The University of Alabama School of Law,^[4] (formerly known as the Hugh F. Culverhouse Jr. School of Law at The University of Alabama)^[5][6] located in Tuscaloosa, Alabama is the only public law school in the state. It is one of five law schools in the state, and one of three that are ABA accredited. According to Alabama's official 2017 ABA-required disclosures, 84% of the Class of 2017 obtained full-time, long-term, JD-required employment nine months after graduation. An additional 8.4% of the Class of 2017 obtained JD-advantage employment.^[7]

Approximately 428 JD students attended Alabama Law during school year 2022–2023. 51 undergraduate institutions, 23 states, and 3 countries are represented among the class of 2026, and the student-faculty ratio is 6.7 to 1.^[8]

Academics

Alabama Law offers the Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree, as well as an International LL.M., an LL.M. in Taxation, and an LL.M. in Business Transactions. In conjunction with the Manderson Graduate School of Business, the law school also offers a four-year joint J.D./M.B.A. program. Students may also pursue a number of graduate degrees through established dual enrollment programs for M.A. or Ph.D. in Political Science, M.P.A., Ph.D. in Economics, or LL.M. in Taxation. Certificates in Public Interest Law, Governmental Affairs, and International and Comparative Law are also available.

Admissions have been increasingly selective. The class of 2026 has a median LSAT score of 167 and median undergraduate GPA of 3.95. The 75th and 25th percentile for these metrics are 168 and 4.00, and 159 and 3.63, respectively.^[8]

Law clinics

Alabama Law guarantees that every interested student has the opportunity to participate in at least one law clinic before graduating. It is one of the few law schools in the country to make this guarantee.^[9]

• The Children's Rights Clinic works with the Alabama Disabilities Advocacy Program to assist youth with disabilities in the juvenile justice system.^[10]
• The Civil Law Clinic is Alabama's oldest clinic and provides free legal advice and representation to University of Alabama students and community members in civil matters. Civil clinic students handle over 200 cases annually.^[11]
• The Criminal Defense Clinic represents indigent defendants in misdemeanor and felony criminal matters for both bench and jury trials.^[12]
• The Domestic Violence Clinic takes a holistic approach to assisting survivors of domestic abuse in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama. In addition to providing comprehensive legal services, clinic students also perform outreach and education.^[13]
• The Entrepreneur & Nonprofit Clinic provides free transactional legal services to small businesses, start-ups, and nonprofit organizations. The suite of services include preparation of formation documents, agreement negotiation and drafting, and regulatory compliance.^[14]
• The Mediation Law Clinic provides an alternative to the adversarial litigation process for families to settle disputes more promptly and with a reduction in emotional trauma.^[15]

Publications

In 2007 Jarvis & Coleman ranked the Alabama Law Review (ALR) 36th "on the basis of the prominence of their lead article authors."^[16] This represents an incredible 63 position improvement from the rankings of ten years prior. For 2015–2016, ExpressO, UC Berkeley's manuscript submission service, ranked the ALR at 10th in terms of "number of manuscripts received."^[17] In 2015 Washington and Lee's methods rank ALR at 46th in both the number of citations from other journals and the combined score.^[18] These show an improvement of 10 and 26 positions, respectively, over the preceding 5 years.

• Alabama Civil Rights & Civil Liberties Law Review^[19]
• Alabama Law Review^[20]
• Journal of the Legal Profession^[21]
• Law & Psychology Review^[22]

Approximately 40% of students graduate with journal experience. This is a slightly lower percentage than many of Alabama's peer schools, but nonetheless above the national average.

Employment

According to Alabama's official 2017 ABA-required disclosures, 83.2% of the Class of 2016 obtained full-time, long-term, bar passage required employment within nine months after graduation.^[7] Alabama's Law School Transparency under-employment score for 2017 is 7.6%, indicating the percentage of the Class of 2017 who were unemployed, pursuing an additional degree, or working in a non-professional, short-term, or part-time job nine months after graduation.^[23]

Costs

Tuition and fees at the University of Alabama School of Law for the 2018–2019 academic year total $23,920 for residents and $42,180 for nonresidents.^[25] 69.2% of students received discounts during the 2017–2018 school year; the remaining 30.8% paid full price. Law School Transparency estimated debt-financed cost of attendance for three years at full price to be $157,785 for residents and $231,042 for nonresidents.^[25]

Notable alumni

• Hugo Black, U.S. Senator, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, (1937–1971)^[26]
• Edward B. Almon, United States Representative from Alabama (1915–1933)^[27]
• James B. Allen, United States Senator from Alabama (1969–1978)^[28]
• Mel Allen, sportscaster best known as the "Voice of the New York Yankees" and first host of This Week in Baseball^[29]
• John W. Abercrombie, United States Congressman from Alabama (1913–1917) and President of the University of Alabama (1902–1911)^[30]
• Spencer Bachus, United States Congressman from Alabama's 6th Congressional District (1993–present)^[31]
• Samuel A. Beatty, Associate Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court (1976–1989)
• Katie Britt, United States Senator from Alabama (2023–present)^[32][33]
• Charles J. Cooper (Class of 1978), clerk to Chief Justice William Rehnquist, U.S. Supreme Court, founder of law firm, Cooper & Kirk, in Washington, D.C.
• Emmett Ripley Cox, United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit,^[34]
• Catherine Crosby, Miss Alabama 2003
• Morris Dees, Southern Poverty Law Center founder^[35]
• Paul DeMarco, Alabama Representative^{[citation needed]}
• Michael Figures (Class of 1972), one of the first three Black graduates of the law school, later served as president pro tempore of the Alabama Senate
• Mark Everett Fuller (J.D., in 1985), former United States district judge for the United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama (forced resignation 2015)^[36]
• Millard Fuller, founder of Habitat for Humanity^{[citation needed]}
• Victor Gold, journalist, political consultant, and author^[37]
• Perry O. Hooper, Sr., 27th chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court^[38]
• Frank Minis Johnson, United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit^[39]
• Maud McLure Kelly, first woman to practice law in Alabama^[40]
• Claude R. Kirk, Jr., (Class of 1949) former governor of Florida^{[citation needed]}
• Bert Nettles (Class of 1960), Republican member of the Alabama House of Representatives from 1969 to 1974 from Mobile; lawyer in Birmingham^[41]
• Harper Lee, writer, attended the school for several years, but did not complete a degree. (1930–2016)^[42]
• Shorty Price, perennial candidate for Governor of Alabama
• Bill Baxley, former Attorney General and Lieutenant Governor of Alabama, and Civil Rights lawyer^[43]
• Jeff Sessions, 84th United States Attorney General and former U.S. Senator from Alabama (1997–2017) ^[44]
• Steadman S. Shealy, starting quarterback on Alabama's 1978 and 1979 national championship teams^[45]
• Henry B. Steagall II, justice of the Supreme Court of Alabama^[46]
• Robert Smith Vance, United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit^[47]
• David Vann (class of 1951), law clerk to Justice Hugo Black, U.S. Supreme Court, and mayor of Birmingham, Alabama
• George Wallace, former governor of Alabama^[48]
• Roy Moore former Chief Justice, Supreme Court of Alabama; Republican nominee, U.S. Senate Alabama Special Election December 12, 2017.
• Junius Foy Guin, Jr. (1947), former United States district judge for the United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama^[49]
• Nick Wilson, public defender and reality show contestant^[50]