Loyola Law School

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Loyola Marymount University
The university seal
Motto: Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam - Tua Luce Dirige
Established: 1911, (1865)
Type: Private, Roman Catholic
Endowment: $290 million
President: Rev. Robert B. Lawton, S.J., Ph.D.
Faculty: 839
Undergraduates: 5,465
Postgraduates: 3,082
Location: Los Angeles, California, United States
Campus: Urban, 150 acres (0.6 km²)
Conference: West Coast Conference
Website: www.lmu.edu

Loyola Law School is the law school of Loyola Marymount University, a private Jesuit school in Los Angeles, California. Loyola was established in 1920. Like Loyola University Chicago School of Law and Loyola University New Orleans College of Law (separate and unaffiliated institutions), it is named in honor of St. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuits. Its Frank Gehry-designed campus is located in the Pico-Union neighborhood just west of downtown Los Angeles, and is separate from the Westchester main university campus.

Contents

[edit] Academics

U.S. News & World Report ranked Loyola Law School 63rd[1] in its "America's Best Graduate Schools 2009" feature.

Loyola ranks higher on alternative guides such as The Princeton Review in addition to the Coolely rankings (also known as the Brennan rankings)[2].

For speciality rankings:

Distinct from most law schools, which are typically comprised of one or two centralized buildings, Loyola has a separate law school campus. The campus, sitting on a full city block just west of downtown Los Angeles, is made up of an open central plaza surrounded by several contemporary buildings designed by Frank Gehry.[6] Its recently renovated library is one of the largest private law libraries in the western U.S., with a collection of nearly 560,000 volumes.[7]

Including its day and evening J.D. programs, Loyola has the largest and most diverse student enrollment of any California law school, and it prides itself in its civic duties. It was the first California law school with a pro bono graduation requirement,[8] under which students perform 40 hours of pro bono work.[9] After Hurricane Katrina, Loyola was also one of a handful of schools to open its doors to students of law schools in New Orleans who were forced to relocate for a period of time after the hurricane.[10]

[edit] Fact sheet

Fact sheet—2006-07[11]

Loyola Law School opened its doors in 1920 and is located in downtown Los Angeles

Degrees Offered: Juris Doctor (JD); Juris Doctor/Master of Business Administration (JD/MBA); Masters of Law in Taxation (LLM); Masters of Law in American Law & International Legal Practice (International LLM)

American Bar Association Accreditation: 1937

Awarded a Chapter in The Order of the Coif: 1990

Faculty: 75 full-time faculty members

Enrollment: 1360 total—Women (50%); Minority (37%), ranked 12th in the nation for minority enrollment

Law Reviews: Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review, Loyola of Los Angeles Entertainment Law Review and Loyola of Los Angeles International & Comparative Law Review

Programs: International programs in China, Costa Rica & Italy; the Learning Rights Project; the Cancer Legal Resource Center; the Disability Mediation Center; the Center for Conflict Resolution; the Disability Rights Legal Center; the Center for Juvenile Law & Policy; the Civil Justice Program; the Law & Technology Program; and the Entertainment Law Practicum

Graduate Employment Rate: 95%+ within nine months of graduation

Tuition: $33,719 full-time; $22,418 part-time

Financial Aid: 85% of Loyola Law students receive some form of financial assistance.

Alumni: Represented in all 50 states and in 16 countries

[edit] Law reviews

Loyola currently has three student-run and edited law reviews:

  • Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review[3] is a journal of distinction devoted to the advancement of legal scholarship; recent issues of the Law Review have included articles on ICANN, Eldred v. Ashcroft, firearms ammunition and products liability, California's "three strikes" law, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and trial jury reform.
  • Loyola of Los Angeles International and Comparative Law Review[4] is dedicated to the advancement of legal scholarship and seeks to publish scholarly, professional articles of high caliber, based on accurate and in-depth research, which advance legal scholarship in the field of international law, aid in the resolution of contemporary international legal problems, and contribute to the continuing education of the legal community.
  • Loyola of Los Angeles Entertainment Law Review[5] publishes scholarly articles which frequently cover topics in constitutional law, sports law, intellectual property rights, communications regulation, antitrust law, employment law, contract law, corporate law, as well as the emerging fields of computer and Internet law. ELR has also featured symposia on such topics as independent filmmaking, international rights of publicity and the use of law and identity to script cultural production.

