Washington College of Law

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American University Washington College of Law
American University Washington College of Law Logo.jpg
Motto "Champion What Matters"
Parent school American University
Established 1896
School type Private
Dean Claudio Grossman
Location Washington, D.C., United States
38°56′43″N 77°05′42″W / 38.9454°N 77.095°W / 38.9454; -77.095Coordinates: 38°56′43″N 77°05′42″W / 38.9454°N 77.095°W / 38.9454; -77.095
Enrollment 1,678 (1503 JD, 160 LLM, 15 SJD)
Faculty Full-time: 65[1]
USNWR ranking 56[2]
Bar pass rate 81%[3]
Website wcl.american.edu

American University Washington College of Law (WCL) is the law school of American University. It is located on Massachusetts Avenue in the Spring Valley neighborhood of Northwest Washington, D.C. The school is fully accredited by the American Bar Association, and a member of the AALS.

According to the law professor blog The Faculty Lounge, 38.9% of the Class of 2012 was employed in full-time, long-term positions requiring bar admission, ranking 176th out of 197 law schools. [4]

WCL is ranked 56th in the nation in the Best Law Schools by U.S. News & World Report, and is also consistently ranked in the Top 10 Law Schools for Clinical Training and for International Law.[5] It receives the ninth highest volume of applications of accredited law schools. It is also the first law school to be founded by women, the first with a female dean, and the first to graduate an all-female class.

Contents

History [edit]

WCL was founded in 1896 by Ellen Spencer Mussey and Emma Gillett in response to a lack of legal educational opportunities for women in the region.

Mussey herself learned the law by apprenticeship at her husband's law offices.[6] She was rejected by several schools in the area, including the National University School of Law, and Columbian College, later the George Washington University Law School.[6] Gillette however, found admission at Howard University School of Law, and graduated in 1882 with an LL.B and in 1883 with an LL.M. She passed the bar in the District of Columbia the same year. Additionally, President James A. Garfield appointed her to be the first female notary public in the United States.

Early beginnings [edit]

Mussey and Gillett began teaching in Mussey's law offices in 1898 after they were approached by three women who wished to study with them. Not originally intending to create a full-fledged law school, they requested the law school of Columbian College to accept the six women for their final year. When Columbian refused the request on the ground that "women did not have the mentality for law", the two women determined to complete the students' education themselves and to found a co-educational law school that was specifically open to women.[6]

With its first graduating class, the Washington College of Law became the first law school to be founded by women, the first with a female dean, and the first law school to graduate an all-female class. A year later, Mussey's male law clerk enrolled in 1897, making the school officially coeducational.

Continuing growth [edit]

Washington D.C. incorporated WCL in 1898. After several temporary locations, the school moved to the Le Droit Building on 8th & F Streets in 1900. Enrollment rose to 55 students by 1908 and doubled in 5 years to 128 students. Dean Mussey secured a lease in 1909 in the Chesley Building on New York Ave, until the school outgrew the six-classroom lease. The school moved to its first permanent home in 1920; the former residence of Robert G. Ingersoll on K Street. Continually growing, WCL moved in 1924 to the former home of Oscar Underwood, and former residence of Archibald Butt. WCL merged with American University in 1949 [6] and graduated its first African American student in 1953.

The Women & the Law Program was launched in 1948, to promote the integration of women's rights and gender studies into legal education, practice and doctrine.[7]

After years of work by Dean Myers, a John Sherman Myers Law School building was constructed on the American University main campus and dedicated in 1963 by Supreme Court Justice Earl Warren. In the same year, Senator Robert Byrd graduated from WCL after ten years of night study classes, the first time a sitting member of Congress had begun and completed a law degree while serving.[7]

Move to current location [edit]

By 1988, WCL had grown to over 1,000 students. Dean Milstein pushed for a new building, and in 1996 WCL moved less than a mile to The John Sherman Myers and Alvina Reckman Myers Law Center. The building was two and a half times larger than the previous Myers building, and included the new Pence Law Library.[8]

Academic reputation [edit]

The U.S. News & World Report ranks WCL 56th in the nation among the 145 ranked schools. WCL is also well known for its Clinical Training, International Law, Intellectual Property, Part-Time and Trial Advocacy programs, which are ranked 2nd, 5th, 8th, 10th, and 14th in the nation respectively.[9]

