UC Hastings was founded in 1878 as the law department of the University of California and was thus the first UC law school and the first law school in California. UC Hastings has a proud history and long-standing commitment to preparing students to master the complexity of contemporary legal doctrines and evolving lawyering skills and gain the theoretical tools necessary to re-conceptualize entire fields of law. Our graduates are ready to take on the challenges of a changing economy and the global practice of law.
Located in San Francisco, UC Hastings is at the center of one of the most beautiful, vibrant, and innovative cities in the nation. Many regard San Francisco as the heart and soul of American ingenuity and digital technology. UC Hastings is just steps away from City Hall and our state and federal courthouses. San Francisco is also the gateway to Silicon Valley, the technological epicenter of the world. This proximity gives UC Hastings students the opportunity to experience the law in the forums where it is practiced and determined, and provides a level of relevancy to their education that is unparalleled in most law schools.
Our students can take advantage of summer employment as well as academic credit bearing experiences with state legislators and human rights advocates, the Department of Justice, or the Sierra Club. UC Hastings offers a diverse array of subject area concentrations, a wide variety of experiential courses including clinics and externship programs; study abroad programs with law schools in Asia, Europe, and the Americas; nationally recognized research and advocacy centers focusing on local government law, innovation law, negotiations and dispute resolution, worklife law, and gender and refugee studies; opportunities to work on nine student-edited scholarly journals or on one of our award-winning skills teams, including trial advocacy, negotiation and mediation, and one of the very best moot court programs in the country.
Our multidimensional curriculum is designed to empower students to build a firm doctrinal and interdisciplinary knowledge base, enhance their analytical, cognitive, interactive and communicative skills, develop their professional values and mindsets, and hone their contextualized problem solving abilities.