Order of the Coif

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The Order of the Coif is an honor society for United States law school graduates. A student at an American law school who earns a Juris Doctor degree and graduates in the top 10 percent of his or her class is eligible for membership if the student's law school has a chapter of the Order. If a member law school graduates fewer than thirty students, it may still induct its top three students. A school can decide, at its sole discretion, not to allow an otherwise eligible student to receive the honor. A chapter may also choose to limit membership to students with further distinguished achievements beyond the minimum class-rank requirement. Each member school may induct, as an honorary member, one person each year. Typically the people chosen for honorary membership are United States Supreme Court justices and prominent federal appellate judges; most schools do not exercise their right to bestow honorary membership in most years.

Membership in the society is generally considered one of the highest honors a law student can receive, similar to membership in Phi Beta Kappa for undergraduate students. According to the Order's constitution, "[t]he purpose of The Order is to encourage excellence in legal education by fostering a spirit of careful study, recognizing those who as law students attained a high grade of scholarship, and honoring those who as lawyers, judges and teachers attained high distinction for their scholarly or professional accomplishments."

The exact induction process varies by law school, but students are generally notified of their election to the Order after the final class ranks at their schools are calculated and published (which at some schools may be after the formal graduation ceremony, on account of the time-consuming process of grading law school exams). When a student becomes a member of the Order of the Coif, he or she receives a Certificate of membership, a Badge of membership for wear during academic ceremonies, a Coif key, and in some cases an actual coif or representation of the same.

[edit] Chapter Applications

Just as membership in the Order is a valuable credential on the resume of any lawyer, it is a major milestone in the evolution of a law school to be granted a chapter of the Order, as it signifies that the nation's best law schools have recognized the newly admitted institution as one of their own. While over 190 law schools are accredited by the American Bar Association, only 80 have Order of the Coif chapters as of 2006. This means that students at the majority of law schools in the US are ineligible for membership, regardless of their class ranking. However, the law schools with chapters include all institutions that are ranked in the top 50 according to the U.S. News & World Report's law school rankings, except for Columbia Law School, Harvard Law School, and Notre Dame Law School (the last does not rank its students). These schools have their own honorary awards and have not sought chapters of the Order. Harvard and Columbia would certainly qualify if they sought membership; Notre Dame is a generally well regarded law school, but the Order's constitution makes it impossible for a law school that does not rank students to obtain a chapter.

For a law school to establish a chapter of the Order, a four-fifths majority of existing members must agree that the proposed school meets the appropriate standards.[1] A law school can also be removed from the Order if a two-thirds majority of member schools agrees to bring the matter to a vote and a four-fifths majority (excluding the school in question) then votes to remove the school.

Criteria considered when a law school applies for a chapter of the Order include: (1) American Bar Association and American Association of Law Schools approval; (2) at least ten years of existence as a law school; (3) affiliation with a university; (4) if a part-time J.D. program exists, the part-time program must offer students and faculty affiliated with the part-time program the same scholarship opportunities as all other students and faculty; (5) a stimulating intellectual environment for the study of law; (6) commitment of the university and law school administration to quality legal education; (7) faculty scholarship and institutional support for same; (8) a diverse educational program; (9) a diverse student body with strong academic credentials; (10) a law library that will support and encourage research activity; and (11) appropriate physical facilities. [2]

The chapter application form explains that "It is in a university setting that a law school is most likely to encourage scholarship in its students and faculty." Because of the university-affiliation criterion, some quality law schools that exist as stand-alone institutions have not received chapters despite being ranked above many schools with chapters (an example is Brooklyn Law School).

The first school to establish a chapter of the Order of the Coif was the University of Illinois, which did so in 1902.