Loyola Law School is the law school of Loyola Marymount University, a private Catholic university in the Jesuit and Marymount traditions, in Los Angeles, California. Loyola was established in 1920. It is named in honor of St. Ignatius of Loyola, the Spanish intellectual and founder of the Jesuits. The Frank Gehry-designed campus is located near downtown Los Angeles.
Academics
Loyola Law School: A Campus Built for Law - Take a guided tour of the Loyola Law School, Los Angeles campus with non other than world-famous architect Frank O. Gehry, who designed the campus "built for law."
U.S. News & World Report ranked Loyola Law School 65th in its "America's Best Graduate Schools 2018" feature, which ranked the school 6th for tax law, 6th for Trial Advocacy and 27th for legal writing â€" making it the top-ranked California school in all three specialty categories.
Loyola ranks higher on alternative guides such as The Princeton Review in addition to the Cooley rankings (also known as the Brennan rankings). The Cooley Rankings ranked Loyola Law School 26th in the nation in 2010. The American Lawyer ranked Loyola #3 for its preparation of attorneys for big firm practice. In 2017, the National Law Journal ranked Loyola #34 on its list of "The Go-To Law Schools' Associates to Partnerâ€.
For specialty rankings:
- Loyola's part-time evening program is ranked 9th in the nation by U.S. News & World Report.
- Loyola is ranked 6th in the nation for Tax Law, and its fairly new Taxation LL.M. program ranks 8th in the nation by U.S. News & World Report.
- Loyola's trial advocacy program is ranked 8th in the nation by U.S. News & World Report.
- Lawdragon, which ranks and evaluates lawyers and judges, named Loyola #17 in its list of the 25 Leading Law Schools.
- Listed as an "A" (#8) in the January 2011 "Best Public Interest Law Schools" ratings by The National Jurist: The Magazine for Law Students.
- Listed as an "A-" in the March 2011 "Diversity Honor Roll" by The National Jurist: The Magazine for Law Students.
Loyola has a separate law school campus on a full city block just west of downtown Los Angeles. It is made up of an open central plaza surrounded by several contemporary buildings designed by Frank Gehry. Its recently renovated library has a collection of nearly 560,000 volumes.
Including its day and evening J.D. programs, Loyola has the largest and most diverse student enrollment of any California law school. It was the first California law school with a pro bono graduation requirement, under which students perform 40 hours of pro bono work. After Hurricane Katrina, Loyola was also one of a handful of schools to open its doors to students of law schools in New Orleans who were forced to relocate for a period of time after the hurricane.
Degrees offered include the Juris Doctor (JD); Master of Science in Legal Studies (MLS); Master of Laws (LLM); Master of Laws in Taxation; Juris Doctor/Master of Business Administration (JD/MBA); Doctor of Juridical Science (JSD)
It has been an American Bar Association (ABA) approved law school since 1935. It is a member of the Association of American Law Schools (AALS).
Loyola is a member of the Order of the Coif, a national law school honorary society
2010 adoption of B-curve grading system
Before 2004, Loyola used a unique "numeric grading system" where GPAs ranged from 70 to 100. In 2004, Loyola adopted the more familiar 4.0 "letter grading scale" used by other law schools, applying a low 2.667 forced median GPA. However, all other Los Angeles area law schools applied a median GPA between 3.0 and 3.3. In May 2010, Loyola corrected this imbalance by raising their median GPA one-third of a point to 3.0 â€" retroactive to all classes taken since 2004. Loyola claimed the move as necessary to enable its students to be competitive with those from UCLA, USC, and Pepperdine law schools. Deans of other Los Angeles law schools stated that the move was in line with their grading policies.
In June 2010, Loyola's plan to retroactively change grades was the subject of a New York Times article. Comedian Stephen Colbert also mocked Loyola's change in grading policy on Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report."
Bar passage rates
Loyola's first-time takers of the July 2015 California Bar Exam passed at a rate of 76.5%. â€" above the 68.2% statewide average for ABA-accredited law schools. For July 2014, the law school achieved a 79.9% pass rate â€" above the 69.4% statewide average. Loyola's first-time takers of the July 2013 California Bar Exam passed at a rate of 87.7% -- giving it the third-highest pass rate in the state. Based on a 2001â€"2007 6 year average, 72.4% of Loyola Law graduates passed the California State Bar. The first-time pass rate for Loyola Law School graduates on the July 2010 California Bar Examination was 84%, nine percentage points above the 75% rate for all ABA-accredited schools in California..
