Dwayne O. Andreas School of Law

Campus

The Dwayne O. Andreas School of Law is situated on a 20-acre (81,000 m²) campus in Orange County, Florida directly east of the Orlando city limits and is located about a 15 minute drive from the Orlando downtown core.

The School of Law facilities includes the Dwayne O. Andreas Law Center Building; the Legal Advocacy Center; the Moot Court Building; a faculty office building; the Euliano Law Library; Cafe, and buildings housing the school's legal clinic and bookstore. There is no campus housing.

History

The current school of law was originally established as one of the three colleges of the University of Orlando (originally chartered under the name of Florida Technical University), the other two schools being graduate programs in business and education, the university had no undergraduate students. The founder and first president of the University of Orlando was Dr. Neil R. Euliano who was at the time the owner of the for-profit Florida Technical College based in Orlando. Dr. Euliano, who had operated for-profit trade schools starting in 1982, established the non-profit University of Orlando in 1993 and its law school in 1995. The University of Orlando started its inaugural law school class on September 18, 1995. The first year the law school had only evening and weekend courses and a full-time faculty of four professors. The charter class began their studies at the for-profit Florida Technical College's campus.

The law school applied for A.B.A. accreditation in 1998. The A.B.A. visited the law school campus on March 1, 1998. Later in March 1998, the board of trustees removed the law school's Dean, Wallace M. Rudolph and appointed Stanley M. Talcott, a faculty member, as the law school's third dean. In July 1998 the A.B.A. denied the law school's application for accreditation.

Dr. Euliano resigned from the University of Orlando in September 1998, after a consultant concluded that its law school would stand a better chance of getting accredited if he left. Dr. Euliano was advised that his dual role as the school's main financial backer and the university's president may be as a conflict of interest. The dean of the university's business school, Dr. James L. Chase, was appointed to serve as the university's interim president.

Dr. Euliano began approaching several institutions about buying the University of Orlando. Among the schools Dr. Euliano solicited were Barry University, the University of Central Florida and Rollins College. In December 1998, Barry University of Miami Shores, Florida announced its intent to acquire University of Orlando by March 15, 1999. In March 1999 the law school was renamed Barry University of Orlando School of Law, the University of Orlando's board of trustees was disbanded and a new board of trustees was appointed for the law school. The University of Orlando graduate business school was dissolved and the graduate school of education was folded into Barry University's School of Adult and Continuing Education.

Sister Peggy Albert, O.P. assistant president of Barry University moved from Barry's Miami Shores campus to Orlando, where she served as the law school's chief administrator.

On January 15, 2000 Barry University of Orlando School of Law had its first commencement of 17 graduates.

Barry University of Orlando School of Law reapplied for accreditation and received a new A.B.A. inspection in October 1999. On February 17, 2001 the A.B.A. Council for the Section on Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar rejected the school's second accreditation bid. On June 4, 2001, the A.B.A.'s Council for the Section on Legal Education refused Barry's request to reconsider the application that they, the council, rejected in February, 2001.

The Law School was fully incorporated into Barry University and became Barry University School of Law. The A.B.A. agreed to reconsider the October 2000 application however on December 3, 2001 the A.B.A. again rejected the school's accreditation. At this time the law school was renamed the Dwayne O. Andreas School of Law. On February 2, 2002 the American Bar Association's Council for the Section on Legal Education voted to grant Barry University School of Law provisional accreditation. The accreditation was ratified by a formal vote of approval from the A.B.A. House of Delegates on February 5, 2002.

On July 1, 2003 former Florida Coastal School of Law Dean J. Richard Hurt became the dean of Barry University's Dwayne O. Andreas School of Law.

On December 2, 2006 the Council for the Section on Legal Education voted to grant Barry University, Dwayne O. Andreas School of Law full accreditation.

Degree information

The School of Law offers the Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree. The program consists of 90 semester-hours of study in areas that are essential to the understanding and practice of law.

Curriculum

The School of Law combines traditional and innovative teaching methods to provide a dynamic, professional program. The J.D. curriculum is designed to develop students’ analytical ability, communication skills, and understanding of the codes of professional responsibility and ethics that are central to the practice of law. The faculty utilizes a variety of teaching methods, including simulations and role-playing. Courses designed to develop and refine writing abilities are required. Seminars and advanced courses provide close interaction with faculty. Barry School of Law offered the first law school course in Earth Jurisprudence during the Spring term 2007, by Professor Sister Patricia Siemen, Esquire, Director of the Center for Earth jurisprudence and adjunct faculty.

Clinics (Children and Families)

Barry Law School offers an in-house clinical opportunity for students in the Children and Families Clinic (CFC). The CFC focuses on advocacy for children in the areas of delinquency, dependency, mental health and education law. All students in the CFC are certified as legal interns by the Florida Supreme Court. Certification as a legal intern enables the law student, under the CFC professor (who is a licensed attorney), to provide actual representation to indigent clients. The In-House Clinical Programs expect to expand in the near future to include clinical opportunities for students interested in a variety of legal areas.

Barry University Law Review

The Barry University Law Review is a scholarly law journal edited and published annually by students of the School of Law. Issues of the Law Review typically contain articles of current legal interest authored by law professors, judges, practitioners, and student members. Law students perform all editing on articles contained in the journal.

As part of the curriculum of the Law School, students receive academic credit for their work on the Law Review. Ordinarily, only top law students are selected to be members of the Law Review staff.

Moot Court Board

Barry University Moot Court Board is an invitational organization composed of upper-class students selected on the basis of academic achievement and oral advocacy skills. Membership on the Board is designed to strengthen the skills needed for trial and appellate brief writing and oral advocacy. Members of the Moot Court Board also work with first-year Legal Writing students in preparation for their oral arguments, and prepare an intra-school competition for new applicants to the Board. Members receive credit for participation in Board activities and competitions.

Members have competed and won praise in inter-school competitions open to law students from all over the United States. The Board has also sponsored a Law Day intra-school demonstration for members of the Bar and the general public, and hopes to become involved in local public school programs in oral advocacy.

Trial Team

The Trial Team is designed to give students real-world training in trial skills while still in law school. These skills, exhibited by team members in competition, carried the Barry University School of Law to the Final Four out of 223 teams nationwide in the Association of Trial Lawyers of America, Trial Team Competition in April, 2005. To advance to that point, Barry defeated, in regional and then national championship round competition, several past national champions. In the Final Four semi-final round, Barry was one point on one judge’s scorecard away from advancing to the final round.

Ranking and employment outlook

As of 2015, US News & World Report does not rank Barry University School of Law. US News & World Report only ranks the top 150 law schools in the United States. In 2010, 20.8% of students were employed at graduation, which US News classifies as "low". According to Business Insider, based on data provided by the Wall Street Journal, of the Barry Law class of 2011, about 32% had not found a job nine months after graduation; the rate was the third highest among the law schools reviewed.

University of Orlando School of Law

Edward John Wherry (1995–1997)
Wallace M. Rudolph (January 1997-March 1998)
Stanley Talcott (March 1998-July 2003)

Barry University of Orlando School of Law

Stanley Talcott (March 1998-July 2003)

Barry University School of Law

Stanley Talcott (March 1998-July 2003)
Joseph Richard Hurt (July 2003-January 2007)

Dwayne O. Andreas School of Law

Joseph Richard Hurt (July 2003-January 2007)
Leticia Diaz (January 2007 – present)