University of Miami School of Law

University of Miami School of Law
University of Miami School of Law
	150px
Established	1926
School type	Private
Parent endowment	US $678.69 million
Dean	Patricia D. White
Location	Coral Gables, Florida, USA
Enrollment	1,208
Faculty	70 full time, 107 part time
USNWR ranking	61st
Bar pass rate	79.3% (July '13)
Website	www.law.miami.edu/

The University of Miami School of Law, founded in 1926, is the law school of the University of Miami, located in Coral Gables, Florida, in the United States. The school graduated its first class of 13 students in 1929.^[3]

According to University of Miami's 2013 ABA-required disclosures, 60.5% of the Class of 2013 obtained full-time, long-term, JD-required employment nine months after graduation, excluding solo practitioners.^[4]

Academics

From 1948 to 2002, the law school had an evening division for part-time students.^[5] Starting in 1952, the school started offering an LL.M. degree in taxation.^[5] In 1957, UM began to offer an LL.M. in Inter-American Law, and the Masters of Comparative Law (now an LL.M.) was first offered in 1959. In 1998, the school decided to reduce the size of its entering JD classes by 15 percent.^[5]

The University of Miami School of Law also offers extensive "Public Interest Programs" and opportunities, including the "Center for Ethics and Public Service" that offers in-house clinics and educational programs including the "Children and Youth Law Clinic", "Health and Elder Law Clinic", and "Corporate & Professional Responsibility Program". The HOPE Public Interest Resource Center at the University of Miami School of Law gives students the opportunity to get involved in over 25 different projects each year, reaching various underserved and at-risk populations locally, nationally, and abroad.

The school also offers several official joint-degree programs (in, among other things, business, public health and marine affairs^[6]), including seven LL.M. programs for post-graduate-level law study. The "Academic Achievement Program" provide participating students additional tools to succeed in law school. Other special programs at the law school include four "Summer Abroad Programs", one each in London, England and Spain and two involving multiple European nations (Greece, Italy, and London) and (Greece, Italy, and Barcelona, Spain).

The University of Miami School of Law is the host of the annual "Heckerling Institute on Estate Planning," a conference for estate planning professionals. The law school also hosts an annual symposium for psychology, public policy, and law.

For 2014, U.S. News & World Report ranked the law school 61st.^[7] U.S. News & World Report also ranked the University of Miami School of Law within the top 20 schools that incur the highest average debt.

Campus

The University of Miami School of Law is located on the main campus of the University of Miami in Coral Gables, just six miles southeast of Miami, the 7th largest metropolitan area in the nation. The School of Law is centered around a central courtyard called the "Bricks." The Law Library has a collection of over 600,000 volumes in print and microform, and subscribes to a large and ever-expanding list of electronic resources.^[8]

The University of Miami campus is served by the Miami Metrorail at the University Station.

Curriculum

Due to the size of the faculty, the University of Miami School of Law is able to provide an extensive curriculum selection for second- and third-year students. First-year students take a series of required courses covering the theory and substance of the law while exploring the political, commercial, and social dimensions of legal institutions. In addition to the required courses, first-year students also are permitted to choose one elective in their second semester.

Law students at the University of Miami have the opportunity to combine their J.D. degrees with master's degrees in business administration, communications, music business, public health, or marine affairs. There is also a joint J.D./LL.M. program where students can complete both degrees in seven semesters in the areas of taxation, international law, international arbitration, ocean and coastal law, and real property development. The law school also offers programs leading to a master of laws (LL.M.) degree in taxation, estate planning, real property, comparative law, inter-American law, international law, international arbitration, and ocean and coastal law.

Students

The University of Miami School of Law has a total student body of approximately 1,250. For the class of 2016, 45% are female, 37% are minorities, 45% come from out-of-state, 52% speak more than one language, and 51% enroll directly after graduating from college. Students range in age from 18 to 52. The 75th/25th percentiles for the LSAT are 160/155 and for undergraduate GPA are 3.58/3.14. Tuition for the 2013-2014 academic year is $39,856 for third-year students, $43,000 for second-year students, and $43,680 for first-year students.