[edit] Trial advocacy and moot court

Loyola's trial advocacy and moot court competition programs have traditionally been regarded as the best in the state of California:

[edit] Career prospects

According to "Official Guide to ABA-Approved Law Schools", 95.1% of Loyola students were employed 9 months after graduation.[6] The 2009 U.S. News & World Report survey "America's Best Graduate Schools" states that 66.6% of Loyola students were employed at graduation. According to a survey which had a 59% participation rate, the median starting salary was $80,000 for private sector attorneys and $58,000 for government attorneys. [7]

In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Dean David Burcham said the school doesn't guarantee that its students will obtain jobs. He says it is problematic that big firms only interview the top of the class, "but that's the nature of the employment market; it's never been different."[8] The same Wall Street Journal article noted that "[a]n anonymous writer called Loyola 2L, purportedly a student at Loyola Law School, who claims the school wasn't straight about employment prospects, has been beating a drum of discontent around the Web in the past year that's sparked thousands of responses, and a fan base."[9]

[edit] Programs and clinics

  • Center for Conflict Resolution, which provides mediation, conciliation, and facilitation services, as well as conflict resolution training[20]
  • Center for Juvenile Law and Policy, which serves as a holistic law firm representing youths in juvenile court; a small group of students each year are selected as participants in a year-long clinic run by the Center, receiving trial advocacy and procedure training from the Center's staff of seasoned attorneys and social workers[21]
  • Civil Justice Program, which convenes periodic conferences, seminars and presentations, promotes and publishes scholarly research, and initiates cross disciplinary projects[22]
  • Disability Rights Legal Center (DRLC) (formerly the Western Law Center for Disability Rights), one of Southern California's most active public interest centers specializing in Americans with Disabilities Act litigation;[23] DRLC is run by a mix of Loyola professors, law student externs, and attorneys, and its centers and programs include the following:
• Cancer Legal Resource Center[24]
• Civil Rights Litigation Project[25]
• Education Advocacy Project[26]
• Disability Mediation Center[27]
• Community Outreach Program[28]
• Inland Empire Program[29]
• Options Counseling and Lawyer Referral Service[30]
• Pro Bono Attorney Program[31]
  • Entertainment Law Practicum, which provides students with hands-on experience in the entertainment industry while earning units toward their degree[32]
  • Journalist Law School, providing fellowships to journalists for an intensive legal study practicum[33]
  • Program for Law & Technology, a collaboration with the California Institute of Technology[34]
  • Public Interest Law Foundation (PILF), which is a student-run organization focused on getting students involved in public interest causes as well as raising money for public interest grants; PILF is the largest and most active public interest club of its kind of all the law schools in Southern California[35]
  • Sports Law Institute, which provides a sports law-related curriculum and annual symposia[36]

[edit] Study-abroad programs

[edit] Notable faculty

Dean (Interim)

  • Victor Gold, an evidence law scholar and former associate dean [41]

Current faculty

Clinical faculty

Former faculty

[edit] Notable alumni

Lawyers and activists

Non-legal

Political

Judicial

Academia

[edit] References

  1. ^ "America's Best Graduate Schools 2009" (html), U.S. News & World Report. 
  2. ^ http://www.princetonreview.com/law/research/profiles/rankings.asp?listing=1035876&LTID=5&intbucketid=
  3. ^ About the Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review (html). llr.lls.edu.
  4. ^ About the Loyola of Los Angeles International and Comparative Law Review (html). ilr.lls.edu.
  5. ^ About the Loyola of Los Angeles Entertainment Law Review (html). elr.lls.edu.
  6. ^ http://officialguide.lsac.org/SearchResults/SchoolPage_PDFs/ABA_LawSchoolData/ABA4403.pdf
  7. ^ [1](login required); “America's Best Graduate Schools, 2009 Survey”, U.S. News & World Report 
  8. ^ Hard Case: Job Market Wanes for U.S. Lawyers - WSJ.com
  9. ^ Hard Case: Job Market Wanes for U.S. Lawyers - WSJ.com

[edit] External links