The University of Missouri–Kansas City School of Law is a public law school located on the main campus of the University of Missouri-Kansas City in Kansas City, Missouri, near the Country Club Plaza. It was founded in 1895 as the Kansas City School of Law, a private, independent law school located in Downtown Kansas City, and was purchased by the University of Missouri-Kansas City in 1938. The law school moved to UMKC's main campus soon after, where it is accredited by the American Bar Association and is a member of the Association of American Law Schools. According to UMKC School of Law's official 2014 ABA-required disclosures, 64% of the Class of 2014 obtained full-time, long-term, JD-required employment within ten months after graduation. UMKC School of Law offers a wide variety of courses and programs, but it has six areas of emphasis that are recognized at graduation based upon the student's fulfilling certain requirements:
Business and Entrepreneurial Law
Child and Family Law
Intellectual Property Law
International, Comparative and Foreign Law
Litigation
Urban, Land Use and Environmental Law.
The school is ranked #123 best law school in the U.S by the U.S News publication, placing it in the third tier according to the four tier system of law schools based on the U.S. News & World Report Annual Rankings (2015 data). As a "Best Value Law School", the school was ranked A- by The National Law Juris (2013).
It is one of four law schools in Missouri (St. Louis University School of Law, University of Missouri Columbia School of Law, Washington University School of Law). It is one of seven American law schools to have had both a President of the United States (Harry S. Truman) and a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (Charles Evans Whittaker)attend. Truman attended but did not graduate from the law school and never practiced law. However, Harry Truman served as the presiding judge at the historic Truman Courthouse in Independence, MO. The other schools that have had President-Supreme Court graduates who practiced law are Yale Law School, Harvard Law School, Columbia Law School, the University of Virginia School of Law, the University of Cincinnati College of Law, and the Albany Law School.
Five clinical programs permit students, acting under faculty supervision, to develop legal skills and learn professional values in actual practice settings:
Child & Family Services Clinic
Entrepreneurial Legal Services Clinic
Guardian ad Litem Workshop
Kansas City Tax Clinic
Midwestern Innocence Project
The UMKC Law Review
The Urban Lawyer
Journal of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers
According to UMKC School of Law's official 2014 ABA-required disclosures, 64.33% of the Class of 2014 obtained full-time, long-term, Bar Passage Required nine months after graduation. UMKC School of Law's Law School Transparency under-employment score is 33.3%, indicating the percentage of the Class of 2013 unemployed, pursuing an additional degree, or working in a non-professional, short-term, or part-time job nine months after graduation.
The total cost of attendance (indicating the cost of tuition, fees, and living expenses) at UMKC School of Law for the 2015-2016 academic year, full-time first year law students is $23,296.40 for non-Missouri residents and $19,543.40 for Missouri residents.
Edwin J. Brown (class of 1899), Mayor of Seattle
Barbara Allen (class of 1985), Kansas politician
Edward F. Arn (class of 1932), 32nd Governor of Kansas
James P. Aylward (class of 1908), Missouri politician associated with the Tom Pendergast political machine
William M. Boyle (class of 1926), Chairman, Democratic National Committee (1949–51)
Hilary A. Bush (class of 1932), Lieutenant Governor of Missouri (1961–65)
George H. Combs, Jr. (class of 1921), Missouri politician
Scott Ferris (class of 1901), Oklahoma politician
Jolie Justus (class of 1998), Missouri politician
Clarence M. Kelley (class of 1940), Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (1973–78)
Wesley Lloyd (class of 1906), U.S. Representative from Washington
Susan Montee (class of 2000), State Auditor of Missouri (2007–present)
Edward H. Moore (class of 1900), U.S. Senator from Oklahoma (1942–49)
Jim Polsinelli (class of 1969), founder Polsinelli law firm
William J. Randall (class of 1936), Missouri politician
Katheryn Shields (class of 1978), Jackson County, Missouri Executive (1995–2006)
Roger C. Slaughter (class of 1932), Missouri politician
Harry S. Truman (attended), 33rd President of the United States (1945–53); 34th Vice President of the United States (1945); U.S. Senator from Missouri (1935–1945)
Sarah Lucille Turner (class of 1922), one of the first two women elected to the Missouri General Assembly
Bower Slack Broaddus (class of 1910), Judge, United States District Courts for the Western District of Oklahoma, Eastern District of Oklahoma, and Northern District of Oklahoma (1940–49)
Wesley E. Brown (class of 1933), Judge, United States District Court for the District of Kansas (1962–2012) (was oldest serving federal judge at 103 years old)
Gary A. Fenner (class of 1973), Judge, United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri (1996–present)
Zel Fischer (class of 1988), Judge, Supreme Court of Missouri (2008–present)
Fernando J. Gaitan Jr. (class of 1974), Judge, United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri (1991–present)
Shelby Highsmith (class of 1958), Judge, United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida (1991–2002)
Rubey Mosley Hulen (class of 1914), Judge, United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri (1943–56)
Charles Henry Leavy (class of 1912), Judge, United States District Court for the Western District of Washington (1942–51)
Arthur Johnson Mellott (class of 1917), Judge, United States District Court for the District of Kansas (1947–57)
Ross Rizley (class of 1915), Judge, United States District Courts for the Western District of Oklahoma, (1956-69)
Edward D. Robertson, Jr. (class of 1977), Judge, Supreme Court of Missouri (1985–98) (Chief Justice, 1991–93)
Ortrie D. Smith (class of 1971), Judge, United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri (1995–present)
Melissa Standridge (class of 1993), Judge, Kansas Court of Appeals
Arthur Jehu Stanley, Jr. (class of 1928), Judge, United States District Court for the District of Kansas (1958–71)
Dean Whipple (class of 1965), Judge, United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri (1987–2007)
Ronnie L. White (class of 1983), Judge, Supreme Court of Missouri (1995–2007) (Chief Justice, 2003–05)
Charles Evans Whittaker (class of 1924), Associate Justice, U.S. Supreme Court (1957–62)
Business and practice
Lyda Conley (class of 1902), first woman admitted to the Kansas Bar and first Native American woman to argue before the U.S. Supreme Court; championed Native American causes
Jay B. Dillingham (class of 1935), president of the Kansas City Stockyards and president of the Chambers of Commerce for both Kansas City, Missouri, and Kansas City, Kansas.
Donald Fehr (class of 1973), Executive Director, Major League Baseball Players Association (1986–2009) and National Hockey League Players Association (2010–)
Thomas Calloway Lea, Jr. (class of 1898), noted Texas criminal lawyer
Bob Stein (class of 1973), Kansas City Chiefs American football player; youngest person ever to play in a Super Bowl
Mike Racy (J.D. class of 1992) – former NCAA vice president (1993–2013); 5th commissioner for the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association
