UCLA School of Law

The University of California, Los Angeles School of Law (commonly UCLA Law) is the law school of the University of California, Los Angeles.

UCLA School of Law
Parent schoolUniversity of California, Los Angeles
Established1949
School typePublic law school
Parent endowment$3.6 billion (2019–20)[1]
DeanMichael Waterstone [2]
LocationLos Angeles, California, U.S.
Enrollment1,086 (as of May 18, 2022)[3]
Faculty104
USNWR ranking14th (2024)[4]
Bar pass rate92.47% (July 2022 1st time takers)[5]
Websitelaw.ucla.edu
ABA profileStandard 509 Report

History
The Hugh and Hazel Darling Law Library, UCLA School of Law

Founded in 1949, the UCLA School of Law is the third oldest of the five law schools within the University of California system.

In the 1930s, initial efforts to establish a law school at UCLA went nowhere as a result of resistance from UC president Robert Gordon Sproul, and because UCLA's supporters eventually refocused their efforts on first adding medical and engineering schools.[6]

During the mid-1940s, the impetus for the creation of the UCLA School of Law emerged from outside of the UCLA community. Assemblyman William Rosenthal of Boyle Heights (on the other side of Los Angeles from UCLA) conceived of and fought for the creation of the first public law school in Southern California as a convenient and affordable alternative to the expensive private law school at USC.[6][7][8] Rosenthal's first attempt in 1945 failed, but his second attempt was able to gain momentum when the State Bar of California and the UCLA Alumni Association announced their support for the bill.[9] On July 18, 1947, Governor Earl Warren authorized the appropriation of $1 million for the construction of a new law school at UCLA by signing Assembly Bill 1361 into state law.[7][9][8]

The search for the law school's first dean was difficult and delayed its opening by a year.[9] UCLA's law school planning committee prioritized merit, while the then-conservative Regents of the University of California prioritized political beliefs.[7] Another factor was a simultaneous deanship vacancy at Berkeley Law.[9] Near the end of 1948, the Committee finally identified a sufficiently conservative candidate willing to take the job: L. Dale Coffman, then the dean of Vanderbilt University Law School.[7] The Regents believed Coffman would help bring balance to the UCLA campus, which they saw as overrun by Communists.[7]

Coffman was able to recruit several distinguished faculty to UCLA, including Roscoe Pound, Brainerd Currie, Rollin M. Perkins, and Harold Verrall.[7][9] To build a law library, he hired Thomas S. Dabagh, then the law librarian of the Los Angeles County Law Library.[7][9] The UCLA School of Law officially opened in September 1949 in temporary quarters in former military barracks behind Royce Hall, and moved into a permanent home upon the completion of the original Law Building in 1951.[7][9][8]

Coffman's deanship did not end well, due to his vindictive and strongly prejudiced personality.[7][9][8] One sign of early trouble was when he drove out Dabagh in 1952 after they could not bridge their fundamental differences over how to run the law library, which was widely regarded around the UCLA community as contributing to Dabagh's early death in 1959.[7] On September 21, 1955, the faculty revolted in the form of a memorandum to chancellor Raymond B. Allen alleging that Coffman was categorically refusing to hire Jews or anyone he perceived to be leftist, and that the school's reputation was deteriorating because Coffman's abrasive personality had led to excessive faculty turnover.[7][8] On May 24, 1956, Coffman was stripped of his deanship after a lengthy investigation by a panel of deans of his biases and his "dictatorial, undemocratic, and autocratic" management style.[7] He remained on the faculty until his forced retirement in 1973, but continued to face allegations as late as 1971 that he was "an unreconstructed McCarthyite and pro-segregationist."[8]

Coffman's successor was Richard C. Maxwell, who served as the second dean of UCLA Law from 1958 to 1969.[10] Dean Maxwell "presided over happier, more harmonious years of institutional growth,"[8] and it was under his deanship that UCLA became "the youngest top-ranked law school in the country."[10] Dabagh's successor, Louis Piacenza, was able to grow the law school's library collection to 143,000 volumes by May 1963, which at that time was the 14th largest law school library in the United States.[8]

By 1963, the law school had 600 students in a building designed for 550, and the law building's deficiencies had become all too evident, such as a complete lack of air conditioning.[8] In October 1963, the law school administration announced a major remodeling and expansion project, which added air conditioning and a new wing to the building. During the 1960s, the law school grew so quickly that the new wing was already insufficient upon its completion in January 1967.[8] From its founding to the end of the 20th century, UCLA Law struggled with severe overcrowding, as librarians, faculty, staff, and as many as 18 student organizations—at one point, more than any other law school in the United States—competed for limited space in the law building for books, classes, conferences, and offices.[8]

The chronic space shortage was ultimately relieved by the addition of a wing for clinical education [11] and, after four grueling years of construction, completion of the new Hugh and Hazel Darling Law Library on January 22, 2000.[8]

Under Maxwell, the faculty size tripled, from 12 to 37 professors, and the school hired its first female and African-American faculty members. Under Murray Schwartz, who led the school from 1969 to 1975, and William Warren, who served as dean from 1975 to 1982, the school became a pioneer in clinical legal education,[12] developing a skills-based approach that remains among the school's hallmarks.

