UC Irvine School of Law is the first public law school in California in nearly 50 years. Fulfilling a longstanding vision of the campus, the school opened its doors to its first class of 60 law students in fall 2009. Today, the Law School has 45 full-time faculty and 330 students. The School of Law is an innovative and visionary law school focused on training talented and passionate lawyers and driven by academic excellence, intellectual rigor and a commitment to enrich our communities through public service. From the outset, our goal has been to create one of the top law schools in the country and to prepare our students for the practice of law at the highest levels of the profession. UC Irvine School of Law combines the best of a large and renowned academic institution with a collegial, supportive and friendly environment.
The Law School continues to rank highly. In its first year of eligibility, UCI Law was ranked No. 30 by U.S. News & World Report. This was the highest debut ranking by any new law school in U.S. News history. Additionally, our clinical program ranked No. 11, our intellectual property law program ranked No. 23 (tied with UCLA Law), and we were the only top-tier school to be listed in the top 10 index for student diversity. UCI Law also had the seventh best student-faculty ratio of any law school in the country. Other national accolades include:
- A 2015 study by the University of St. Thomas School of Law measured the scholarly impact of law school faculties. UCI Law ranked No. 6 behind Yale, Harvard, Chicago, NYU and Stanford
- In the Law School Survey of Student Engagement, the majority of our student population rated their entire educational experience as “Excellent,” far exceeding our peer schools and the national average
- UCI Law ranked No. 3, behind Yale and Stanford law schools, and above Harvard, in a ranking of student placement in prestigious federal judicial clerkships.
Our students’ post-graduation professional opportunities are outstanding and include federal judicial clerkships, large law firm employment and public interest legal positions locally and nationally. At least 85% of the UCI Law class of 2014 is employed in full-time long-term jobs that require or take advantage of a J.D.
The Law School faculty are accomplished thought leaders from around the country with a broad range of expertise. Our curriculum is innovative, challenging and hands-on, and emphasizes strategic problem-solving. Clinical education is a cornerstone of the experience at UC Irvine School of Law. Every student must participate in a clinic at the Law School providing more than 72,000 hours of free legal services through our clinics since the school opened in 2009. Students develop practical legal skills through public interest work in these areas:
Core Clinics
- Appellate Litigation
- Community and Economic Development
- Domestic Violence
- Environmental Law
- Immigrant Rights
- Intellectual Property, Arts, and Technology
- International Justice
Elective Clinics
- Civil Rights Litigation
- Department of Fair Employment and Housing Civil Rights
- International Human Rights
- Reproductive Justice
- Veterans
Moreover, the Law School’s commitment to public service is demonstrated by the high number of students participating in extra-curricular pro bono projects every year. Ninety-two percent of our law students participate in UCI Law’s pro bono program, providing more than 40,000 volunteer pro bono hours over the last six years to the underserved in the community.
The Law School is also highly interdisciplinary, with many faculty members from across campus holding joint appointments and many law faculty holding appointments in other departments. Students can take courses in other fields and can earn joint degrees in almost any area. A robust array of programs complements our curriculum, including a regular speaker series and a myriad of student organizations.
The UC Irvine School of Law Centers and Institutes provide in-depth impact by forging interdisciplinary partnerships with leaders from around the world. These include:
- Center for African Business, Law & Entrepreneurship
- Center for Biotechnology and Global Health Policy
- Center on Globalization, Law and Society
- Center for Land, Environment, and Natural Resources
- Center on Law, Equality and Race
- Center in Law, Society and Culture
- UCI Initiative to End Family Violence
- Korea Law Center
- The Long US-China Institute