Post-graduation employment
Class of 2016
Loyola Law School had the third-highest number of class of 2016 graduates employed in full-time, long-term, bar-admission-required or JD-advantage jobs among ABA-approved California law schools as of March 15, 2017. According to Loyola's official ABA-required disclosures for the class of 2016, 83.15% of graduates were employed within 10 months of graduation. About 72.2% were employed in full-time, long-term, bar-admission-required or JD-advantage jobs. The National Association for Law Placement created the term "JD Advantage" to "describe a category of jobs for which bar passage is not required but for which a JD degree provides a distinct advantage.â€
Previous Classes of 2015
According to Loyola's official ABA-required disclosures for the class of 2015, 87.7% of graduates were employed within 10 months of graduation. About 79.5% were employed in full-time, long-term, bar-admission-required or JD-advantage jobs.
According to Loyola's official ABA-required disclosures for the class of 2014, 81.06% of graduates were employed within 10 months of graduation. About 71% were employed in full-time, long-term, bar-admission-required or JD-advantage jobs.
According to Loyola's official 2013 ABA-required disclosures, 50.1% of the class of 2013 obtained full-time, long-term, JD-required employment nine months after graduation (excluding solo practitioners). Loyola's Law School Transparency under-employment score is 36.8%, indicating the percentage of the class of 2013 unemployed, pursuing an additional degree, or working in a non-professional, short-term, or part-time job nine months after graduation. Loyola claims 13.37% of its graduates were employed in "JD Advantage" jobs, but the school does not define "JD Advantage."
Media coverage
In 2009, Loyola reported that 95.1% of its students were employed within 9 months after graduation. However, Loyola does not disclose what percentage of its graduates work part-time or on a temporary basis. In 2009, Loyola reported to U.S. News & World Report that 66.6% of Loyola students were employed at graduation.
Costs
The total cost of attendance (indicating the cost of tuition, fees, and living expenses) at Loyola Law School for the 2014-2015 academic year is $77,100. The Law School Transparency estimated debt-financed cost of attendance for three years is $282,792.
Student debt
According to U.S. News & World Report, the average indebtedness of 2015 graduates who incurred law school debt was $148,035 (not including undergraduate debt), and 80% of 2015 graduates took on debt. And only 60.6% of 2015 graduates obtained full-time, long term positions requiring bar admission (i.e., jobs as lawyers) within 9 months after graduation.
Programs and clinics
Loyola Law School, Los Angeles will dedicate its new Loyola Social Justice Law Clinic (SJLC) in spring 2018. The center will house Loyola’s criminal defense, immigration, post-conviction relief and clinics focused on other important issues under one roof. Thanks to a renovation of nearly 23,000 square feet of Loyola’s Founders Hall, the new SJLC houses together for the first time multiple Law School clinics: the Collateral Consequences of Conviction Project, International Human Rights Clinic, Juvenile Innocence & Fair Sentencing Clinic, Juvenile Justice Clinic, Loyola Immigrant Justice Clinic and Youth Justice Education Clinic, to name just a few.
Alarcón Advocacy Center
In 2011, Loyola opened the Alarcón Advocacy Center. including the Project for the Innocent that assists in the release of prisoners unjustly convicted.
Loyola's Clinics
Loyola Law School's 21 clinics include:
- Center for Conflict Resolution, which provides mediation, conciliation, and facilitation services, as well as conflict resolution training.
- Center for Juvenile Law and Policy, serves as a holistic law firm representing youths in juvenile court. A small group of students each year are selected as participants in a year-long clinic run by the Center, receiving trial advocacy and procedure training from the Center's staff of attorneys and social workers.. The CJLP inludes the Juvenile Justice Clinic, the Juvenile Innocence & Fair Sentencing Clinic and the Youth Justice Education Clinic. On Nov. 20, 2017, the Everychild Foundation announced that the CJLP was awarded its 2017 annual $1 million competitive grant to develop an innovative program that will train law students in best practices to represent foster youth involved in both dependency and delinquency courts.* The Loyola Immigrant Justice Clinic
- Loyola's International Human Rights Clinic pursues human rights claims by citizens against countries, tribunals and more. Its work has included seeking to establish domestic violence as cause for refugee status. . The clinic has more than two dozen matters pending before regional and international courts and tribunals, with students traveling 120,000 miles globally to date for advocacy and field work.
- The Loyola Immigrant Justice Clinic has conducted more than 10,000 client consultations since its 2012 via client-intake events that have been well-dcoumented in the media.
Other programs
- Civil Justice Program, which convenes periodic conferences, seminars and presentations, promotes and publishes scholarly research, and initiates cross disciplinary projects.
