Throughout its history, Seattle University School of Law has been committed to innovative and effective teaching that integrates theory and practice and ensures that our graduates are prepared for leadership in the profession.
Within the school’s first decade, we launched our pioneering Legal Writing Program, which has long been recognized as a national leader. Courses in analytical, research, and writing skills are complemented by a menu of Drafting Labs, through which students learn from experienced practitioners how to prepare the documents that constitute practice today.
Within the past decade, our Clinical and Externship Programs have expanded greatly, with several new faculty hired, new subjects introduced (e.g., international human rights, community development, problem-solving courts, community-based amicus representation) and new locales opened up (placements across the country and around the world).
Students learn litigation skills through the Comprehensive Trial Advocacy Program and other specialty litigation courses.
As a result of recently- adopted reforms, the school will be offering a first-year elective on Lawyering and Justice that will combine practice simulations with engagement with the school’s Jesuit mission for social justice. In addition, a new upper-division course on Social Change Lawyering engages students in thinking about multi-forum advocacy while wrestling with the challenge of how lawyers share responsibility with members of the communities whose interest they seek to advance.
As these reforms unfold, we will continue to learn and integrate our work with the needs of the community and the shifting nature of the profession.