Office of Admissions, UCB 403, Wolf Law Building
Boulder, CO 80309-0403
Phone: 303.492.7203; Fax: 303.492.2542
E-mail: lawadmin@colorado.edu; Website: www.colorado.edu/law
Colorado Law, established in 1892, is located on the Boulder campus of the University of Colorado and lies at the foot of the Rocky Mountains. High admission standards, a relatively small student body, and a favorable student-to-faculty ratio of 9.8 to 1 assure a stimulating and challenging academic environment that encourages class participation and interaction with faculty. The school is a charter member of the AALS and is ABA approved.
Faculty members have a demonstrated record of excellence in teaching, research, and public service. They include some of the nation's leading scholars; particular strengths evidenced by faculty publications are constitutional law, natural resources and environmental law, Indian law, energy, business, dispute resolution, and technology law.
The law school is housed in the 180,000-square-foot Wolf Law Building, located on the edge of the CU Boulder campus. The Wolf Law Building features state-of-the-art classrooms, two high-tech courtrooms, and the largest resource collection and most technologically advanced law library in the 12-state Rocky Mountain region. The Wolf Law Building is the first LEED Gold-certified public law school building in the country under the standards of the US Green Building Council's certification program.
The William A. Wise Law Library serves the students, staff, and faculty of Colorado Law, as well as the bench and bar. Students can connect laptops to the school's wireless network or use one of the 65 computers available in the library to perform online legal research.
Clinics—In the Criminal Defense Clinic, students learn basic criminal practice skills and represent clients in actual cases, from beginning to end, in municipal and county courts in Boulder County.
In the Civil Practice Clinic, students represent low-income clients in a variety of civil law settings, including family court and in front of administrative law judges.
The Appellate Advocacy Clinic alternates annually between cases from the public defender's office and from the attorney general's office. Each student is responsible for completing an appellate brief and attending the oral argument in the Colorado Supreme Court or the Colorado Court of Appeals.
In the Juvenile Law Clinic, students represent children and youth who are abused, neglected, or accused of a crime, addressing all of the legal needs of the child client. They also represent school districts as the petitioner in truancy matters.
In the Family Law Clinic, students provide legal services to low-income Coloradans who need help with family law matters such as divorces, issues related to parenting time, and child support.
The American Indian Law Clinic provides students with faculty-supervised experience giving legal assistance in matters including tribal sovereignty, child welfare, preservation of tribal identity, employment discrimination, public benefits, preservation of Native lands, and more.
In the Entrepreneurial Law Clinic, students work with local entrepreneurs, providing transactional legal services for the formation and development of small businesses.
The Technology Law and Policy Clinic gives students the opportunity to advocate in the public interest concerning technology issues before regulatory entities, courts, legislatures, and standard-setting bodies.
The Natural Resources Litigation Clinic involves students in representing public interest clients in environmental cases related to federal public lands, wildlife, and other issues. The Natural Resources Law Center has three major areas of activity: research and publication, legal education, and the distinguished visitors and fellows program.
Research Centers—The Byron R. White Center for the Study of American Constitutional Law; the Silicon Flatirons Center for Law, Technology, and Entrepreneurship; the Natural Resources Law Center; and the Center for Energy and Environmental Security provide opportunities for students to assist in conducting specialized research, promoting publication, and hosting conferences.
In addition to strong and varied course offerings, students can earn a certificate in tax, American Indian law, intellectual property and technology law, juvenile and family law, or environmental law.
The first-year curriculum is required of all students. During the second and third years, students may emphasize such areas of the law as natural resources, environmental law, criminal law, business, constitutional law, tax, public interest, American Indian law, litigation, intellectual property law, and jurisprudence. Established joint-degree programs are the JD/MBA, JD/MD, JD/MPA, JD/MST, JD/MURP, and a JD/MS or PhD in Environmental Science.
Students can broaden their international perspectives and understanding of law and law practice by participating in the JD/LLB dual-degree program with the University of Alberta Faculty of Law (Canada). Colorado Law has a partnership with the University of San Diego (USD) School of Law to give our students access to an extensive Summer Law Study Abroad program, offering courses in four locations: Barcelona, Florence, London, and Paris. Students also have the opportunity to attend Bucerius Law School in Germany and Bar Ilan University in Israel through international exchange programs.
Colorado Law offers Master of Laws (LLM) degrees in three areas of study in which the strength of our faculty, curriculum, and programs are recognized nationally and internationally. The areas of study are entrepreneurial law, information technology and intellectual property, and natural resources law.