- Cybersecurity & Data Privacy Law program, an interdisciplinary program run in concert with LMU's Seaver College of Science & Engineering, offers both lawyers and non-lawyers advanced skills training in compliance, incident response, risk assessment and more. Media reports have noted that the program will draw on the school's traditional strengths in intellectual property, digital privacy and cybercrime, as well as its connections to nearby Silicon Beach. The program is the first of its kind on the west coast.
- Entertainment Law Practicum, which provides students with hands-on experience in the entertainment industry while earning units toward their degree.
- Journalist Law School, providing fellowships to journalists for a legal study practicum [1]. The program has been cited as an important way for journalists to grow vital skills.
- The Master of Science in Legal Studies is a program designed for working professionals to develop the critical thinking and essential legal skills. Students may customize their degrees or pursue one of six specializations: Corporate Law, Criminal Justice, Cybersecurity & Data Privacy, Entertainment Law, Intellectual Property and International Business Law.
- Public Interest Law Foundation (PILF), which is a student-run organization focused on getting students involved in public interest causes as well as raising money for public interest grants.
Law reviews
Loyola currently has three student-run and edited law reviews:
- Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review is a publication devoted to the advancement of legal scholarship. Publishing articles on all legal topics, the Review seeks to identify and advance new legal research by scholars, practitioners, and students. Recent issues of the Law Review have included articles on parent-child privilege, Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, Eighth Circuit reversal rates, and noneconomic damages. Authors have included former President Jimmy Carter and NPR Legal Affairs Nina Totenberg.. The Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review celebrates its 50th annivesary in the 2017-18 academic year.
- Loyola of Los Angeles International & Comparative Law Review is dedicated to the advancement of legal scholarship and seeks to publish scholarly, professional articles of high caliber, based on accurate and in-depth research, which advance legal scholarship in the field of international law, aid in the resolution of contemporary international legal problems, and contribute to the continuing education of the legal community. In April 2008, ILR held a symposium entitled Transformation in Iraq: From Ending a Modern War to Creating a Modern Peace.[2] Using Iraq as a test case, the symposium sought to assess the legitimacy and viability of modern occupation law against both changed contemporary realities and recent developments in moral and political thought. Speakers included Harvard Professor Noah Feldman, Yale Professor Jules Coleman, University College London Professor Ralph Wilde, and Ambassador Feisal Amin Rasoul al-Istrabadi.
- Loyola of Los Angeles Entertainment Law Review publishes scholarly articles which frequently cover topics in constitutional law, sports law, intellectual property rights, communications regulation, antitrust law, employment law, contract law, corporate law, as well as the emerging fields of computer and Internet law. ELR has also featured symposia on such topics as independent filmmaking, international rights of publicity and the use of law and identity to script cultural production.
Trial advocacy and moot court
Loyola's trial advocacy and moot court programs are ranking No. 6 nationally by U.S. News & World Report's "2018 Best Graduate Schools" rankings. The teams' victories include:
- Byrne Trial Advocacy Program, won the title of Regional Champions in 22 of the last 28 Regional Competitions in the Texas Young Lawyers Association National Trial Competition, including back-to-back national championships in 2005-2006. The team is a six-time Regional Champion of the American Association for Justice (AAJ) Student Trial Competition. It has won 10 national championships, including the 2015 National Board of Advocates Tournament of Champions and the 2014 National Civil Trial Competition.
- Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition
- National Moot Court Competition, sponsored by the Association of the Bar of the City of New York and American College of Trial Lawyers
- Giles Sutherland Rich Moot Court Competition
- Scott Moot Court Competition, Loyola's student-run moot court competition
- Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot
- Environmental Moot Court
Study-abroad programs
Loyola offers study-abroad programs for J.D. students in Beijing, China, and Bologna, Italy.
Notable Loyola Law people
Faculty
- Allan Ides, Professor (Loyola Law alumnus who served as U.S. Supreme Court Clerk)
- Justin Hughes, Professor, former senior advisor to the Under Secretary of Commerce in the Obama Administration
- Laurie L. Levenson, criminal law professor and media commentator
- Jessica Levinson, Professor, President, LA Ethics Commission
- Justin Levitt, Professor, former deputy assistant attorney general in the U.S. Justice Department, Civil Rights Division
- Yxta Maya Murray, legal scholar and novelist
- Cesare P.R. Romano, international law expert and human rights litigator
Former faculty
- Richard L. Hasen, election law expert
- Terry J. Hatter Jr., Senior United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Central District of California.
