Gonzaga University School of Law

Gonzaga University School of Law
Motto	Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam For the greater glory of God
Parent school	Gonzaga University
Established	1912
School type	Private
Dean	Jane B. Korn
Location	Spokane, Washington, USA 47°39′48″N 117°24′03″W / 47.6633°N 117.4008°W / 47.6633; -117.4008Coordinates: 47°39′48″N 117°24′03″W / 47.6633°N 117.4008°W / 47.6633; -117.4008
Enrollment	506[1]
Faculty	69 (Full- and part-time)[1]
USNWR ranking	110[2]
Bar pass rate	86.1%[1]
Website	www.law.gonzaga.edu
ABA profile	Gonzaga Law Profile

The Gonzaga University School of Law (also known as Gonzaga Law or GU Law) is the professional school for the study of law at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington, USA. Established in 1912, the law school is viewed as a strong institution in the Pacific Northwest. The school is fully accredited by the American Bar Association, and a member of the Association of American Law Schools. Alumni of Gonzaga University School of Law practice in all 50 U.S. states.

The current Gonzaga University School of Law building was completed in May 2000, and is situated on the Spokane River on the southern edge of the Gonzaga University campus, and also contains the large Chastek Law Library. The library houses more than 380,000 volumes and is part of the Federal Depository Library Program. The school's location in Spokane, the largest city in the Inland Northwest, allows students to take advantage of internships with private firms, and government and not-for-profit agencies, along with opportunities with both federal and state judges, as Spokane is home to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Washington.

Campus & History

Gonzaga University campus in the fall, with Lake Arthur pictured, and the law school visible in the background.

Gonzaga University was established in 1887 as a private, Jesuit institution, and by 1912, the leadership of the University desired the creation of a law school program. Founded on the motto “A First Class Law School, or None at All,” Gonzaga University School of Law opened its doors on October 1, 1912. Two classrooms on the third floor of the Administration Building were provided for the law school. The school’s first dean was Edward J. Cannon. In June 1915, Gonzaga University School of Law graduated its first law class of 13 students.^[3]

During the first half of the 20th century, the law school continued to expand its enrollment and curriculum, and by the 1960s, the school had outgrown its facilities. Gonzaga University President Father John Leary, S.J., acquired a nearby vacant grade school in July 1962 for the law school. The former Webster School was originally built in 1901, was the victim of a fire in 1945, and was subsequently restored as a trade school. The former Webster School would house the law school for the next thirty-eight years.^[3]

In the 1970s, the law school experienced explosive growth, and the law school building underwent several renovations. In 1974, it opened one of the country's first legal clinics. By the 1990s, the law school occupied the old Webster school along with several adjacent buildings. Under Dean John Clute, fundraising was begun to build a new law school building. The class of 2000 was the last to graduate from the old law building. In late May 2000, the new Gonzaga University School of Law building, located on the banks of the Spokane River, opened its doors.^[3] The new building is 104,000 square feet (9,700 m²), and was completed at a cost of $18.5 million. In 2014, The National Jurist magazine's preLaw magazine gave the school an 'A-' rating, ranking it among the Top Law School facilities in the nation.^[4]

Admissions

In 2014, the school enrolled 128 students in the 1L class.^[5] The median GPA was 3.24 and the median LSAT score was 153 (65th percentile).^[6]

Students of the entering class hailed from 24 states, and 64 undergraduate colleges and universities.^[7] Underrepresented ethnic minorities comprised 19 percent of the 1L class.^[8] In 2013, The National Jurist Magazine's preLaw magazine named GU Law the #3 Top School for Latter-day Saint students and the #8 Most Devout Catholic Law School.^[9]

Rankings

The U.S. News & World Report named Gonzaga Law School

• #56 (Survey of Highly Regarded American Law Firms) (2012)^[10]
• #99 (Peer Reputation Ranking) (2015)^[11]
• #110 overall (2016)^[2] (#2 in the state of Washington)

The National Jurist named Gonzaga Law School

• 'A-' Top 46 Law School Facilities in the Nation (2014)^[12]
• 'A-' Top 36 Law Schools for Practical Training (2015)^[13][14]
• #3 Top School of Latter-day Saints (2014)^[15]
• #8 Most Devout School for Catholics (2014)^[16]
• Top 65 Best Value Law Schools (2009)^[17]

Recent editions of the The Princeton Review listed Gonzaga Law School

• "Best 169 Law Schools" (2014) (The list does not provide a final comprehensive ranking of schools overall.)^[18]

Moody's Employment Rankings named Gonzaga Law School

• #63 (2014)^[19]

Gonzaga Law has also received national recognition as supporting one of the most innovative law school curricula in the U.S.^[20] The school was one of ten schools awarded a Diversity Matters Award from the Law School Admissions Council for its diversity outreach efforts in 2013.^[21]

Bar passage rates

In February 2014, 85.7% of Gonzaga Law students taking the Washington bar exam (both first and non-first time takers), the highest rate of any Washington law school by 16%.^[22] In July 2013, 91% of Gonzaga Law students taking the Washington bar exam for the first time passed, while those taking out-of-state bar exams had an 89% passage rate. The Washington state average rate was 84.8% in July 2013.^[23] In February 2013, 80% of Gonzaga Law students taking the Washington bar exam for the first time passed, compared to the Washington state average of 58.7%.

