The University of South Dakota School of Law (also known as South Dakota Law or USD Law) in Vermillion, South Dakota, United States, is a professional school of the University of South Dakota and the only law school in the state of South Dakota. It is located on the USD campus in Vermillion in the southeastern part of the state, near the Iowa and Nebraska borders.
In 2013, Thomas Earl Geu was hired from his previous position of Interim Dean into full dean as of 2013.
Demographics and rankings
Admission is competitive; for the class entering in the fall of 2010, 220 out of 449 J.D. applicants were offered admission (48.9%), with 75 matriculating. They came from 46 colleges and 14 states. 58% percent were South Dakota residents, 42% were female, and 9% minorities. The 25th, 50th, and 75th percentile LSAT scores and GPAs for the class were 150/153/156 and 3.18/3.44/3.73 respectively.
The U.S. News & World Report law school rankings placed South Dakota Law at 145 in the U.S. in 2013. In 2013, The National Jurist listed South Dakota Law in the top 5 schools for "Best Value". In 2013, The National Law Journal listed South Dakota Law #5 for employment in the government and Public Interest sector.
USD Law is accredited by the American Bar Association and is a member of the Association of American Law Schools.According to South Dakota's official 2013 ABA-required disclosures, 60.6% of the Class of 2013 obtained full-time, long-term, JD-required employment nine months after graduation.
Politics and government
William Williamson (1905), U.S. Representative from South Dakota.
Royal C. Johnson (1906), U.S. Representative from South Dakota.
Ellis Yarnal Berry (1927), U.S. Representative from South Dakota.
Frank E. Denholm (1959), U.S. Representative from South Dakota.
Bill Janklow (1966), U.S. Representative from South Dakota, 27th and 30th Governor of South Dakota.
Joseph H. Bottum (1927), U.S. Senator from South Dakota, 27th Lieutenant Governor of South Dakota, and Presiding Judge of the Fifth Circuit Court of South Dakota.
James Abourezk (1966), U.S. Senator from South Dakota.
Tim Johnson (1975), U.S. Senator from South Dakota.
Leslie Jensen (1921), 15th Governor of South Dakota
Merrell Q. Sharpe (1914), 17th Governor of South Dakota and Attorney General of South Dakota.
George T. Mickelson (1927), 18th Governor of South Dakota and Federal Judge on the District Court of South Dakota.
Sigurd Anderson (1937), 19th Governor of South Dakota.
Frank Farrar, (1954), 24th Governor of South Dakota, Attorney General of South Dakota, and founder of First Savings Bank.
George S. Mickelson (1965), 28th Governor of South Dakota.
Gordon Mydland (1948) Attorney General of South Dakota.
Kermit A. Sande (1968) Attorney General of South Dakota.
Larry Long (1972), Attorney General of South Dakota, current Presiding Judge of the 2nd Circuit Court of South Dakota, 2009-present.
Marty Jackley (1995), current Attorney General of South Dakota, 2009-present and U.S. Attorney for the District of South Dakota
Lem Overpeck (1936), Lieutenant Governor of South Dakota.
Steve T. Kirby (1975), Lieutenant Governor of South Dakota and co-founder of Bluestem Capital.
Matt Michels (1985), current Lieutenant Governor of South Dakota, 2011-present.
Scott Heidepriem (1980), Minority Leader of South Dakota Senate.
Gregory J. Stoltenburg (1995), current presiding judge of the Third Circuit Court of South Dakota, 2015-present.
Brian Gosch (1996), current Majority Leader and former Speaker of the House of South Dakota House of Representatives.
David Lust (1997), Majority Leader of South Dakota House of Representatives.
Diane Kroupa (1981) Federal Judge on the United States Tax Court and Chief Judge of Minnesota Tax Court
Creighton Leland Robertson (1976) Tribal Judge for the Sisseton Wapheton Oyate Reservation
George T. Mickelson (1927) Federal Judge on the United States District Court of South Dakota
Fred Joseph Nichol (1936) Federal Judge on the United States District Court of South Dakota
Donald J. Porter (1943) Federal Judge on the United States District Court for the District of South Dakota.
Andrew Wendell Bogue (1947) Federal Judge on the United States District Court of South Dakota
John Bailey Jones (1953) Federal Judge on the United States District Court for the District of South Dakota.
Richard Howard Battey (1953) Federal Judge on the United States District Court for the District of South Dakota, presiding judge of Sue Dinosaur Dispute.
Lawrence L. Piersol, (1965), Federal Judge on the United States District Court for the District of South Dakota.
Jeffrey Viken (1977), current Chief Judge of United States District Court for the District of South Dakota. 2013-present.
Roger Leland Wollman (1962), current Federal Judge and former Chief Judge on the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, 1985–present.
Frank Henderson (1952) Associate Justice on the South Dakota Supreme Court
Richard W. Sabers (1963) Associate Justice on the South Dakota Supreme Court
Robert A. Miller (1963) Chief Justice of the South Dakota Supreme Court.
John K. Konenkamp (1974), Associate Justice on the South Dakota Supreme Court.
Steven L. Zinter (1975), current Associate Justice on the South Dakota Supreme Court.
David Gilbertson (1975), current Chief Justice of the South Dakota Supreme Court.
Glen A. Severson (1975), current Associate Justice on the South Dakota Supreme Court.
Lori S. Wilbur (1977), current Associate Justice on the South Dakota Supreme Court.
Judith Meierhenry (1977) Associate Justice on the South Dakota Supreme Court
Joe Robbie (1946), founder-owner of the Miami Dolphins, 1966-1990.
George E. "Bud" Day (1949), Air Force colonel, ex-POW, most highly decorated military officer since Douglas MacArthur
James W. Abbott (1974), President of the University of South Dakota 1997-present.
Frank Pommersheim, current American Indian Law Professor.
Roger Baron, Law professor
Patrick Garry, current Constitutional Law Professor
Bartlett Tripp, Law Professor