Students, too, broke new ground. In 1973, they created a network of student-run legal clinics first known as El Centro Legal de Santa Monica, which continues to provide pro bono services around Los Angeles with 15 separate clinics.[13]

In the 1990s and through subsequent years, the school established several "centers of excellence" that focus on education and advocacy in specific fields.

Academics

UCLA Law has approximately 1,000 students in its Juris Doctor (J.D.) program and 200 students in its Master of Laws (LL.M.) program, which is popular among foreign students intending to take the California bar exam. It also offers a Doctor of Juridical Science (S.J.D.) program for students who already have a J.D. and hope to become law professors, as well as a Master of Legal Studies[14] program for those who do not seek a law degree, but find a legal education an important complement to their professional obligations.

The school was a pioneer in clinical legal education and today offers a strong experiential education program. Through clinical courses and related offerings, the school gives students the opportunity to directly represent clients in a variety of settings while under expert supervision. UCLA Law's clinics also provide service to many people who cannot afford to pay for their own legal services, including veterans, the homeless, and indigent individuals appearing in criminal and immigration courts. In 2017, the school opened the Documentary Film Legal Clinic and Music Industry Clinic, which provide legal services to aspiring visual journalists, musicians and entrepreneurs in the arts, and the Veterans Justice Clinic at the West Los Angeles VA Medical Center.

Students can elect to specialize in business law and policy, entertainment law, environmental law, public interest law, critical race studies, and law and philosophy. The roughly 300 students who begin law school at UCLA every year are divided into sections to encourage a sense of community. Students take all of their first year courses with their sections.[15]

Several joint degree programs are available, which require four years of study and result in the simultaneous award of a Juris Doctor and master's degree in Afro-American studies, American Indian studies, law and management; public health; public policy; philosophy, social welfare, and urban planning.[16]

Faculty and students

UCLA School of Law has a faculty of over 100 members with expertise in all major disciplines of law, representing "one of the most diverse in the country."[17] Thirteen members of the school's tenured faculty have been recognized for being the most-cited scholars in their areas of specialty.[18] The school faculty is ranked 11th[19] for scholarship, up from 15th in 2010 and 13th in 2013.

In 2022, 7,227 students applied to attend UCLA Law, and 310 were enrolled.[20] The median LSAT score for members of the entering class in 2022 is 171. The median GPA for members of the entering class in 2022 is 3.90.

J.D. Entering Class of 2025 Profile[21]
  • 124 Undergraduate schools represented
  • 58% Female; 42% Male
  • 58% Students of color
  • 57% California Residents; 43% Non-residents
  • 10% majored in engineering, technology, science or math
  • 18% are the first in their families to have completed college

Location
UCLA School of Law's south entrance facing Charles E. Young Drive East

UCLA School of Law is located on the UCLA campus in the Westwood area of Los Angeles.[22]

The school proper is housed in a three-story brick building, with the library tower extending to four stories. A few offices, including the office of career services, the office of admissions and the office of graduate studies and international programs, are housed in an adjacent building, Dodd Hall.

Rankings
See also: Law school rankings in the United States

In 2023, U.S. News & World Report ranked UCLA as 14th among U.S. law schools,[23] 4th in environmental law, 6th in trial advocacy, 9th in corporate law, 7th in tax law, and 12th in criminal law.[24] In 2022, UCLA joined a growing list of law schools that said they would no longer participate in the U.S. News Rankings.[25]

According to Brian Leiter's law school rankings, UCLA Law ranks 8th in the nation in terms of scholarly impact as measured by academic citations of tenure-stream faculty during the years 2009–2013.[26]

The Hollywood Reporter has repeatedly ranked UCLA as the number one school for entertainment law.[27][28]

Bar passage rates

In October 2020, UCLA Law's bar passage rates were 97% in California and 100% in New York.[29]

American Bar Association data shows that more than 95%[30] of 2019 graduates had secured full-time, long-term, JD-required employment within 10 months of graduation.

