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Home > Quick Facts > Fact Sheets > School of Law SCHOOL OF LAW Established by The Regents of the University of California in November 2006, UC Irvine’s School of Law is the first public law school established in the state in more than 40 years, and only the second public law school in Southern California. Under the leadership of Founding Dean Erwin Chemerinsky, UCI seeks to create the ideal law school for the 21st century by doing the best job of training lawyers for the practice of law at the highest levels of the profession. The school’s innovative curriculum emphasizes outstanding classroom teaching combined with experiential learning and interdisciplinary study. The Law School will focus on the Juris Doctor degree, which prepares students to practice law. It will also eventually offer the Master of Laws (LL.M.) and Doctor of the Science of Law (J.S.D.) degrees. In addition to providing a solid legal foundation, the school will draw on UCI’s strengths as a research university by building collaborations with science, engineering, business, technology, social policy and health sciences. Interdisciplinary programs such as an accelerated J.D./M.B.A. and a dual J.D. and Master of Public Health degree also will be developed. The Law School received a founding gift from the Donald Bren Foundation to endow 11 faculty chairs and a dean’s chair. It also received generous support from the Joan Irvine Smith and Athalie R. Clarke Foundation, and Mark P. Robinson Jr. An inaugural class of 60 students began classes in August 2009. The school eventually will grow to include about 600 students and about 50 full-time faculty members. The Law School will seek accreditation from the American Bar Association as soon as possible. It is housed temporarily on campus at the Law/Education building, formerly known as Berkeley Place, until a new building is constructed. The Law School stresses public service as a key mission, and it intends to benefit underserved communities in several ways. As a public school, its fees for students will be lower than those of comparable private schools, which should enable more students from under-represented groups to pursue a first-rate legal education. In addition, various legal clinics will allow students to provide legal counsel to community members who would otherwise be unable to afford it. Other programs including generous scholarships and loan-forgiveness programs will also be designed to encourage graduates to pursue careers in public service. Dean Erwin Chemerinsky Erwin Chemerinsky is the founding dean and distinguished professor of law, with a joint appointment in political science. Previously, he taught at Duke Law School for four years, during which he won the Duke University Scholar-Teacher of the Year Award in 2006. Before that he taught for 21 years at the University of Southern California Gould School of Law, and served for four years as director of the Center for Communications Law and Policy. Dean Chemerinsky has also taught at UCLA School of Law and DePaul University College of Law. His areas of expertise are constitutional law, federal practice, civil rights and civil liberties, and appellate litigation. He is the author of six books, most recently, Enhancing Government: Federalism for the 21st Century (2008). He has also written books on Criminal Procedure and Federal Jurisdiction, a treatise and a casebook on Constitutional Law, and a book on Interpreting the Constitution. And he has written more than 100 articles published in top law reviews, including Harvard Law Review, Yale Law Journal, Stanford Law Review, University of Pennsylvania Law Review, Michigan Law Review and Northwestern Law Review. He frequently argues cases before the nation’s highest courts, and also serves as a commentator on legal issues for national and local media. Dean Chemerinsky holds a law degree from Harvard Law School and a bachelor’s degree from Northwestern University. Distinctions
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Contact Rex Bossert 949-824-3063 rbossert@law.uci.edu
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