Student activities

The school offers students the opportunity to compete for membership on both the Charles C. Papy, Jr. Moot Court Board and the International Moot Court Board. Both boards make up Miami's Moot Court Board which is currently ranked 14th in the nation.^[9] The Charles C. Papy Moot Court Board hosts a Negotiation Competition, Mock Trial Competition, Fall and Spring C. Clyde Atkins Advanced Moot Court Competitions, and the John T. Gaubatz Competition. Also, the board participates in numerous inter-school competitions across the country. Most recently, the Charles C. Papy Moot Court Board advanced to the finals of the ABA Law Student Division National Appellate Advocacy Competition, with one team member taking home the Best Oralist Award.^[10]

The International Moot Court Board offers student's who are interested in pursuing careers in International Law the opportunity to compete in a range of both public and private law competitions held around the world. The law school hosts a pre-moot for the Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot each spring which attracts schools from Europe, Central and South America. In competition, the International Moot Court Board most recently took home a 2nd-place finish at the International Criminal Court's Moot Court Competition in The Hague, winning two of the top three oralist awards.^[11] The strength of the law school's International Arbitration department has enabled the International Moot Court Board to achieve a string of successes in Arbitration competitions in the past few years. This past year, the International Moot Court Board was able to win 1st place in their first appearance in the Frankfurt Investment Arbitration Moot Court Competition held in Frankfurt, Germany.^[12] Moreover, the Board's team for the Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot, held in Vienna, Austria, has consistently taken home "Honorable Mentions" for Best Oralist over the last four years and finished a personal best 14th out of 252 schools in 2010.^[13]

The University of Miami's School of Law offers participation in student activities. The Student Bar Association, ("S.B.A."), serves as the law school's student government and works closely with the faculty and administration to improve student life on the campus. The S.B.A. also acts as a conduit to the American Bar Association, and the school's S.B.A. President and the elected A.B.A. Representative serve as delegates to the national convention of S.B.A. Presidents and A.B.A. Representatives at the A.B.A. annual meeting. The S.B.A. President for the 2015-16 academic year is Matthew Deblinger.^[14]

The Law School also has a student-run Honor Council, which investigates and adjudicates alleged violations of the Honor Code of the School of Law. It is chaired by the Honor Council President.

Employment

According to University of Miami's official 2013 ABA-required disclosures, 60.5% of the Class of 2013 obtained full-time, long-term, JD-required employment nine months after graduation, excluding solo practitioners.^[4] University of Miami's Law School Transparency under-employment score is 21.4%, 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.^[15]

Costs

The total cost of attendance (indicating the cost of tuition, fees, and living expenses) at University of Miami for the 2015-2016 academic year is $74,815 .^[16] The Law School Transparency estimated debt-financed cost of attendance for three years is $259,857.^[17]

Journals/publications

The University of Miami School of Law has a flagship student-edited law review and five other student-edited journals. Its flagship publication is the University of Miami Law Review. In addition, the school sponsors:

In addition to these typical student-edited law reviews, the school also sponsors Jotwell, a peer-reviewed legal blog specializing in short reviews of recent legal scholarly publications.

Alumni and job placement

The University of Miami School of Law has more than 20,000 alumni practicing law throughout the United States and nearly eighty countries around the world.

The job-placement rate for graduates of the University of Miami School of Law is greater than or equal to the average national job placement rate for the past six years. The American Bar Association reports that within nine months of graduation, slightly more than 70% of the 461 students in the Class of 2012 were employed in jobs requiring a JD.^[18] 42 of those positions were funded by the law school itself while another 34 students were reported unemployed. Most graduates (106 students) are employed in small law firms consisting of 2-10 attorneys followed by non-legal employment in business/industry (72 students). 26 out of the total 461 graduating students were placed in large law firms of 251+ lawyers.^[18]