In 2012, U.S. News & World Report also recognized WCL as the most diverse top-tier law school in the Washington, D.C. area, and the 5th most diverse among top-tier law schools in the nation.[10]

The National Jurist ranked WCL the 4th Best Public Interest Law School in the nation.[11]

Other recognitions [edit]

WCL's Master of Laws (LL.M.) program ranks 13th nationally in the 2012 AUAP rankings.[12]

The Brian Leiter Law School rankings placed the WCL 47th in the 2012 Top 70 Law Faculties in Scholarly Impact.[13]

Princeton Review ranked WCL 3rd on its 2012 Law Schools with the Most Liberal Students listing.[14]

The National Jurist ranked WCL the 5th best Law School for Hispanic students in 2008. [15]

The school is well known for its strong programs in both human rights and public interest law. WCL's Equal Justice Foundation (EJF) provides scholarships to students who obtain unpaid summer internships with public interest organizations.[16]

Enrollment [edit]

WCL is one of the most sought after law schools in the United States. It receives over 8,000 applications annually for its full-time program, the 9th-highest in the nation.[17] For the 2011 admissions cycle, WCL received 9,021 applications for 502 available seats in the Juris Doctor program, with an acceptance rate of 21%. It enrolls 1,646 students, 55 percent of whom are female.[18]

The 2012 incoming class had a median undergraduate GPA of 3.40 and a median LSAT of 162 (out of 180),[19] a score which is higher than roughly 86 percent of all test-takers nationwide.[20]

There was 31% minority representation in the 2011 entering class[21] with representation from 42 States.

Degrees offered [edit]

WCL offers the Juris Doctor (J.D.), Master of Laws (LL.M.) in either international or constitutional law, and Doctor of Juridical Science (S.J.D.) degrees.[22]

Additionally, students can enroll in one of several dual degree programs:

Clinical program [edit]

WCL's Clinical Program is one of the most comprehensive in the nation. The school was one of the first law schools to develop a modern clinical legal education program. With over 200 students participating in the 11 clinics every year, the program is one of the largest in the country.[24]

The clinic serves a variety of clients including immigrants and refugees, victims/survivors of domestic violence, juveniles, criminal defendants, low-income taxpayers, individuals seeking help with family law, consumer, disability, and intellectual property issues, community groups and nonprofit organizations.

Clinics include the General Practice Clinic, Community and Economic Development Law Clinic, Criminal Justice Clinic, DC Law Students in Court Clinic, Disability Rights Law Clinic, Domestic Violence Law Clinic, Janet R. Spragens Federal Tax Clinic, Glushko-Samuelson Intellectual Property Law Clinic, Immigrant Justice Clinic, International Human Rights Law Clinic, and Women and the Law Clinic.

Study abroad programs [edit]

WCL's study abroad program is considered to be among the best in the country, with 30% of the student body studying abroad every year. In 2012, the National Jurist recognized it as one of the "most robust study abroad programs out of the 200 U.S. Law Schools." [25]

Students are able to study law for a semester in over 18 countries. WCL also contains five summer abroad programs in Chile, Europe (London, Paris, Geneva and The Hague), Turkey, and Israel.

Campus & facilities [edit]

The John Sherman Myers and Alvina Reckman Myers Law Center is located at 4801 Massachusetts Avenue, with another set of offices located at 4910 Massachusetts Avenue, in the northwest edge of Washington, D.C., near the Maryland state line. The facility was completed in 1996 and lies within the boundaries of the Spring Valley residential neighborhood. The law school building is less than a mile from the main American University campus, however a shuttle system is available for students and staff to travel between the two locations.[26] The building is accessible to students and faculty 24/7 with the use of an AU ID card.

