Employers interviewing on campus describe our students as polished and well rounded. Our students are extremely talented and hail from 199 schools in 36 states and 10 countries. We provide them a superb legal education with a strong liberal arts orientation. To us, the liberal arts orientation means several things.

First, it means that we value close working relationships among students and faculty of the sort that characterize the best liberal arts colleges. It is an important part of the culture of our school that our faculty is available to teach students outside of the classroom as well as inside the classroom. To the maximum extent possible, we want to work with you as new members of the legal profession to help you in this important time of personal and professional growth. Our faculty members go beyond mere accessibility to students. They are actively engaged with the work of our students. Faculty members work with them on projects such as law journal manuscripts, moot court and mock trial competitions and directed independent studies.

Second, having a liberal arts orientation means that our students have a special relationship among themselves. Our students have a strong sense of community. They are proud of our law school and of one another. They are confident in their successes and are competitive without being cutthroat.

Third, the liberal arts orientation means that our attentive faculty greatly values the insights of other disciplines that can be brought to bear upon the study of law. To our faculty, it is important to integrate into the study of law insights from such diverse disciplines as history, philosophy, psychology, sociology, economics and finance. The value placed on the insights of other disciplines is reflected in such specialized courses as Law and Economics, Game Theory and China Trade Simulation. More importantly, the insights of other disciplines are pervasively taught throughout our curriculum, beginning with basic first-year courses such as Contracts, Torts and Property.

Finally, as part of a graduate research university, we profit from campus-wide expertise. Faculty and students from other departments frequently take part in our classes, workshops and programs, and our students often take courses offered in other departments. We also offer a wide variety of joint-degree programs.

This is a great place to attend law school if you want to become a lawyer. Our students have done extremely well on the bar exam and in obtaining the jobs they want upon graduation. More importantly, whether you want to become a lawyer in Atlanta, Chicago, Miami, New York, Tampa or Washington, D.C., this is an especially great place to become a well-educated lawyer.

Thank you,
Don Weidner
Dean and Alumni Centennial Professor