Florida State / College of Law / Prospective Students / Highlights

Our highly accomplished and accessible law faculty delivers a program
that is designed to produce sophisticated entrants into the legal marketplace.

 

 

Professor Dave Markell (left) is one of the faculty experts who have helped make Florida State's environmental law program one of the best in the nation.

 

National Recognition

U.S. News & World Report (2013) rates Florida State the nation’s 48th best law school overall and the 25th best public. U.S. News also ranks our environmental law program the nation’s 16th best overall and 7th best among public law schools.

U.S. News & World Report (2013) rates Florida State the nation’s 23rd best law school, and Florida’s best, in terms of the percentage of 2011 graduates employed nine months after graduation in full-time, long-term, Bar admission-required or J.D.-preferred jobs.

Florida State is the nation’s 25th best law school, and Florida’s best, in terms of placing graduates in jobs that require law degrees, according to a 2012 report by the Wall Street Journal.

Hispanic Business magazine (2012) ranks Florida State the nation’s 3rd best law school for Hispanic students and On Being a Black Lawyer (2012) rates Florida State one of the top 6 schools in the south for black students.

The National Jurist magazine has ranked Florida State one of the nation’s top 15 “Best Value” law schools for four years in a row.

 

Student Selectivity

The College of Law receives 13 applications for every seat in the entering class.

The 2012 entering class has a median LSAT of 160 and a median GPA of 3.54.

Current students represent 31 states, 19 countries and 164 colleges and universities.

 
Students have access to a wide variety of opportunities to gain hands-on legal work experience while they are taking classes in Tallahassee. Marialle Bell ('13) externed at the Office of the Public Defender in Tallahassee during the spring of 2012.

 

 

 

With five courtrooms - four with jury boxes, the Advocacy Center is the nation's finest facility for training trial and appellate advocates. Alexandra Haddad ('12) was a member of the Moot Court Team that won first place in five major championships during the 2011-12 academic year.


Student Successes

For 10 of the last 15 administrations of the Florida Bar Examination, our bar passage rate was either first or second among Florida’s 11 law schools.

Since 2010, the Moot Court Team has won first place in nine national competitions and in one international competition. In 2012, the Mock Trial Team won first place in the National Criminal Trial Advocacy Competition.

In 2006, 2011 and 2012, the Black Law Students Association was named National Chapter of the Year by the National Black Law Students Association.

In 2008, 2009 and 2012, the Student Bar Association was selected "SBA of the Year" by the Law Student Division of the American Bar Association. Also in 2012 and 2010, respectively, the SBA received the Henry J. Ramsey, Jr. Diversity Award and the Public Interest National Achievement Award from the Law Student Division.

 

Professional Skills Training

The College of Law completed its expansion into the 50,000-square-foot Advocacy Center addition in January 2012. The center includes five courtrooms and is the finest advocacy training facility in the nation.

The United States Supreme Court repeatedly cited a report by the Public Interest Law Center in a 2010 landmark decision on juvenile sentencing.

The College of Law’s extensive clinical externship program has been referred to as a model for the nation. It includes judicial, criminal, civil, legal services, appellate and international placements.

Students and faculty at the law and medical schools work together through the Medical-Legal Partnership — a new clinic within the Public Interest Law Center.
Justice Antonin Scalia
Addressing Florida State University
College of Law students



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