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About UCI School of Law
UCI School of Law, the first new public law school in California in more than 40 years, opens its doors to its first class in August, 2009. UCI Law seeks to create the ideal law school for the 21st century by doing the best job in the country of training lawyers for the practice of law at the highest levels of the profession. Each member of the inaugural class of 68 students is supported by a three-year, full-tuition scholarship and a nearly 3:1 student to faculty ratio.
The 15 members of UCI School of Law's founding faculty are drawn from top schools and have already been ranked in the top 10 in a recent study. Seven other faculty members were recruited from top schools to join the school by its opening. The law school's innovative curriculum stresses hands-on, interdisciplinary study and public service. About 70 law firms and employers have already signed on to interview the first-year class on campus.
The law school's high selectivity allowed it to field an inaugural class mirroring that of top law schools. The incoming class will have a median grade point average of 3.65 and a median LSAT score of 167. That puts it on par with law schools rated in the top 20 in the nation by U.S. News & World Report.
"We are extremely pleased to have fielded such a high-caliber inaugural class," said Dean Erwin Chemerinsky. "Along with a faculty that was ranked in the top 10 in the nation in a recent study, this will allow us to be considered among the best law schools in the country from the very start," he said. "Our goal and the university’s goal was to be a top 20 law school from the moment we open our doors in August."
The School of Law's inaugural class of 68 is 56% female and 44% male, 37% students of color, and its average age is 25. Almost half the students graduated from out-of-state colleges and universities. Click here for more about the inaugural class.