Journals

Journals and law reviews
  • UCLA Law Review
  • UCLA Asian/Pacific American Law Journal
  • UCLA Chicanx-Latinx Law Review
  • UCLA Criminal Justice Law Review
  • UCLA Disability Law Journal
  • UCLA Dukeminier Awards Journal of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Law
  • UCLA Entertainment Law Review
  • UCLA Indigenous Peoples' Journal of Law, Culture & Resistance
  • UCLA Journal of Environmental Law and Policy
  • UCLA Journal of International Law & Foreign Affairs
  • UCLA Journal of Islamic and Near Eastern Law
  • UCLA Journal of Law & Technology
  • UCLA National Black Law Journal
  • UCLA Pacific Basin Law Journal
  • UCLA Women's Law Journal

Notable people

Academia

Business and private practice

Entertainment

Government and politics

Judiciary

Sports

Other

Current

Former

References
  1. "Endowment and Finances". UCLA Foundation.
  3. "Facts & Figures: Enrollment—Student Enrollment in Professional Schools". www.ucla.edu. UCLA. Retrieved 18 May 2022.
  4. "University of California—Los Angeles". U.S. News & World Report – Best Law Schools. Retrieved 12 May 2023.
  6. Dundjerski, Marina (2011). UCLA: The First Century. Los Angeles: Third Millennium Publishing. p. 117. ISBN 9781906507374. Retrieved 24 February 2019.
  7. Rastorfer, Renee Y. (Summer 2003). "Thomas S. Dabagh and the Institutional Beginnings of the UCLA Law Library: A Cautionary Tale". Law Library Journal. 95 (3): 347–368. Retrieved 19 February 2019. Available through HeinOnline.
  8. Dewey, Scott Hamilton (May 2016). "Growing Pains: The History of the UCLA Law Library, 1949-2000". Law Library Journal. 108 (2): 217–236. Retrieved 19 February 2019.
  9. Dundjerski, Marina (2011). UCLA: The First Century. Los Angeles: Third Millennium Publishing. p. 118. ISBN 9781906507374. Retrieved 24 February 2019.
  10. Moidel, Selma Moidel (2016). "The UCLA School of Law - Origin, Conflict, and Growth" (PDF). California Legal History. 11: 1–6. Retrieved 24 February 2019.
  11. Loyola Law School. "Loyola Law School dean biography".
  12. UCLA School of Law (July 13, 2020). "UCLA School of Law History".
  13. El Centro Legal (July 13, 2020). "El Centro Legal".
  14. UCLA Newsroom (July 13, 2020). "UCLA Law Creates Master of Legal Studies Degree".
  15. Cynthia L. Cooper, The Insider's Guide to the Top Fifteen Law Schools (New York: Doubleday, 1990), 343 & 345.
  16. "Joint Degree Programs". UCLA Law School website. Retrieved March 6, 2011.
  17. Cooper, 345.
  18. "13 UCLA Law Faculty Among Most Cited Legal Scholars". law.ucla.edu. Retrieved 2017-11-12.
  19. Zeman, Nicole; Veenis, Katherine; Catlin, Nicole; Sisk, Gregory C. (2018). "Scholarly Impact of Law School Faculties in 2018: Updating the Leiter Score Ranking for the Top Third". SSRN 3230371.
  20. "UCLA Law Class Profile".
  21. "School Facts".
  22. Cooper, 359.
  23. US News. "U.S. News 2023 Law School Rankings".
  24. "University of California--Los Angeles - Best Law Schools - US News". U.S. News & World Report. May 15, 2023. Retrieved May 15, 2023.
  25. Sloan, Karen (November 22, 2022). "UCLA law school joins exodus from U.S. News rankings as movement expands". Reuters. Retrieved 20 April 2023.
  26. "New Document".
  27. Belloni, Matthew (July 20, 2012). "America's Top Ten Entertainment Law Schools". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 3 February 2014.
  28. Cho, Winston (April 18, 2023). "Hollywood's Top 12 Law Schools 2023". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 20 April 2023.
  29. "UCLA Law Bar Passage Rates".
  30. "UCLA School of Law Graduate Outcomes 2019".
  31. "#251 David P Steiner". Forbes. April 28, 2010. Archived from the original on May 17, 2010.
  32. Peter B. Carlisle Archived 2007-12-19 at the Wayback Machine, National District Attorneys Association. Accessed December 3, 2007.
  33. Zahniser, David; et al. "L.A. City Councilman Jose Huizar charged in federal corruption probe". LA Times. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
  34. "Official Site of United States District Court, Eastern District of California". Retrieved 2020-02-28.
  35. UCLA International Institute Archived 2014-01-02 at the Wayback Machine

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