UCLA School of Law
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The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), School of Law is the law school of the University of California, Los Angeles. It is generally regarded as the top law school in Southern California, as well as one of the top fifteen law schools in the United States.[1] It is usually considered to be the youngest of the top-tier American law schools.[2]
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[edit] History
Founded in 1949, UCLA School of Law is one of four law schools within the University of California system. The others are Boalt Hall at UC Berkeley, King Hall at UC Davis, and Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco.
The UCLA Law Review, the law school's flagship scholarly journal, was first published in 1953.
[edit] Degrees and areas of specialization
The school offers the standard Juris Doctor degree as well as several programs of specialization within the degree (which are indicated by notations on a student's diploma). Students can specialize in Business Law and Policy, Entertainment Law, Public Interest Law, and Critical Race Studies. The size of an entering class can range as high as 340 but classes are always divided into sections to encourage development of a sense of community among incoming students.[3] At least one first-year substantive course is always taught in a small section format of only thirty students.[4]
The Socratic method is in use by some professors, but most faculty allow for a slightly more relaxed classroom atmosphere than at other top-tier law schools.[5] The school also has traditionally offered a strong clinical program, which is housed in its own wing (built at a cost of $9 million).[6]
Several joint degree programs are available. These require four years of study, resulting in the simultaneous award of a Juris Doctor and a Master’s Degree in Afro-American Studies, American Indian Studies, Management, Public Health, Public Policy, Social Welfare, or Urban Planning.
The school also offers a Master of Laws (LL.M.) law program, which involves one year of post-law-graduate studies. This program is popular among foreign students, who then take the California bar exam.
Finally, it offers a Doctor of Juridical Science (S.J.D.) Degree, designed for students who already have a J.D. and hope to become law professors.
[edit] Faculty and students
UCLA School of Law has over 100 faculty members with expertise in all major disciplines of law; it "is one of the most diverse in the country."[7] Since 2002, faculty members have published 48 new books, 45 chapters, and over 150 journal articles.
The 2004-2005 first-year student admission rate was 13.5% — among the most selective in the country. 99.6% of 2004 UCLA School of Law graduates seeking employment secured professional employment within nine months of graduation. The median starting salary for 2004 graduates was $110,000. Among 2004 graduates employed in the private sector, the median salary was $125,000.
[edit] Location
UCLA School of Law is located on the northeastern edge of the UCLA campus in the Westwood area of Los Angeles.[8] The school is approximately five miles from the Pacific Ocean.
The school proper is housed in a five-story brick building known simply as the Law Building. The oldest parts of the Law Building's interior are notorious for a "high school atmosphere" and "dark, drafty classrooms,"[9] but it has been extensively improved by the addition of the clinical wing in 1990 and the new law library in 2001. A few offices, like the Office of Career Services, are housed in an adjacent building, Dodd Hall.
The campus sits on the sloping foothills of the Santa Monica Mountains, between the communities of Brentwood to the west and Holmby Hills to the east. The entrance to the Playboy Mansion is a short ways up Sunset Boulevard, in Holmby Hills. Just beyond Holmby Hills is Beverly Hills.
[edit] Journals and reviews
- UCLA Law Review
- UCLA Asian/Pacific American Law Journal
- UCLA Chicano/Latino Law Review
- UCLA Entertainment Law Review
- UCLA Journal of Environmental Law and Policy
- UCLA Journal of International Law & Foreign Affairs
- UCLA Journal of Islamic and Near Eastern Law
- UCLA Journal of International Law & Foreign Affairs
- UCLA Journal of Law & Technology
- UCLA Pacific Basin Law Journal
- UCLA Women’s Law Journal
- National Black Law Journal
[edit] Notable alumni
- Janice Rogers Brown — Judge, Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia (2005-); former Associate Justice of the California Supreme Court (1996-2005)
- Vincent Bugliosi — attorney and writer of non-fiction works as Helter Skelter and The Betrayal of America: How the Supreme Court Undermined the Constitution and Chose Our President.
- Laurie L. Levenson — Professor, Loyola Law School; TV legal commentator, gained fame during Rodney King and O.J. Simpson trials
- Alex Kozinski — Judge, Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals (1985-)
- Dorothy Wright Nelson — Senior Judge, Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals (1979-); former Dean of the University of Southern California School of Law (1969-1980)
- Kelly Perdew — Winner of Season 2 of The Apprentice
- Susan Westerberg Prager — Former Dean of the School of Law (1982-1998) — one of the first female law school deans; Professor at the UCLA School of Law (1972-1998, 2001-2006); Provost of Dartmouth College (1998-2001); appointed President of Occidental College (due to take office July 1, 2006)
- Linda Sánchez — Congresswoman from California's 39th Congressional District (2002-)
- Kim McLane Wardlaw — Judge, Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals (1998-)
- Henry A. Waxman — Congressman from California's 30th Congressional District (1975-)
[edit] Notable faculty members
- Michael H. Schill — Dean of the School of Law (2004-), noted expert on real estate and housing policy, deregulation, finance and discrimination; author of over 40 articles and books.
- Richard L. Abel — Author of many pioneering works on the sociology of the legal profession
- Norman Abrams — Author of leading casebooks on Federal Criminal Law, Anti-Terrorism Law and Evidence; member of the faculty since 1959; former UCLA Vice Chancellor of Academic Personnel; current acting Chancellor
- Peter Arenella — Criminal law expert who rose to national prominence as a television commentator for the O.J. Simpson trial
- Paul Bergman — Author of several popular legal self-help books for Nolo Press
- David A. Binder — Pioneer in the field of clinical legal education; author of several books on clinical legal education
- Grace G. Blumberg — Prominent scholar in the fields of family law and community property
- Carole Goldberg — Leader in the field of Federal Indian Law; national expert in Public Law 280 and its effects on Native Nations.
- Mark F. Grady — Expert in intellectual property and law and economics; Director of the Center for Law and Economics; former Dean of George Mason University School of Law.
- Kenneth L. Karst — Eminent constitutional law expert; member of the faculty since 1965
- Lynn M. LoPucki — Security Pacific Bank Professor of Law. LoPucki's Bankruptcy Research Database provides data for much, if not most, empirical work on the subject by other legal scholars. A version of the database--called the WebBRD--is publicly available at http://lopucki.law.ucla.edu/
- David Mellinkoff (deceased) — Leader of the Plain English movement in American law
- Melville B. Nimmer (deceased) — Author of the most popular treatise on American copyright law (which is still regularly updated by his son David Nimmer, also a UCLA Law Professor)
- Jonathan D. Varat — Former Dean of the School of Law (1998 – 2003); author of popular constitutional law casebook
- Eugene Volokh — Author of textbooks on First Amendment law and academic legal writing; author of over 45 law review articles; founder of The Volokh Conspiracy weblog.
[edit] External links
[edit] References
- ^ Cynthia L. Cooper, The Insider's Guide to the Top Fifteen Law Schools (New York: Doubleday, 1990), 342-343.
- ^ Cooper, 342.
- ^ Cooper, 343 & 345.
- ^ Cooper, 349.
- ^ Cooper, 345.
- ^ Cooper, 352-353.
- ^ Cooper, 345.
- ^ Cooper, 359.
- ^ Cooper, 358-359.
