A Message from Dean David Wippman
For over 100 years, the University of Minnesota Law School has been a pioneer in legal education and research. As a top public law school in a vibrant, urban setting, we offer students access to a world-class faculty, an innovative curriculum, unmatched clinical practice opportunities, and a network of dedicated alumni around the world.
A Distinguished Faculty
Our faculty is among the most distinguished and productive in the country. They are passionate about their research and committed to the integration of theory and practice in their teaching. They are national leaders in the development of multidisciplinary solutions to complex, 21st century problems, from criminal justice to human rights to law and technology. Their passion for their subject makes them rigorous and demanding in the classroom, but also eager and available to mentor and collaborate with their students, both in and outside the classroom.
A Bold New Curriculum
Consistent with its historical focus on innovation, public policy and problem solving, the Law School this spring launched the first phase of a bold new curriculum. New first year courses will expand conventional understandings of what it means to be a lawyer and better equip students to address the complex legal and policy issues of the future. The Law School next will introduce year-long, multidisciplinary capstone courses for third-year students. Each capstone course will be directed by a lead professor and experts from appropriate fields to help small teams of students understand and employ law as a framework for addressing a major public policy challenge, whether global warming, prison overcrowding or housing discrimination.
Unparalleled Clinic Education, Award-Winning Writing Program
The Law School is recognized internationally for the breadth and depth of its clinics and award-winning legal writing program. The Law School opened one of the nation's first student clinics in 1914; now, 18 clinics cover subjects from bankruptcy to domestic assault. Clinic programs provide exciting, real-world practice experiences in a collegial and supportive setting, and more than half of students—double the national average—take at least one. The legal writing program is equally practical and effective. The Law School is one of only nine law schools across the country to have won the national Burton Award for excellence in legal writing four times since the program’s inception in 2000. And it’s one of only six schools to have won the award the last three consecutive years.
Focused on Your Future
Throughout its history, the Law School has admitted great students and graduated great lawyers. Our bar passage and employment rates are among the highest in the nation for law school graduates, and our alumni occupy leading positions in law, business, government, and the non-profit sector throughout the country and around the world. They are eager to assist today's students and to help us turn them into tomorrow's leaders.
David Wippman
Dean and William S. Pattee Professor of Law
