320 Melrose Avenue
Iowa City, IA 52242
Phone: 800.553.4692, ext. 9095; 319.335.9095; Fax: 319.335.9646
E-mail: law-admissions@uiowa.edu; Website: www.law.uiowa.edu
The University of Iowa College of Law, founded in 1865, is the oldest law school in continuous operation west of the Mississippi River. Iowa enjoys a top national reputation, and its faculty is renowned for its outstanding scholarship and teaching.
The college is located in Iowa City, a cosmopolitan college town that is home to a dynamic teaching and research university and over 60,000 people. Students from all 50 states and roughly 100 countries attend the university. Iowa City offers a rich cultural life, Big Ten athletic events, and the world-famous Iowa Writers' Workshop.
The Boyd Law Building's central campus location on a bluff overlooking the Iowa River provides a professional enclave well-suited to the college's intensive style of education as well as easy access to the academic, cultural, social, and recreational resources of a major research university.
Iowa strives to enroll a student body that reflects the academic quality and diversity expected of a leading national law school. The college's numbers-plus policy looks beyond numerical indicators and utilizes a full file review to evaluate an applicant's potential contribution to enhancing classroom discussion. Factors such as maturity, work experience, ability to overcome adversity, and cultural background are considered.
Iowa offers only one starting date for entering students: August. All students may "accelerate" their course of study toward the JD degree by taking summer and intersession classes. The minimum time of study is no fewer than 27 months after the student has started law study at this law school or at a law school from which transfer credit has been accepted.
The students are the heart of our institution. A broad and wide-ranging curriculum, small classes, accessible professors, and caring administrators are just a few examples of Iowa's student-centered orientation.
Iowa's curriculum establishes a solid foundation for a lifetime of professional growth and personal development. Students take an active role in their professional training. We go the extra measure to ensure that our students have the proper resources and learning environment to maximize their individual development as professionals.
First-year students have at least one class each semester with approximately 40 students; courses taught in this small-section format allow extensive class participation and interaction with a faculty member. After completing the set of required first-year courses exploring fundamental legal concepts, students plan their own course of study from a rich menu of mainstream, specialized, and clinical offerings. Second- and third-year courses cover the range of specialties within the legal profession, allowing students to sample liberally and follow professional interests.
At Iowa, students benefit from the serious emphasis the college places on both interdisciplinary study and the study of international and comparative law. Interdisciplinary courses and research programs are actively encouraged; nearly one-third of the college's faculty members offer courses or conduct research in the international and comparative law fields.
The Legal Analysis, Writing, and Research (LAWR) program at the College of Law is a two-semester, first-year course (two credits each semester), with classes of 20 students, and is designed to equip participants with effective skills in legal analysis, writing, and research.
The University of Iowa College of Law Library is consistently recognized as one of the finest and largest law libraries in the nation. The library's international holdings are impressive; it includes a complete collection of United Nations documents since the UN's founding in 1945. The Law Library received significant and high praise in the 2010 National Jurist survey of law libraries that are located in the United States. Additionally, wireless Internet is available throughout the library.
The first writing center in the country established specifically for a law school community, Iowa's Writing Resource Center serves as an extension of the classroom and supplements the college's Legal Analysis, Writing, and Research program. Members of the writing center's staff help law students with a broad range of writing, including class assignments, law journal articles, and résumés and cover letters. The center's staff teaches strategies for overcoming writer's block, adapting materials for various audiences, and generally improving the quality of students' writing.
The Academic Achievement Program (AAP) helps students achieve their full academic potential as they move from successful undergraduate careers to face the new challenges of law study. AAP presents a variety of programs, including a first-semester lecture series for new students. Individual study-skills counseling is also available for all students.
The Clinical Law programs give students opportunities to gain experience in many different areas of substantive law including criminal defense, disability rights, domestic violence, employment law, family law, general civil law, immigration law, international project law, law and public policy, and public benefits. Externship opportunities are available with federal trial courts, the Iowa Attorney General, legal services offices, US Attorneys' offices, Federal Public Defenders' offices, and the Iowa City City Attorney, among others. Through the representation of real clients, students are able to develop and hone a diverse complement of lawyering skills from interviewing, counseling, and drafting court papers to trial practice, appellate advocacy, legislative lobbying, and policy development.
Iowa offers one of the nation's strongest programs for the study of international and comparative law. The school offers five study-abroad programs. Iowa is the stateside home of the London Law Consortium through which seven US law schools conduct a study-abroad program for a spring semester in London. The Iowa/Bordeaux summer program offers one month of intensive coursework in Arcachon, France. Students also have the opportunity to participate in an exchange program with Bucerius Law School in Germany as well as to study at Católica University in Lisbon, Portugal, and in Nijmegen, the Netherlands. In addition, students may receive credit for participating in study-abroad programs offered by other ABA-approved law schools.
Student activities at the law school include the American Constitution Society; the Asian American Law Students Association; the Black Law Students Association; the Christian Legal Society; Client Counseling; the Environmental Law Society; the Equal Justice Foundation; the Federalist Society; the Intellectual Property Law Society; the International Law Society; the Iowa Campaign for Human Rights; the Iowa Law Review; the Iowa Student Bar Association; the J. Reuben Clark Law Society; the Jewish Law Students Association; the Journal of Corporation Law; the Journal of Gender, Race and Justice; the Journal of Transnational Law and Contemporary Problems; the Latino Law Student Association; Law Students for Reproductive Justice; the Middle Eastern Law Students Association; Moot Court; the National Lawyers Guild; the Native American Law Students Association; the Order of the Coif; the Organization for Women Law Students and Staff; the Outlaws; Parents/Partners Weekend; Phi Alpha Delta; Phi Delta Phi; the Pro Bono Society; the Stephenson Competition; Supreme Court Day; and Trial Advocacy.
All admitted students are automatically considered for merit scholarships and fellowships based on their academic achievements. A separate application is not required. The college administers its substantial financial aid program to advance the goals of its selective admission policy. More than 90 percent of our students receive some form of financial aid. Grants, scholarships, work-study funds, and loans are awarded on a need or merit basis for the purpose of providing access to legal education for the talented and diverse students admitted to the college. A number of part-time employment opportunities are also available to second- and third-year students; nonresident students with a quarter-time research assistant position (10 hours per week) are classified as residents for tuition purposes. Eligibility for financial aid based on need is established by completion of the FAFSA, available at www.fafsa.ed.gov.
Admitted students are strongly encouraged to pursue career counseling, which helps them clarify and articulate career and life plans with the JD or LLM; enables participation in internships, externships, summer associate positions, and other experiential legal opportunities; and aids in the development of strategic job-search plans for a wide range of legal careers. Each year, many 1Ls participate in the Partner for a Day program with alumni and employers, which helps them make career decisions and develop professional networks. To facilitate interviewing for summer and full-time employment, the Career Services Office provides students with access to national job fairs, résumé collections, video interviews, and on-campus interviews. The law school's participation in interview consortia on the East Coast and West Coast provides students with many interview opportunities outside of the Midwest. Finally, the Career Services Office offers continued services to alumni seeking career advice.