Loyola University New Orleans College of Law is a private law school in New Orleans, Louisiana affiliated with Loyola University New Orleans. Loyola's law school opened in 1914 and is now located on the Broadway Campus of the university in the historic Audubon Park District of the city. The College of Law is one of fourteen Jesuit law schools in the United States. It is also one of the few law schools in the nation to offer curricula in both Civil Law and Common Law. The school releases several academic journals, most notable of which is the Loyola Law Review.
History
Entrance to the Memorial Library on the main campus, which housed the Law Library from 1915-1986
The College of Law was founded as the School of Law as one of the earliest academic departments of Loyola University New Orleans, chartered in 1912. Judge John St. Paul was the founding dean, "choosing the faculty and preparing the curriculum".[3][4] The first session of the School of Law occurred on October 5, 1914; it originally held classes only in the evening and was located downtown at the College of the Immaculate Conception, now known as Jesuit High School. The School of Law was then moved uptown to the St. Charles Avenue campus of Loyola in 1915. In 1925, the law school opened a day division to better serve the needs of its students, as the coursework was expanded to a four-year program.[5] In 1931, the law school became a member of the American Bar Association and became a member of the Association of American Law Schools in 1934. In 1986, the law school moved from the main campus to its current location on the Broadway Campus, only a few blocks away (located on the west side of the Audubon Park).
The School of Law was renamed the College of Law with the passage of the PATHWAYS Plan on May 19, 2006. In 2007, the law school completed a new four-story 16,000-square-foot (1,500 m2) addition to its current building, which increased the number of classrooms, office space and library space.
Ranking
According to the law professor blog, The Faculty Lounge, based on 2012 ABA data, only 48.6% of graduates obtained full-time, long term, bar admission required positions (i.e., jobs as lawyers), 9 months after graduation, ranking 135th out of 197 law schools.[6]
Academics
The school is known for its success in national and international moot court competitions.[7] The College houses the Gillis Long Poverty Law Center, a legal research and education center; William P. Quigley is the current Director.[8]
The school's Sports and Entertainment Law Society provides students interested in legal careers in music, film, and sports with unique opportunities to meet and learn from experts in these respective areas.[9] The school also runs the Stuart H. Smith Law Clinic and Center For Social Justice, where students are admitted to the limited practice of law under a supervising attorney's license for their 3L year. Through the Clinic, students are able to work in a variety of practice areas including criminal defense, prosecution, family law, employment law, immigration, and mediation and arbitration.[10]
Study abroad programs
Loyola Law has had a long history of contacts with civil law schools in other parts of the world. As a result, Loyola has one of the most extensive catalog of study abroad programs in the country.[11][12] These programs draw students from many other law schools in the country. With the school's special focus on the study of international law, over the course of the years, programs have established in the following countries:
Budapest, Hungary
Moscow, Russia
Panama City, Panama
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - inactive until summer 2017
Spetses, Greece
Vienna, Austria
Employment prospects
According to the College of Law's 2022 ABA-required disclosures, 79% of the Class of 2022 obtained full-time, long-term, bar passage-required employment nine months after graduation, excluding solo practitioners.[13] The College of Law's Law School Transparency under-employment score is 18.4%, indicating the percentage of the Class of 2021 that is unemployed, pursuing an additional degree, or working in a non-professional, short-term, or part-time job nine months after graduation.[14]
Costs
The total cost of attendance (indicating the cost of tuition, fees, and living expenses) at the College of Law for full-time students not living at home for the 2013-2014 academic year is $64,132.[15] The Law School Transparency estimated debt-financed cost of attendance for three years is $253,149.[16]
James Sutterfield (L '67), Republican member of the Louisiana House from Orleans Parish, 1970-1972; practicing attorney in New Orleans
Suzanne Haik Terrell (L '84), former Louisiana Commissioner of Elections; former member of the New Orleans City Council, former candidate for the U.S. Senate, sister of Richard and Ted Haik
Chet D. Traylor (L '74), Louisiana Supreme Court Associate Justice, 1997-2009
^Whelan, S.J., James F. (November 1946). "Loyola University, New Orleans". The Southern Association Quarterly. 10 (4). Duke University Press: 540. ISSN0890-7145.
^"Louisiana: Faucheux, Robert R. (Bobby)", Who's Who in American Politics, 2003-2004, 19th ed., Vol. 1 (Alabama-Montana) (Marquis Who's Who: New Providence, New Jersey, 2003), p. 778
^"M. E. Lafargue, Former District Attorney, Dies – Succumbs in Sleep Here at Age 54; Services Saturday". Shreveport Journal. March 28, 1963. pp. 1-A, 4-A.
