Type Public law school Academic staff 33 President Eric J. Barron Number of students 184 | Dean Gary S. Gildin Phone +1 717-240-5000 Founded 1834 | |
Established 1834 (1834) (as the Dickinson School of Law) Parent institution Pennsylvania State University Location Carlisle, Pennsylvania, United States Address 150 S College St, Carlisle, PA 17013, USA Motto Practice Greatness (English) Parent organization Pennsylvania State University Notable alumni D Brooks Smith, John E Jones III, Rick Santorum, Tom Ridge, Pedro Cortés Similar Pennsylvania State University, Dickinson College, Penn State Mont Alto, Widener University School of, Villanova University School of Profiles | ||
Penn State Dickinson Law, located in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, is one of two separately accredited law schools of The Pennsylvania State University.
Contents
- History
- Lewis Katz Hall
- Curriculum
- Law journals
- Student organizations
- Employment
- Costs
- Notable alumni
- References
U.S. News & World Report, in the 2018 edition of its law school rankings, ranked Penn State Dickinson Law 65th among 197 law schools fully accredited by the American Bar Association.
According to Penn State Dickinson Law's 2015 ABA-required disclosures, 59.6% of the Class of 2015 obtained full-time, long-term, JD-required employment nine months after graduation.
History
The Law School offers J.D. and LL.M. degrees in law and hosts visiting scholars. The law school was opened by Judge John Reed in 1834 as the law department of Dickinson College, named for Founding Father John Dickinson. It received an independent charter in 1890 and ended all affiliation with the college in 1917.
In 2000, Penn State and The Dickinson School of Law merged. Until 2014, Penn State’s Dickinson School of Law operated as a single law school with two campuses – one in Carlisle, Pennsylvania and one in University Park, Pennsylvania. In the summer of 2014, Penn State received approval from the ABA to operate the two campuses as two distinct law schools (now known as Penn State Law and Dickinson Law), both of which share the history and achievement of The Dickinson School of Law.
Lewis Katz Hall
Lewis Katz Hall, named in honor of the principal donor to the project, philanthropist and businessman, Lewis Katz, for his $15 million gift to the Law School. Completed in January 2010, the transition marks the end of a two-year, $52 million construction project which included the addition of the elegant, new Lewis Katz Hall which is completely interconnected with the University Park campus via the most advanced high-definition, digital audiovisual telecommunications system available.
The project included an extensive renovation of historic Trickett Hall, the Law School's home since 1918, which houses the Law School's library, named in honor of H. Laddie Montague, Jr., a prominent Philadelphia lawyer and trial attorney who has committed $4 million to the school. As a design companion to Penn State Law's Lewis Katz Building, Dickinson Law's Lewis Katz Hall was renovated and rebuilt to comply with LEED standards, the facilities feature state-of-the-art classrooms, a new courtroom/auditorium, an exterior courtyard, and an environmentally friendly vegetated green roof.
Curriculum
In 2014, Penn State Dickinson Law announced a revitalized curriculum in which students are required to participate in hands-on training, beginning in the first year of the program with client-intake interviews and culminating in 12 credits of experiential learning upon graduation. This is in addition to required courses that include two semesters of research and writing.
During their first year, 1Ls must complete courses in Civil Procedure, Constitutional Law, Contracts, Criminal Law, Property, Legal Argument and Factual Persuasion, and Torts. 1L's also take Practicing Law in a Global World: Context and Competencies I, Problem Solving I: The Lawyer and Client, and Problem Solving II: The Lawyer as Writer. Only two courses are required after completion of the first year: Problem Solving III: The Lawyer as Persuader and Practicing Law in a Global World: Context and Competencies II. Students' remaining credits are to be filled with electives and required upper-level experiential learning requirements, for example: a certified legal internship within one of the Law School’s four in-house legal clinics; an internship with a government, nonprofit or private office; or full immersion in the Semester-in-Practice program in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Washington, D.C. or an international venue.
Law journals
Dickinson Law features three scholarly journals, including the Penn State Law Review, formerly the Dickinson Law Review. The Law Review was founded in 1897, and is one of the oldest continually published law school journals in the country.
Student organizations
Penn State Dickinson Law has the following student organizations:
The school participates in a number of moot court competitions including the prestigious Willem C. Vis Moot Commercial Arbitration Moot Court, held each year in Vienna, Austria and the National Environmental Law Moot Court held at Pace University in White Plains, New York.
Students at Penn State Dickinson Law are active in intramural sports leagues, including flag football, basketball, and volleyball. Dickinson Law also sponsors a softball team that competes in a national tournament each spring along with nearly 1,500 law students from across the country. Also, students have coached soccer, lacrosse, track, swimming, and field hockey teams at the nearby Dickinson College and other local youth leagues.
Employment
According to Penn State Dickinson Law's official 2015 ABA-required disclosures, 59.6% of the class of 2015 obtained full-time, long-term, J.D.-required employment nine months after graduation.
Costs
The total cost of attendance (including tuition and related expenses) at Penn State Dickinson Law for the 2016-2017 academic year is $67,656.