- Gerald Uelmen, part of the "dream team" assembled to defend O. J. Simpson
Alumni
Attorneys and activists
- Gloria Allred, J.D. 1974, lawyer, radio talk show host and media personality; named one of Loyola's "50 Inspirational Alumni"
- Johnnie Cochran, J.D. 1962, high-profiled defense lawyer (deceased)
- Ricardo Cruz, former Chicano Civil Rights Movement lawyer
- Mark Geragos, J.D. 1982, high-profile defense lawyer, co-host of "reasonable doubt" podcast
- Thomas Girardi, founding partner of Girardi & Keese
- Irving A. Kanarek, aerospace engineer and defense attorney for Charles Manson
- Melanie E. Lomax, Civil Rights lawyer and former head of the Los Angeles Board of Police Commissioners
- Hunter Lovins, co-author of Natural Capitalism
- Edward L. Masry, plaintiff's lawyer portrayed in the movie Erin Brockovich
- Carmen Milano, was a Cleveland lawyer, before being disbarred and becoming a member of the Mafia in the 1980s.
- Robert Shapiro, defense lawyer; name partner of Glaser Weil Fink Jacobs Howard Avchen & Shapiro
- Edward Tabash, Board of Directors for the Center for Inquiry. Constitutional expert on Church State Issues.
- Michael Trope, sports agent and divorce trial lawyer co-founder of Trope and Decarolis in Los Angeles.
Judiciary
- Lynn "Buck" Compton, former California Court of Appeals Justice, former Los Angeles chief deputy prosecutor known for the prosecution of Sirhan Sirhan and member of the Band of Brothers
- Rick Distaso, judge and former prosecutor
- Otto Kaus, former Associate Justice of the California Supreme Court
- Kathryn Doi Todd, of the California Courts of Appeal
- Manuel Real, federal judge sitting in the United States District Court for the Central District of California
- John F. Walter, federal judge sitting in the United States District Court for the Central District of California
- William F. Rylaarsdam, of the California Courts of Appeal
- Michael T. Sauer, Superior Court judge and former appellate lawyer
Political figures
- Ben Cayetano, J.D. 1971, former Governor of Hawaii
- William P. Clark Jr., J.D. 1957, former Associate Justice of the California Supreme Court, Deputy Secretary of State, National Security Advisor and Secretary of the Interior
- Mike Gatto, J.D. 2004 (evening program) California State Assemblyman representing the 43rd Assembly District
- Tom Harman, J.D. 1968, California State Senator representing the 35th Senate District
- Sung Kim, United States Ambassador to the Philippines as well as the former United States Special Representative for North Korea Policy.
- Robert Joseph Miller, J.D. 1971, former governor of Nevada
- Kevin Murray, J.D. 1987, former California State Senator representing the 26th Senate District
- Nick Pacheco, a former member of the Los Angeles City Council
- Eric J. Perrodin, Mayor of Compton, California
- Tony Rackauckas, J.D. 1971, District Attorney of Orange County and former Superior Court Judge
- Richard Bloom, J.D. 1978, Member of the California State Assembly from the 50th District and former Mayor of Santa Monica
- Libby Schaaf, J.D. 1993, 50th Mayor of Oakland, California
Other distinguished alumni
- James L. Barrett, winemaker
- Tammara Billik, noted casting director
- Gene Bleymaier, athletic director at Boise State University
- David W. Burcham, constitutional law scholar and President of Loyola Marymount University
- John Edward Anderson, president of Topa Equities, Ltd., founder of Kindel & Anderson law firm, namesake of UCLA Anderson School of Management (deceased)
- Tony Blankley, editor at The Washington Times (deceased)
- Joe Escalante, punk-rock musician and record label entrepreneur
- Josh E. Gross, publisher of Beverly Hills Weekly
- Pat Haden, former NFL quarterback and current athletic director at the University of Southern California
- John C. "Pappy" Herbst, flying ace and war hero (of World War II)
- Gary Knell, president and CEO of the National Geographic Society
- Chris Kobin, screenwriter and producer
- Darren Levine, martial artist and entrepreneur
- Bob Myers, J.D. 2003, general manager for the Golden State Warriors in the NBA
- Gordon Naccarato, chef and restaurateur
- Adam Nimoy, television director
- Clark A. Peterson, founder of Necromancer Games
- Ian Sander, television producer
- Wilfred Von der Ahe, co-founder of Vons supermarket chain
- Rhoda Walsh international bridge champion
- Henry C. Yuen, co-founder, and former CEO and Chairman, of Gemstar-TV Guide International.
See also
- Law school rankings in the United States
References
External links
- Official website
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