Liberty University School of Law

The Liberty University School of Law is the law school of Liberty University, a private Evangelical Christian university in Lynchburg, Virginia. According to its website, "Liberty University School of Law is a law school committed to academic and professional excellence in the context of the Christian intellectual tradition. We are a law school where what is taught comports with history, objective reality, morality, and common sense. We seek to produce highly skilled practitioners of law who are capable of making positive contributions to their respective legal bars and communities."^[1] The School of Law offers the following degrees in law: J.D., L.L.M., and J.M.^[2]

History

The Liberty University School of Law was founded in 2004 as a division of Liberty University, an Evangelical school. Liberty University School of Law received provision accreditation in 2006 and became fully accredited by the American Bar Association in 2010.^[3]

The original dean was Bruce W. Green, who was responsible for guiding the school in obtaining Liberty's provisional accreditation by the American Bar Association in February 2006. Green resigned in May 2006 at which time Mathew D. Staver assumed the position. In 2015, Keith Faulkner assumed the deanship at Liberty University School of Law.^[4] Faulkner had previously served as the dean of the Campbell University Lundy-Fetterman School of Business.^[4]

Buildings and campus

The School of Law is located in the Green Hall facility on Liberty's campus, and consists of 116,000 square feet (10,800 m²), all of which is located on one level. 34,000 square feet (3,200 m²) of that space is dedicated to Ehrhorn Law Library.^[5] The School of Law's Supreme Courtroom contains an exact replica of the Supreme Court of the United States's judge bench.^[6][7]

Tuition and financial aid

Tuition for the 2016-2017 academic year is $29,994, with estimated costs and fees totaling an additional $19,108.^[8] The Law School Transparency estimated the debt-financed cost of attendance for three years, based on data from the 2015-2016 academic year, is $182,400.^[9] In 2016 the U.S. News and World Report ranked Liberty as one of the private law schools that award the most financial aid, providing a median grant of $19,500.^[10]

Statistics and rankings

Student and faculty

The student to faculty ratio is 8 to 1, and it has 20 full and part-time faculty.^[11] As of the Class of 2019, there are 64 full-time students and no part-time students in the 1L class.^[12] For incoming students, the median LSAT score is 152 and the median GPA is 3.43.^[12] Minorities make up 20% of the class and women 42%.^[12] The number of states represented were 40 and 11 foreign countries were represented in the Class of 2019.^[12]

Bar Exam passage rates

In 2015 and 2016, the School of Law had first-time passage rates on the Virginia Bar Exam of 93% and 89% respectively.^[13] These rates placed them first in 2015 and second in 2016 among the eight law schools in Virginia. The school has also seen recent bar exam success in other states, such as North Carolina.^[14]

School rankings

The School of Law's ranking given by the U.S. News & World Report is not published,^[16] indicating that it is in the bottom 25% of ranked law schools. Startclass provides it with a smart rank of 169 out of the 207 schools it calculates rankings for.^[17] Above the Law (website) has named Liberty University's law school as one of the top five most popular schools in the nation, along with Yale Law School, BYU's J. Reuben Clark Law School, and Harvard Law School.^[18] In 2015 National Jurist ranked the school as one of the best schools for public service careers in the area of defender/prosecutor training beside schools such as Washington College of Law, Florida State School of Law, and UC Davis School of Law.^[19]

Employment

According to Liberty University's official, ABA-required disclosures, 54% of the Class of 2015 obtained full-time, JD-required employment nine months after graduation.^[20] Liberty's Law School Transparency under-employment score is 27.6%, indicating the percentage of the Class of 2014 unemployed, pursuing an additional degree, or working in a non-professional, short-term, or part-time job nine months after graduation.^[21] "U.S. News & World Report has recognized the School of Law as being in the top 17 percent of all law schools for placing graduates as law clerks for federal courts."^[22]

Partnerships

The School of Law has two partnerships with the Liberty Counsel:

• The Liberty Center for Law and Policy is a joint partnership between the School of Law and the Liberty Counsel. It provides information, research, and expertise to affect legislation and public policy at the local, state, and national level.
• The Center for Constitutional Litigation Clinic.^[24]

The School of Law also partners with the Bedford Commonwealth Attorney's Office for The Prosecution Clinic in order to expose students to prosecution experience.^[25]

Notable people

Alumni

• Matt Krause (first Class of 2007), Republican member of the Texas House of Representatives from District 93; a lawyer in Fort Worth, Texas^[26]
• Dennis "Will" Roach II (first class of 2007), General Sessions Judge for Jefferson County, Tennessee.

Faculty

• Phill Kline (2009-Current), former district attorney of Johnson County, Attorney General of Kansas, and member of the Kansas House of Representatives.^[27]
• Paul Spinden (2007-Current), former Chief Judge Missouri Court of Appeals, Missouri Administrative Law Judge, and investigative reporter.^[28]

References

External links

• Liberty University School of Law
• ABA Approval of Liberty University School of Law