Admission to Colorado Law is competitive. At a minimum, a bachelor's degree from an institution that is accredited by an agency recognized by the US Department of Education is required. The LSAT and registration with LSAC's Credential Assembly Service are required. Offers of admission are influenced heavily by GPA and LSAT score, but they are considered in the context of the entire application. Substantial weight is accorded to special qualities such as leadership, character, diversity, and commitment to service. The school seeks to increase the ethnic, cultural, and other diversity of its student body. The binding Early Decision application deadline is November 15; the regular application deadline is March 15. The earliest admission letters go out in December, and the class is filled on a rolling basis. Admission is sometimes possible from a waiting list. Colorado Law accepts a small number of transfer students for the fall semester. Law students may seek visiting status in the fall or spring semester. Transfer and visitor admission criteria include law school performance.
Scholarships for incoming students are based on merit. Nonresident students qualify for lower resident tuition rates by maintaining domicile in Colorado for 12 consecutive months. Current students may apply for additional scholarships and awards for their second and third years. Students applying for financial aid should file the FAFSA as soon as possible after January 1 and before the priority deadline of April 1.
Over 35 student organizations invite participation in projects, programs, and social activities. The University of Colorado Law Review, Journal on Telecommunications and High Technology Law, and Colorado Journal of International Environmental Law and Policy are scholarly journals edited entirely by students. Students also participate in a number of moot court competitions and have won regional, national, and international recognition in these events
For information about the university's family housing, call 303.492.6384. Most students live in apartments and houses in the surrounding community.
Colorado Law prepares students for a wide variety of careers and encourages students to take an intentional and creative approach to planning their careers. Starting with 1L orientation where career development is a theme, we bring in speakers and have programming to support students' career exploration. The Career Development Office (CDO) has four career advisors with JDs and experience helping students and alumni succeed in the current job market. Specifically, the office directly assists students in finding summer and postgraduate jobs, internships, externships, clerkships, and other opportunities, by offering programming such as on-campus interviews, résumé collections, brown-bag speakers, mock interviews, and career fairs, and through employer outreach and matching efforts. In addition, Colorado Law has an Assistant Dean who focuses entirely on outreach to employers and a Senior Director who was instrumental in developing the Colorado Pledge to Diversity 1L Summer Clerkship Program.
This grid includes only applicants who earned 120–180 LSAT scores under standard administrations.
| GPA | ||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LSAT Score |
3.75+ Apps |
3.75+ Adm |
3.50– 3.74 Apps |
3.50– 3.74 Adm |
3.25– 3.49 Apps |
3.25– 3.49 Adm |
3.00– 3.24 Apps |
3.00– 3.24 Adm |
2.75– 2.99 Apps |
2.75– 2.99 Adm |
2.50– 2.74 Apps |
2.50– 2.74 Adm |
2.25– 2.49 Apps |
2.25– 2.49 Adm |
2.00– 2.24 Apps |
2.00– 2.24 Adm |
Below 2.00 Apps |
Below 2.00 Adm |
No GPA Apps |
No GPA Adm |
Total Apps |
Total Adm |
| LSAT score 175–180 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 10 |
| LSAT score 170–174 | 40 | 39 | 29 | 26 | 22 | 18 | 16 | 10 | 11 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 124 | 101 |
| LSAT score 165–169 | 122 | 116 | 174 | 151 | 122 | 94 | 58 | 31 | 33 | 16 | 12 | 5 | 9 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 2 | 538 | 417 |
| LSAT score 160–164 | 231 | 151 | 258 | 71 | 215 | 37 | 140 | 17 | 46 | 3 | 27 | 1 | 9 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 1 | 939 | 283 |
| LSAT score 155–159 | 152 | 42 | 227 | 32 | 189 | 11 | 136 | 7 | 57 | 2 | 19 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 798 | 94 |
| LSAT score 150–154 | 60 | 11 | 71 | 7 | 98 | 2 | 101 | 3 | 58 | 3 | 21 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 424 | 26 |
| LSAT score 145–149 | 8 | 0 | 27 | 0 | 48 | 0 | 41 | 0 | 29 | 0 | 20 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 191 | 0 |
| LSAT score 140–144 | 3 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 18 | 0 | 15 | 0 | 18 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 80 | 0 |
| LSAT score 135–139 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 30 | 0 |
| LSAT score 130–134 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 16 | 0 |
| LSAT score 125–129 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| LSAT score 120–124 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 621 | 360 | 803 | 289 | 721 | 165 | 516 | 68 | 260 | 31 | 123 | 11 | 56 | 4 | 16 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 36 | 3 | 3158 | 931 |
Apps = Number of Applicants
Adm = Number Admitted
Reflects 99% of the total applicant pool; highest LSAT data reported.