Lewis & Clark Law School

Lewis & Clark Law School
Motto	Explorare, Discere, Sociare (Latin)
Parent school	Lewis & Clark College
Established	1915
School type	Private
Parent endowment	US$231.2 million[1]
Dean	Jennifer J. Johnson
Location	Portland, Oregon, US
Enrollment	719[2]
Faculty	107[2]
Bar pass rate	87% (ABA profile)[2]
Website	law.lclark.edu
ABA profile	Lewis & Clark Profile

The Northwestern School of Law of Lewis and Clark College (also known as Lewis & Clark Law School), is an American Bar Association-approved private law school in Portland, Oregon.

The law school received ABA approval in 1970^[3] and joined the Association of American Law Schools (AALS) in 1973.^[4]

Lewis & Clark Law School offers the Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree, including a range of scholastic concentrations and legal certificate programs, as well as the Master of Laws (L.L.M.) degree.

Each class in the three-year J.D. program has approximately 200 students. The first-year class is broken into six pods of approximately 35 students who take most first-year classes together.^[5] The dean of Lewis & Clark Law School is Jennifer J. Johnson, Erskine Wood Sr. endowed Professor of Law. Dean Johnson is a noted securities law scholar and arbitration expert, as well as a member of the American Law Institute.^[6]

Lewis & Clark law students can complete their degrees on full-time or part-time schedules, take courses during the day or evening, and focus in a number of legal specialties. The institution has a well-regarded general law review and a range of nationally ranked specialty programs, including environmental law, intellectual property law and the legal writing program. According to Lewis & Clark's 2013 ABA-required disclosures, 57.6% of the Class of 2013 obtained full-time, long-term, JD-required employment nine months after graduation.^[7]

Campus grounds

The law school grounds are adjacent to a forested natural area, replete with 14-miles of biking and jogging trails in Tryon Creek State Park. The Law School is 4-miles from downtown, in the Southern hills of Portland, west of the Willamette River, at the base of the undergraduate campus of Lewis & Clark College.^[8]

The Lewis & Clark College undergraduate, graduate school, and law campus grounds collectively occupy 137 acres (554,000 m²), centered on the M. Lloyd Frank Estate on Palatine Hill in the Collins View neighborhood of Southwest Portland.

Student and faculty fitness enthusiasts enjoy the landscaped walks to the Pamplin Sports Center on the undergraduate campus, which includes gyms, indoor and outdoor pools, and tennis courts.^[9]

History

Lewis & Clark Law School's origins began with the University of Oregon establishing a Department of Law in Portland in 1885. After the Oregon State Legislature moved the program to Eugene, Oregon in 1915, several law faculty members resisted the move, and formed the Northwestern College of Law.

In 1965, the faculty and overseers of Northwestern College of Law joined with the president and trustees of Lewis & Clark College to incorporate the Northwestern School of Law of Lewis & Clark College.^[10]

Today the college has over 100 faculty and staff.^[11] Academic personnel develop policies and initiatives to steward student success, including rigorous admissions standards and limited class sizes. Instructors generally guide students through the law using the Socratic method. Faculty members regularly appear as experts in legal proceedings, publish legal texts and contribute primary research findings to legal scholarship around the country.^[12]

Law library

Legal research center

The Paul L. Boley Law Library is the largest law library in Oregon^[13] and the second-largest in the Pacific Northwest^[13] with a collection of over 505,000 volumes as of 2014. Boley is also home to clinical space and program offices.^[14]

Rankings

Lewis & Clark Dean of Students Martha Spence addresses the annual first year law student convocation in Flanagan Chapel, on the upper campus

The law school's curriculum and programs continue to receive high marks. In 2014, Lewis & Clark Law School again topped the list of environmental law programs in the United States, according to U.S. News & World Report's rating system.^[15] Meanwhile, the Lewis & Clark Part-Time Program was ranked 7th in the country as of 2015.^[16] The law school was also ranked 72nd in the same U.S. News & World Report survey,^[17] making it the highest ranked law school in Oregon and the second-highest ranked law school in the Pacific Northwest.

The Lewis & Clark Law Review was ranked among the top 10% of all law journals and the top 25% of general-interest law reviews by the 2013 Washington and Lee Law Review Rankings^[18] and Google Scholar.

LC outdoor amphitheater

Wood Hall houses the Reading Room (pictured), as well as law journals, legal clinics, practical skills and legal specialty programs

Law centers and institutes

Lewis & Clark Law School McCarty Complex

• Center for Animal Law Studies
• Earthrise Law Center
• Green Energy Institute
• National Crime Victim Law Institute
• Natural Resources Law Institute
• Northwest Environmental Defense Center (NEDC)
• Oregon Law Institute
• Western Resources Legal Center (WRLC)
• International Environmental Law Project (IELP)

Journals

Lewis & Clark Law School supports three student-edited scholarly journals:

• Environmental Law Review
• Animal Law Review
• Lewis & Clark Law Review

Practical skills

Lewis & Clark Law School is the ranking national champion of the American Bar Association Law Student Division Negotiation Competition.^[19]

National moot court competitions

Lewis & Clark law students benefit from the campus serving as a destination for several national moot courts. In 2013, Chief Justice of the United States John G. Roberts launched Lewis & Clark's Environmental Moot Court Competition, presiding as a guest judge. ^[20] While at Lewis & Clark, the Chief Justice of the United States visited with first year law students and shared legal writing advice. ^[21]

The campus also serves as the permanent host of the National Native American Law Students Association (NALSA) Moot Court Competition and the International Law Students Association (ILSA) Pacific Regional Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition.^[22] Additionally, the ILSA Student Initiated Lecture Series at Lewis & Clark has been internationally recognized for academic excellence.^[23]

Semester abroad opportunities

In addition, the law school has developed a number of exclusive global summer externship placements. There are options in India for students interested in business, litigation, transactional, public interest, human rights, and environmental practice through placement with firms and NGOs in Delhi, Hyderabad, and Mumbai.^[24] The law school has also secured exclusive placements in Asia, for students interested in international law firm experience. Past placements include firms in both Beijing and Shanghai, China.^[25]

Coordinating with partner law schools

Lewis & Clark law students participating in clinical programs regularly team up with other law schools to host events or appear in state and federal court. Past instances include environmental law clinical students teaming up with Stanford Law School students to successfully protect native species in federal court. Likewise the Center for Animal Law Studies has developed partnerships with student advocates at Stanford Law School, joining to host the global animal law community at the annual animal law conference.^[26]

Employment

According to Lewis & Clark's official 2013 ABA-required disclosures, 57.6% of the Class of 2013 obtained full-time, long-term, JD-required employment nine months after graduation.^[7] Lewis & Clark's Law School Transparency under-employment score is 27.2%, indicating the percentage of the Class of 2013 unemployed, pursuing an additional degree, or working in a non-professional, short-term, or part-time job nine months after graduation.^[27]

Costs

The average cost of attendance at Lewis & Clark Law School for the 2014-15 school year includes tuition ($40,114 full-time, $30,084 part-time); fees ($50 public interest fee); health insurance ($4,048 if not already covered); and average cost of living expenses ($22,600).^[28] The average student loan amount for Lewis & Clark Law School students who graduated in the 2013-14 year and borrowed loans was approximately $126,200.

Notable alumni

References

External links

• Lewis & Clark Law School (official website)

Coordinates: 45°27′09″N 122°40′37″W / 45.4525°N 122.677°W / 45.4525; -122.677