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Wayne State University Law School

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Type
  
Public

Dean
  
Lance Gable (interim)

Campus
  
Urban

Acceptance rate
  
39% (2005)

Established
  
1927

Location
  
Detroit, Michigan, USA

Total enrollment
  
612 (2011)

Address
  
471 W Palmer Ave, Detroit, MI 48202, USA

Hours
  
Closed today SundayClosedMonday8AM–5PMTuesday8AM–5PMWednesday8AM–5PMThursday8AM–5PMFriday8AM–5PMSaturdayClosedSuggest an edit

Undergraduate tuition and fees
  
Local tuition: 24,871 USD (2010), Domestic tuition: 27,187 USD (2010)

Notable alumni
  
Dan Gilbert, Marilyn Jean Kelly, Dorothy Comstock Riley, Gary Peters, Lynn N Rivers

Similar
  
Wayne State University, University of Detroit Mercy Sc, Michigan State University, University of Michigan Law Scho, Western Michigan University

Profiles

Wayne state university law school professor peter henning


Wayne State University Law School is located in Midtown, the City of Detroit’s Cultural Center, and is one of the schools of Wayne State University. It is one of two public law schools in the state of Michigan and has educated and trained lawyers since 1927. Wayne Law’s more than 11,000 alumni include judges, justices, law firm partners and government officials working in all 50 states and at least 12 foreign countries.

Contents

Wayne state university law school jocelyn


History

The Law School was founded in 1927 and was originally named the Detroit City Law School as part of the City Colleges of Detroit. Allan Campbell served as the Law School’s founding dean, which graduated its first class with the Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) degree in 1928.

The City Colleges of Detroit thrived and was subsequently renamed Wayne University in 1933. In 1956, the university joined Michigan State University and the University of Michigan as one of the state’s three major public research institutions and was renamed Wayne State University.

The Law School received full American Bar Association (ABA) accreditation in 1939. The school’s Moot Court program (originally called the Case Club) was established in 1938, and the Wayne Law Review began publication in 1954. As an additional honor, members of the Wayne Law Review were awarded Juris Doctor (J.D.) degrees rather than LL.B. degrees (J.D. degrees were awarded to all law students with an undergraduate degree beginning in 1965). In 1965, the Law School’s students founded the Free Legal Aid Clinic, which is now operated in conjunction with Lakeshore Legal Aid and Neighborhood Legal Services.

At the urging of the ABA and the State Bar of Michigan Board of Commissioners, Wayne State University Law School and the University of Michigan Law School joined to form the Institute of Continuing Legal Education in 1960.

Deans of the Law School have included Allan Campbell (1927–1937), Arthur Neef (1937–1966), Charles Joiner (1968–1975), Donald Gordon (1975–1980), John Roberts (1980–1987), John Reed (1987–1993), James Robinson (1993–1998), Joan Mahoney (1998–2004; first female law school dean in Michigan history), Frank Wu (2004–2008), Robert Ackerman (2008–2012) and Jocelyn Benson (interim 2012–2014; permanent 2014–2016). Benson is the youngest woman ever to lead a U.S. law school.

Employment

According to Wayne State University's official 2014 ABA-required disclosures, 53.3% of the Class of 2014 obtained full-time, long-term, bar-passage-required employment within nine months of graduation. Wayne State University's Law School Transparency under-employment score is 30.8%, indicating the percentage of the Class of 2014 unemployed, pursuing an additional degree, or working in a non-professional, short-term, or part-time job nine months after graduation.

There were approximately 419 students enrolled in the Law School’s J.D. program as of 2014. According to American Bar Association data, entering law students in 2014 had undergraduate GPAs ranging from 2.99 (25th percentile) to 3.52 (75th percentile), and LSAT scores ranging from 152 (25th) to 160 (75th). The Law School’s 2014 acceptance rate was 49%, and graduates maintained a 2013 bar passage rate of more than 78%, above the state average of 69% for all takers of the Michigan Bar Exam.

U.S. News & World Report's rankings for 2015 placed Wayne Law at 87 out of 194 accredited law schools.

Costs

Tuition and fees at Wayne State University Law School for the 2014–15 academic year are $15,012.85 per semester (for 15 credits). In October 2014 Wayne Law announced a tuition freeze through at least the 2015–16 school year, as well as additional scholarships that amount to the equivalent of a 14% tuition cut for all incoming students.

Wayne Law was recognized as a Best Value law school for 2014 by The National Jurist and its sister publication, preLaw magazine. Wayne Law was the only Michigan law school recognized. Criteria for selection includes price of tuition, student debt accumulation, bar passage rate, cost of living and employment success.

Community involvement

Wayne Law operates eight clinics:

  • Asylum and Immigration Law Clinic
  • Business and Community Law Clinic
  • Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Clinic
  • Criminal Appellate Practice Clinic
  • Disability Law Clinic
  • Legal Advocacy for People with Cancer Clinic
  • Patent Procurement Clinic
  • Transnational Environmental Law Clinic
  • The Legal Advocacy for People with Cancer Clinic, a medical-legal partnership between Wayne Law and Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute, was named one of the nation's most innovative law school clinics by The National Jurist magazine in January 2015.

    The Program for Entrepreneurship and Business Law coordinates Wayne Law’s business law courses, clinics, internships, and extracurricular/co-curricular and community engagement activities. The program offers early-stage legal assistance to local startups and creates forums for entrepreneurs to receive general legal guidance and access community resources.

    The Wayne Alumni Law Group is a nonprofit firm that trains new attorneys as they assist Detroit entrepreneurs with growing their businesses.

    Notable alumni

  • Damon Keith (LL.M. 1956, former Senior Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit)
  • John Conyers (J.D. 1958, U.S. Congressman, former Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee)
  • Marilyn Jean Kelly (J.D. 1971, former Michigan Supreme Court Chief Justice)
  • Susan Bieke Neilson (J.D. 1980, former Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit)
  • Arthur Tarnow (J.D. 1965, Senior Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan)
  • David M. Lawson (J.D. 1976, Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan)
  • Nancy Garlock Edmunds (J.D. 1976, Senior Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan)
  • Annice M. Wagner (J.D. 1962, former Chief Judge of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals)
  • Marcia Cooke (J.D. 1977, Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida)
  • William Davidson (J.D. 1949, former owner of the Detroit Pistons, Detroit Shock and Tampa Bay Lightning)
  • Dan Gilbert (J.D. 1987, Owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers and Quicken Loans)
  • Dorothy Comstock Riley (LL.B. 1949, former Michigan Supreme Court Chief Justice)
  • Sam Bernstein (Michigan-famed attorney, founder of The Law Offices of Sam Bernstein)
  • Gary Peters (J.D. 1989, U.S. Senator)
  • Stephen M. Ross (J.D. 1965, founder, chairman and majority owner of The Related Companies LP)
  • Lynn N. Rivers (J.D. 1992, U.S. Congressman)
  • Notable faculty

  • Marilyn Jean Kelly, distinguished jurist in residence; former Michigan Supreme Court Chief Justice
  • Jocelyn Benson, expert on civil rights law, education law and election law; former Wayne Law dean
  • Gerald Ellis Rosen, Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan
  • References

    Wayne State University Law School Wikipedia


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