Post-graduation employment

According to Gonzaga Law's official 2013 ABA-required disclosures, 60.2% of the Class of 2013 obtained full-time, long-term, bar passage-required employment nine months after graduation, excluding solo-practitioners.^[24] GU Law ranked 57th among ABA-approved law schools in terms of the percentage of 2013 graduates with non-school-funded, full-time, long-term, bar passage required jobs nine months after graduation.^[25]

GU Law's Law School Transparency under-employment score is 24.2%, 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.^[26] 88.2% of the Class of 2013 was employed in some capacity while 4.3% were pursuing graduate degrees and 7.5% were unemployed nine months graduation.^[24]

Costs

The total cost of yearly attendance (indicating the cost of tuition, fees, and living expenses) at Gonzaga Law is estimated as $53,287.^[27]

The Law School Transparency estimated debt-financed cost of attendance for three years is $202,601.^[28]

Degrees and curriculum

The law school offers a traditional J.D., a J.D. for internationally educated lawyers, and joint J.D./graduate degree programs.

J.D. Program

The law school offers a traditional Juris Doctor (J.D.) program comprising 90 semester hours of credit that full-time students may complete in three years. The program includes two years of legal research and writing classes, although students are allowed to choose between four capstone writing courses (Judicial Opinion Writing, Advanced Advocacy, Drafting for Litigation, and Transactional Drafting). Doctrinal classes include Civil Procedure, Contracts, Property, Torts, Criminal Law, Perspectives on the Law, Constitutional Law, and Evidence. Students are also expected to take a Skills and Professionalism Labs, one using rules of Civil Procedure and Torts to teach practical litigation skills and another using Contracts and Property to teach practical transactional skills. The third-year curriculum includes a requirement that all students earn at least three credits in either the school's clinic or its externship program. The impetus behind this requirement is to assure that each student graduates with some experience in applying their classroom knowledge and simulated skill set in an actual law practice setting.^[29]

Students also have the opportunity to participate in the University Legal Assistance clinical programs, serve on one of the law school’s scholarly journals, audition for one of the law school's trial or moot court teams, or study abroad. Optional programs in the law school include the international law study abroad programs in Florence, Italy and Antigua, Guatemala. The Florence Summer Law Program affords students the ability to live in Italy on Gonzaga University's Florence campus for a summer, participate in a legal course of study, and travel to various sites in Europe. The Guatemala Inter-American Program is a truly bilingual and inter-cultural approach including law classes about Latin America taught in English and Spanish and bilingual field placements. These classes take place at Rafael Landívar University.

Students are also permitted to attend other ABA-approved law schools for a semester or longer if an area of legal study is not available at Gonzaga University.

J.D. Program for Internationally Educated Lawyers

The law school also offers a 15 month J.D. Program for Internationally Educated Lawyers designed to prepare international law graduates for transnational legal practice relating to U.S. clients or transactions.^[30] Students must have a law degree from a university outside of the United States to earn a U.S. J.D. degree. The program provides skills training and legal analysis for multilingual lawyers. It can be completed in as little as 15 months and includes three legal research and writing courses.^[31]

Joint-Degree Programs

The law school offers three joint-degree programs:

• J.D./MAcc. (Master of Accountancy) The MAcc. program is traditionally ranked within the top accounting programs in the nation.
• J.D./MBA (Master of Business Administration)
• J.D./MSW (Master of Social Work).

Due to the very close proximity of Eastern Washington University, Whitworth University, and Gonzaga University, some students have concurrently finalized undergraduate degrees in science fields to qualify for the patent bar.

Clinic program

The law school opened one of the country's first legal clinics in 1974. Today, the law school is recognized in the Pacific Northwest for the Gonzaga Center for Law and Justice, a not-for-profit University Legal Assistance clinical program. Clinic students represent clients who are residents of the Spokane area, require legal representation, and who are without the means to hire a traditional lawyer. The structure of the Clinic is modeled after a large law firm, and the Clinic specializes in family law, elder law, civil rights, disability rights, and criminal defense. Students control their own case loads, and represent clients in court under the supervision of law school faculty, and with limited licenses to practice law. Students work 40 billable hours for each clinic credit hour.

The clinical programs available include:

• Business Law Clinic
• Elder Law Clinic
• Environmental Law & Land Use Clinic
• Federal Indian Law Clinic
• Federal Tax Clinic
• General Practice Clinic
• Mortgage Foreclosure Clinic

Centers and institutes

• Task Force on Race and the Criminal Justice System
• Commercial Law Center
• Institute for Law Teaching and Learning
• Center for Law in Public Service

Journals

The law school currently publishes two legal journals. Student staff members are selected based on a writing competition, editing competition, and first-year grades, or a publishable note or comment on a legal topic.

• Gonzaga Law Review
• Gonzaga Journal of International Law

William O. Douglas Lecture Series

The law school hosts an annual lecture series for the purpose of promoting a strong commitment to the freedoms of speech, religion, and assembly protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. The lecture series features distinguished individuals who share this strong commitment to the First Amendment.^[32] Guest speakers have included U.S. Supreme Court Justices William O. Douglas (1972, inaugural speaker), William H. Rehnquist (1976), Byron R. White (1982), Arthur Goldberg (1983), and Antonin Scalia (1994).^[33]

Notable People

Faculty

• Jane B. Korn^[34] - Dean, legal scholar on employment discrimination, particularly based on disability
• Debra L. Stephens^[35] - Washington Supreme Court Justice

Former faculty

• J. Stanley Webster (1912-1915)
• Dean Lewis B. Schwellenbach^[36] (1944-1945)
• Thomas S. Foley^[37] (1958-1959)
• Robert Araujo^[38] (1994-2005)
• Rosanna M. Peterson^[39] (1999-2010)
• Dean Earl F. Martin^[40] (2005-2010)

Alumni

The law school's alumni actively practice in all 50 states in the nation and include five current State Supreme Court justices, a former Governor of Washington, former U.S. Congressmen, a number of U.S. federal judges, and state attorneys general in several states. The current president of the Washington State Bar Association is also an alumnus.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Gonzaga University School of Law.

• Gonzaga University School of Law website.