurer, an Indianapolis businessman who donated $35 million to the school in 2008.

The University of Detroit Mercy School of Law is the law school of the University of Detroit Mercy and is located in Downtown Detroit, Michigan across from the Renaissance Center. Founded in 1912, Detroit Mercy Law is a private Roman Catholic law school and has been ABA-accredited since 1933. The Law School has an annual enrollment of 612 students including 223 Nonresident Aliens, and currently has 67 faculty members.

References

  1. "Bar Passage Rates For First-Time Test Takers Soars!". abovethelaw.com. February 19, 2020.
  2. "Duke University | U.S. News & World Report". www.usnews.com. Retrieved January 24, 2024.
  3. "International Criminal Court Student Network takes hold at Duke". Duke Law News. Duke University. January 1, 2009. Retrieved June 1, 2017.
  4. "JD Class Profile".
  5. 2024 Best Law Schools Rankings
  6. Law, Above the (June 21, 2023). "The 2023 ATL Top 50 Law School Rankings Are Here - Above the Law" . Retrieved February 2, 2024.
  7. "Why Yale Law School Isn't The Number-One Law School (In The ATL 2018 Law School Rankings)". abovethelaw.com. June 7, 2018.
  8. "Duke Law School - TLS wiki". www.top-law-schools.com.
  9. Lat, David (March 10, 2011). "The Best Law Schools — For Getting Rich". abovethelaw.com. Retrieved December 12, 2020.
  10. "Best Law Schools in the World". Times Higher Education. Retrieved October 5, 2017.
  11. "Above the Law rankings". abovethelaw.com.
  12. 1 2 3 4 "TaxProf Blog: Princeton Review's Best 169 Law Schools (2018 Edition)". taxprof.typepad.com.
  13. "Vault". Archived from the original on September 5, 2015. Retrieved January 21, 2018.
  14. "ARWU 2022 - Law Subject ranking". Archived from the original on July 13, 2019. Retrieved May 30, 2018.
  15. "About Us – Law and Contemporary Problems". Duke University School of Law. September 28, 2013.
  16. "Masthead | Duke Journal of Constitutional Law & Public Policy". September 27, 2013. Retrieved December 12, 2020.
  17. 1 2 "Duke Law no. 1 in full-time legal employment for class of 2017". Duke University School of Law.
  18. "National Report | LST Reports". LST Reports by Law School Transparency. Retrieved December 12, 2020.
  19. Durham, Duke Law 210 Science Drive Box 90362; Office613-7006, NC 27708. "Law School Deans | Duke University School of Law". web.law.duke.edu.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)

36°00′05″N78°56′41″W / 36.0013°N 78.9447°W / 36.0013; -78.9447