The University of Akron School of
Law is the law school at the
University of
Akron
, located in Akron
, Ohio
.
Offering both the
J.D. and
LL.M. degrees, it was founded in 1921 as the
Akron School of Law and merged with the University of Akron in
1959, becoming fully accredited by the
American Bar Association in 1961.
Since 1921, the school has produced over 6,000 graduates who have
gone on to careers in the private and public sectors, including
several notable judges and politicians. Located across from
E.J. Thomas Hall on University Avenue, the
University of Akron School of Law is housed in the C. Blake
McDowell Law Center on the northwest portion of the University of
Akron campus. It also houses the Joseph G. Miller and William C.
Becker
Institute for Professional Responsibility and The University of
Akron Center for Constitutional Law, one of only four constitutional law centers established by
Congress in the United States
. In 2004, the school was ranked second in
the
National Jurist and the
Pre-Law Insider
magazines as a best value law school.
Curriculum
The University of Akron School of Law admits traditional three year
J.D. students, part-time J.D. students, and also students for the
LL.M. Within the J.D. program, Akron Law students can also choose
to specialize in one of eight areas of law, which include
business,
criminal,
intellectual property,
international,
labor
and employment,
litigation, public law,
and
tax law.
Joint degree programs
The School of Law also offers five
joint
degree programs, listed below:
The joint degree programs allow credit from classes to count
towards both a
Master's degree and
to the Juris Doctor. In most cases, a joint JD/MA program can be
completed in four years.
Intellectual property program
The school's program in intellectual property, managed by The
Center for Intellectual Property Law and Technology, is of note as
it is one of two programs to offer the
LL.M. in intellectual property in Ohio, and
is one of 22 such programs in the United States. A study conducted
by
IDEA – The Intellectual Property Law Review, ranks
Akron’s IP program curricular offerings as tied for fifth in the
nation. The law school also publishes the
Akron Intellectual
Property Journal which is a "scholarly legal publication of
The University of Akron C. Blake McDowell Law Center that produces
an annual volume of two issues for use by scholars, practitioners,
and judges."
Honors to Law
The University of Akron School of Law recently began a new program
whereby undergraduate Honors students at the University of Akron
can receive undergraduate admission to the law school. Benefits of
the program include mentoring by law faculty and students as well
as visiting a law school class at least once per semester. In order
to stay in the program students must maintain a 3.4 GPA and score
at or above the anticipated median LSAT score of the next class of
entering full-time law students.
Admission statistics
The acceptance rate at Akron Law in Fall 2009 for full-time
students was 37.7%, or 581 offers of admission out of 1,541
applicants. The
median LSAT score and
GPA of the 117 full-time students entering in Fall 2009
were 156 and 3.45, respectively. The part-time acceptance rate was
higher, at 47.5%, or 159 offers out of 335 applicants, 85 of whom
matriculated. The median LSAT and GPA of the part-time students was
lower than the full time students, at 151 and 3.27, respectively.
Twenty-four states
as well as China
and Vietnam
were
represented in the class entering in Fall 2009.
Alumni
After
graduating from Kent State University
, Ohio congresswoman
Betty Sutton received her J.D. from
Akron law. In 2006, she defeated
Craig L. Foltin for
Ohio's 13th congressional
district and was successfully re-elected in 2008. In the
110th congress, Sutton
is a member of the majority and sits on the
United States
House Committee on the Judiciary.
The
current mayor of Akron, Ohio, Don Plusquellic, received his J.D. from
Akron law, and was a private
practice attorney at the time of his
election in 1987.
More than 160 graduates of the law school have gone on to serve in
state and federal judicial positions, and several of them have
attained high repute.
Alice M.
Batchelder received her J.D.
from Akron in 1971 and is the longest current serving
federal judge on the
United
States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, having been
appointed by
George H.W. Bush in 1991.
Deborah L. Cook received her J.D. from Akron in
1978.
Having previously served as a justice for the
Supreme Court of
Ohio
from 1995 to 2003, she was appointed by George W. Bush in 2003 to serve on the Sixth Circuit
alongside Batchelder. They were both touted by the media as
possible nominations of George W.
Bush for the Supreme
Court
, and Cook was seen as a possible McCain appointment, had he been elected
President.
Among the school's graduates who have gone on to be
United States district court
judges are
James
S. Gwin,
Peter C. Economus,
Samuel
H. Bell, and
John R. Adams.
References
External links
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