504 East Pennsylvania Avenue
Champaign, IL 61820
Phone: 217.244.6415
E-mail: admissions@law.illinois.edu; Website: www.law.illinois.edu
Established in 1897, the University of Illinois College of Law is consistently regarded as one of the nation's top public law schools. An American Bar Association-approved law school since 1923, a charter member of the Association of American Law Schools, and the home of the founding chapter of the law honor society now known as the Order of the Coif, Illinois Law is a leader in interdisciplinary legal education.
The University of Illinois has earned a reputation of international stature. Its distinguished faculty, outstanding resources, breadth of academic programs and research disciplines, and large, diverse student body constitute an educational community ideally suited for scholarship and research. Since its founding in 1867, the University of Illinois has been committed to excellence in research, teaching, and public engagement.
The Program in Business Law and Policy highlights various areas of the college's expertise, including empirical work, law and economics, unincorporated and closely held firms, securities markets, entrepreneurship, the role of social norms, and corporate social responsibility.
The Program in Comparative Labor and Employment Law and Policy explores matters of comparative and transnational law, including comparative constitutional law, comparative criminal procedure, and comparative labor and employment law.
The Program in Constitutional Theory, History, and Law fosters scholarship, discussion, and debate on subjects relating to constitutional interpretation and history through workshops, lectures, and conferences.
The Program in Criminal Law and Procedure builds on a century-long tradition of criminal law and procedure at Illinois, promoting scholarship and discussion, funding conferences and other programs, and promoting teaching and service related to criminal law.
The Program in Health Law and Policy promotes cutting-edge research, policy analysis, and public service on critical issues in health care and facilitates collaboration among government leaders, practitioners, and academic researchers on issues of increasing complexity.
The Program in Intellectual Property and Technology Law fosters scholarship and analysis at the intersection of law, supercomputing, agricultural biotechnology, information science, engineering, and numerous other areas.
The Program in Law, Behavior, and Social Science promotes interdisciplinary research and teaching at the intersection of law and the social sciences, sponsoring a working-paper series, faculty workshops, and internal faculty seminars on cutting-edge books and scholarship.
The Law and Philosophy Program advances knowledge on legal topics of philosophical significance, particularly those that implicate moral and political issues.
The Legal History Program seeks to further knowledge and appreciation of legal history, with a particular emphasis on American, British, and comparative legal-historical scholarship.
The College of Law offers six in-house clinics and seven field placement programs (including externships) where students have the opportunity to work with and solve problems for real clients. The clinics and field placements provide opportunities for students to experience law practice in a supportive, reflective setting that is focused on their learning. Students experiment with different styles of lawyering and explore a variety of legal work that may assist them in choosing a career path.
The College of Law administers 12 formal joint JD and master's or doctoral degree programs. The combined degrees available are JD-MBA; JD-MS in Chemistry; JD-MCS; JD-MHRIR; JD-MS in Journalism; JD-MD; JD-MS in Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences; JD-PhD in Philosophy; JD-PhD or JD-MA in Political Science; JD-MUP; and JD-DVM.
The small size and tight-knit community of Illinois Law allow students to directly participate in an extensive variety of activities. Students run and write for the college's journals: the University of Illinois Law Review; Elder Law Journal; University of Illinois Journal of Law, Technology, and Policy; and Illinois Law Update. In addition, students may participate in moot court competitions, which feature internal, external, and national contests; live-client legal clinics; negotiation and client counseling competitions; and faculty-student committees.
Most students participate in at least one of the almost 40 student organizations. These organizations plan countless lectures, debates, charitable activities, sporting events, law firm visits, and social receptions.
A hallmark of a great university and a great law school is its library. The University Library has one of the largest public university collections in the world. The Albert E. Jenner, Jr. Memorial Law Library offers students top-notch legal academic resources. Our reference librarians are experts in legal research, with graduate degrees in law and in information science. And the library's various seating areas provide comfortable space for research and scholarship, offering a variety of options for both quiet and group study. Wireless access to the Internet is available to the law school community.
Directly across the street from the law school is one of the country's largest athletic recreation centers, with indoor and outdoor swimming pools, tennis courts, four gyms, weight and exercise equipment, archery, and ball courts of all kinds. The facility is free for students.
The College of Law awards a number of scholarships, ranging from $1,000 to full tuition, based upon previous academic success, promise in the study of law, and other relevant factors. Once awarded, the scholarship is guaranteed to remain in effect provided the student remains enrolled as a full-time student at the College of Law. There are no minimum grade point average or other academic performance requirements for continuation of a scholarship.
A micro-urban community known for its big-city amenities yet small-town accessibility, safety, and friendliness, Champaign-Urbana is a vibrant and affordable college town with a lively cultural scene, a variety of restaurants, and numerous recreational opportunities. Public transportation via the Champaign-Urbana mass transit system is free for all University of Illinois students.
Champaign-Urbana was named one of the world's 10 "Hot New Tech Cities" by Newsweek magazine and boasts an assortment of restaurants, shopping, coffee houses, nightlife (including plenty of clubs and live music venues), movie theaters, athletic facilities, museums, galleries, and bookstores. Weekend getaways to Chicago, St. Louis, and Indianapolis are within a three-hour interstate drive, and Chicago is also easily reached by train, bus, or plane.
An average rental cost for a one-bedroom apartment is $600, and the average for a two-bedroom apartment is $700. The median home price is $125,000. The majority of College of Law students live in off-campus housing; however, the University of Illinois has a limited number of graduate and family housing units available.
Our admission process takes into consideration many factors beyond the undergraduate GPA and the LSAT score. A statistical grid, as is typically provided here, only takes into consideration these two factors. Admission decisions at the University of Illinois College of Law are based on the Admission Committee's experienced judgment applied to individual cases. Consequently, we have chosen not to provide applicants with a grid that does not accurately portray our admission process.