University of Minnesota Law School
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| Motto | Theory. Doctrine. Ethics. Skills. Practice. |
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| Established | 1888 |
| Type | Public law school |
| Endowment | $85 million [1] |
| Dean | Interim Co-Deans Guy-Uriel Charles Fred L. Morrison |
| Faculty | 63 full-time; 9 clinical faculty; 26 University affiliated faculty; 105 adjunct |
| Students | 864 students (808 J.D.; 25 international visiting; 5 domestic visiting; 26 LL.M.) |
| Location | Minneapolis, MN,, USA |
| Address | Walter F. Mondale Hall 229 19th Avenue South Minneapolis, MN 55455 |
| Telephone | 612-625-1000 |
| Campus | Urban |
| Colors | Purple and white |
| Nickname | Fighting Mondales |
| Website | www.law.umn.edu |
The University of Minnesota Law School, located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, is a professional school of the University of Minnesota. The school offers a Juris Doctor (J.D.), Master of Laws (LL.M.) and joint degrees with J.D./M.B.A.; J.D./M.P.A; J.D./M.A., J.D./M.S., J.D./Ph.D., J.D./M.D. J.D./M.P.P., J.D./M.P., J.D./M.B.T., J.D./M.U.R.P., and J.D./M.P.H.
Founded in 1888, the Law School is consistently ranked among the top 20 law schools in the nation (according to 'U.S. News & World Report') and has a reputation for turning out outstanding lawyers and public servants. With approximately 870 students, the Law School maintains a 15:1 student-to-faculty ratio. Admission into the Law School is highly competitive. All first-year classes are graded on a curve. Most upper-level classes are graded on a curve as well; only those classes with the smallest of enrollments are relieved of the curve. The five-year average bar exam passage rate is 99.18%.
The Law School's Dean position is currently held by Interim Co-Deans Guy-Uriel E. Charles and Fred L. Morrison, who will serve for two years as the law school searches for a permanent hire. Both Co-Deans are long-standing professors of the law school. Dean Alex M. Johnson, the previous (ninth) dean of the law school, announced his resignation effective June 1, 2006. Johnson is currently serving his fifth contract year as Emeritus Dean on sabbatical. Dean Johnson's predecessor, Dean E. Thomas Sullivan, now serves as the Provost of the University of Minnesota, as well as continuing to serve as Professor of Law at the Law School.
The outstanding Law Library is the 8th largest of its kind in the country, with over 1,000,000 volumes, and is open to the students 24 hours a day throughout the year. The chief librarian at the school is Joan S. Howland, who joined the Law School in 1992. Of particular note is The Riesenfeld Rare Books Research Center, which houses one of the top three collections of rare legal texts in the nation. For its millionth volume, the Law School acquired the papers of Clarence Darrow.
In 1999-2001, the Law School initiated and completed an expansion of its facilities on the west bank of the University campus.
There are 16 legal education clinics, offering students the opporunity to handle real legal cases under supervision of teaching attorneys. The school also has a strong, formal moot court system, and a majority of students partipate in that program.
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[edit] Study Abroad Programs
The Law School offers a healthy level of study abroad opportunities and recently announced the opening of a "campus" in Beijing, where a summer study program in Chinese law is now offered in conjunction with China University of Political Science and Law. The school also features established study abroad programs with ESADE Faculty of Law in Barcelona, Spain; University of Uppsala, Uppsala, Sweden; Université Jean Moulin (Lyon III) in Lyon, France, Humboldt University in Berlin, Germany; University College Dublin in Dublin, Ireland, Tilburg University Faculty of Law in Tilburg, Netherlands; and Bucerius Law School in Hamburg, Germany.
[edit] Publications
The school produces a number of important scholarly journals. Those that are edited by students include Minnesota Law Review, Law and Inequality (formerly the Journal of Law and Inequality), and Minnesota Journal of International Law (formerly the Minnesota Journal of Global Trade). Faculty edited journals include Constitutional Commentary, Crime and Justice, Minnesota Journal of Business and Entrepreneurship, and Minnesota Journal of Law Science and Technology. Not without a sense of humor, students at the Law School also regularly publish the tongue-in-cheek newsletter and harbinger of Thursday night activities, The Bar Review Weekly.
[edit] Student life
[edit] Musical
An annual highlight for the Law School is when the student body puts on its own full-length musical: written, performed, directed and produced by the all-student Theatre of the Relatively Talentless (TORT). Begun in 2003, the event draws over a thousand audience members each year and features cameos by distinguished alumni and other distinguished members of the Minnesota legal community. For the 2006 show, "West Bank Story" (a spoof on "West Side Story"), tickets sold out within three days. Previous shows include: "Wizard of the Fritz" (2003, a spoof on "the Wizard of Oz"); "Law Wars" (2004, a spoof on "Star Wars"); and "Walter Wonka and the Lawyer Factory" (2005, a spoof on "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory").
[edit] Hockey
The Fighting Mondales hit the ice during the season in intramural play, club play and rivalry games against the law school hockey teams of Hamline School of Law's Res Ipsas and rival William Mitchell Fighting Eelpout. For home hockey games, the Fighting Mondales play out of the Ridder Arena on the U. of M. campus. Before becoming the Fighting Mondales, the Law School teams were known as the Tortfeasors.
[edit] Famous alumni
The Law School currently has 10,494 living alumni in 50 states and 68 countries. Perhaps the most famous alumnus of the Law School is former Vice President of the United States and Ambassador to Japan Walter F. Mondale ('56). The Law School's building was renamed Walter F. Mondale Hall in his honor in 2002. His legacy and continued participation in the life of the school recently earned him a most interesting honor from the school's student-run Law Council: the naming of the mascot of the Law School as the "Fighting Mondales."
Other prominent alumni of the school include: current Governor of Minnesota Tim Pawlenty; Minnesota Attorney General Mike Hatch; several current Justices of the Minnesota Supreme Court, including Chief Justice Russell A. Anderson and Honorable Justices G. Barry Anderson, Paul H. Anderson and Alan Page; US Congressman Ron Kind (D-WI); the Honorable Diana E. Murphy (of the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals); Minnesota State Senator Mee Moua; immediate former Minnesota Chief Justice Kathleen A. Blatz; former Governors of Minnesota Wendell Anderson, Orville Freeman, Harold LeVander, John Lind, J. A. O. Preus and Harold Stassen; former Governor of Michigan and Ambassador to Canada James J. Blanchard; former U.S. Congressman Donald M. Fraser; former U.S. Senator David Durenberger; former US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Constance Berry Newman; former MN Attorney Generals Hubert "Skip" Humphrey and Warren Spannaus; trial lawyer Michael Ciresi; 2004 World Series of Poker Champion Greg Raymer; and several hundred other federal and state court judges, scores of law professors as well as thousands of the country's finest lawyers and executives.
[edit] External links
- University of Minnesota Law School mainpage
- University of Minnesota Law School Theatre of the Relatively Talentless
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| The Twin Cities Campus of the University of Minnesota | ||
|---|---|---|
| Carlson School of Management • Coffman Memorial Union • Dinkytown • Eastcliff • GAPSA • The Gopher Way • Law School • Mariucci Arena • McNamara Alumni Center • Memorial Stadium (demolished) • Metrodome • Northrop Auditorium • Northrop Mall • Ridder Arena • School of Social Work • Siebert Field • Stadium Village • Superblock • TCF Bank Stadium (planned) • Washington Ave. Bridge • Weisman Art Museum • Williams Arena | ||