The Pence Law Library [edit]

The Pence Law Library is 54,000 square feet, with more than 600,000 volumes, access to multiple databases, 14 group-study rooms and seating for over 600.[27] The library is open 24 hours-a-day, seven days-a-week to students and faculty with the use of an AU ID card.[28]

The library collection includes European Community and US government depositories and the Baxter Collection in International Law. Students and faculty also have access to the university's library, the Library of Congress, specialized agency libraries, and other area law libraries electronically.[27]

The National Jurist placed WCL's Library 41st out of 199 in its Best Law Libraries ranking.[29]

Planned relocation [edit]

In April 2012, the D.C. Zoning Commission approved the plans for American University Washington College of Law to relocate from Spring Valley to American University's Tenley Campus. The approval of plans for further processing and zoning variances for the law school was handed down after American University's full campus plan was approved in March. Moving forward, the law school's Space Committee will be working with offices, departments, programs, faculty, and staff to move to the design phase. Construction is expected to begin summer 2013, with relocation of the law school to the new campus projected for 2015.[30]

Programs and centers [edit]

WCL participates in several popular study abroad and student exchange programs with universities around the world, including a semester-long program with the School of Law at City University of Hong Kong.

In 2002, the Jessup Moot Court Team was the top ranked team in the United States and Third in the World.

Publications [edit]

Notes and recognitions [edit]

  • The National Jurist in its 100 Best Law Review rankings placed the American University Law Review 47th and the International Law Review 84th.[11]
  • Administrative Law Review is the official publication of the American Bar Association Section of Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice.
  • In 2005, the ABA recognized "The Business Law Brief" (since renamed to The American University Business Law Review) as the "Magazine of the Year."
  • On several occasions, the ABA has recognized The American Jurist as the "Best Law Student Magazine."

Notable current and former faculty [edit]

Notable alumni [edit]

References [edit]

  1. ^ :: AU : Board of Trustees
  2. ^ 2013 Best Law Schools - U.S. News and World Report
  3. ^ "LSAC American University Bar Passage Rate". Retrieved 5 March 2013. 
  4. ^ Rosin, Gary. "Full Rankings: Bar Admission Required, Full-Time, Long Term", The Faculty Lounge, 30 March 2013. Retrieved on 2 May 2013.
  5. ^ "US News WCL Page". Retrieved 3 March 2013. 
  6. ^ a b c d http://www.wcl.american.edu/history/founders.cfm
  7. ^ a b "WCL Timeline". Retrieved 3 March 2013. 
  8. ^ "Locations History". Retrieved 3 March 2013. 
  9. ^ "AU WCL US New Rankings". 
  10. ^ "US News Best Law School Diversity Programs". 
  11. ^ a b "National Jurist WCL Page". Retrieved 3 March 2013. 
  12. ^ "AUAP Rankings". Retrieved 2009-01-23. 
  13. ^ "Brian Leiter Law Rankings". 
  14. ^ "Princeton Review Law Schools with the Most Liberal Students List". Retrieved 5 March 2013. 
  15. ^ "National Jurist February 2008 Isue". Retrieved 13 March 2013. 
  16. ^ "WCL Equal Justice Foundation". Retrieved 5 March 2013. 
  17. ^ "U.S News Education". Retrieved 2012-08-15. 
  18. ^ [1]
  19. ^ "LSAC Official ABA Data". Retrieved 3 March 2013. 
  20. ^ "LSAC LSAT Percentiles". Retrieved 3 March 2013. 
  21. ^ [2]
  22. ^ a b American University-Washington College of Law, "Admissions", http://www.wcl.american.edu/admissions.cfm (last visited July 16, 2008).
  23. ^ "International JD Dual Degree Programs". American University, Washington College of Law. Retrieved 22 May 2012. 
  24. ^ "LSAC Official Guide". Retrieved 3 March 2013. 
  25. ^ "National Jurist Magazine". Retrieved 3 March 2013. 
  26. ^ "AU Shuttle Information". Retrieved 3 March 2013. 
  27. ^ a b "LSAC Official Description". Retrieved 3 March 2013. 
  28. ^ "Pence Law Library FAQ". Retrieved 3 March 2013. 
  29. ^ "National Jurist Best Law Libraries". Retrieved 3 March 2013. 
  30. ^ "American Unviersity 2011 Campus Plan (pg. 33)". Retrieved 3 March 2013. 
  31. ^ Stile, Charles. "Christie announces lieutenant governor pick", The Record (Bergen County), July 20, 2009. Accessed July 21, 2009.
  32. ^ O'Dell, Larry (2010-12-13) Federal judge in Va. strikes down health care law, Associated Press

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