A message from Austen Parrish, Dean of UCI Law

The world needs passionate, ethical and humane lawyers, who understand how law can profoundly impact individuals and their families, and the role it plays in society. UCI Law is uniquely positioned to prepare you to become the kind of talented lawyer that can make a difference in a rapidly changing world. You should visit us to meet the extraordinary people and programs that are UCI Law. Yet, in the following pages, hopefully you will get a glimpse of what makes our community special and the vibrant intellectual environment we foster.

Founded in 2009, the Law School is still imbued with the energy and excitement of our founding. That energy isn’t always found elsewhere and it’s palpable throughout our campus. The Law School was established by visionaries who wanted to reimagine legal education, while building a premier law school embedded in one of the most innovative public research universities in the United States. Because of that history, UCI Law is unique in the emphasis we place on interdisciplinary and global perspectives, along with a deep commitment to public service, social justice, research excellence and experiential learning. It’s this combination — where new law students work hand-in-hand with professors who are at the very top in their fields — that fosters the environment that will challenge you and push you, while helping you become a promising lawyer and thought leader.

At UCI Law, you will not have to wait a year or more to start doing real work. You will engage with clients right away, and experiential learning is infused throughout the curriculum, including in our first-year Lawyering Skills program and our Pro Bono program. It’s these hands-on experiences, combined with the learning that occurs in the classroom that will force you to think critically and responsibly about the law and the way it impacts individuals and society. The legal profession is a service profession, and the best education is one where students not only receive a rigorous classroom experience, but also are able to put their skills to use to help those around us. We do that in spades here. Each year, UCI Law students provide thousands of hours of pro bono work to the local community. Through working with our centers, institutes, initiatives and clinics, as well as through an array of student organizations, you can be actively engaged in helping others and working collaboratively with scholars and practitioners to help solve the world’s problems. Our approach is reflected in UCI Law’s stellar national rankings for clinical training, practical experience and legal writing. We are a top 10 school for all these things and it makes for an exceptional education.

Community is paramount to us too, and that also sets us apart. You will find lifelong friends among your remarkable classmates who hail from all over the world, but you will also develop friendships working closely with faculty and staff. Part of our community’s exceptionalness is the shared commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion. We have been ranked among the best law schools for diversity since we opened. UCI is a Minority Serving Institution repeatedly recognized as the best university in the country for advancing upward mobility of its students — nearly half of whom are first generation. From UCI’s Black Thriving and The Future of Latinos in the United States initiatives, to many other programs supported by an exceptionally talented professional staff in a range of offices, students from all backgrounds and life experiences are supported.

Our students and our graduates go on to do great things. When you join UCI Law, you walk in the footsteps of the proud alumni who came before you. In law school, you can shine in the classroom, but also shine by participating in a vast clinical program, as well as in federal clerkships, or in New York City and Washington, D.C. externships. The depth and breadth of our students’ experiences prepare them to hit the ground running as lawyers prepared for any modern legal practice. UCI Law graduates work locally in Orange County and Southern California, but they also hold dream jobs in every other major market across the United States. The Law School is poised to continue to do great things both in terms of faculty research and our service to our communities. We are looking for students who want to be part of something bigger, and who wish to join us in the commitment to excellence that was woven into the Law School’s DNA from its founding.

I had the honor of joining UCI Law in 2022. I joined because it is a remarkable institution. It is wonderful to be here and I am looking forward to meeting the next group of exceptional leaders and lawyers-in-the-making who want to join me and call UCI Law home. 

Austen Parrish

Dean and Chancellor’s Professor of Law