Gonzaga University School of Law

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Gonzaga University School of Law

Motto

Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam

For the greater glory of God

Parent

Gonzaga University

school

Established 1912

School type Private

Dean

Location

Jane B. Korn
Spokane, Washington, USA
47.6633N 117.4008WCoordinates:
47.6633N 117.4008W

Enrollment

506[1]

Faculty

69 (Full- and part-time)[1]

USNWRran

132

[2]

king
Bar pass

100% for State of Washington February

rate

2016 takers; 86.1% for Washington July

2015 takers[1]

Website

www.law.gonzaga.edu

ABA profile Gonzaga Law Profile

The Gonzaga University School of Law (also known as Gonzaga Law or GU Law) is the
professional school for the study of law at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington, USA.
Established in 1912, the Jesuit affiliated law school is viewed as a strong institution in the Pacific
Northwest. The school is fully accredited by the American Bar Association, and a member of
the Association of American Law Schools. Alumni of Gonzaga University School of Law practice in
all 50 U.S. states.
The current Gonzaga University School of Law building was completed in May 2000, and is situated
on the Spokane River on the southern edge of the Gonzaga University campus, and also contains
the large Chastek Law Library. The library houses more than 380,000 volumes and is part of
the Federal Depository Library Program. The school's location in Spokane, the largest city in
the Inland Northwest, allows students to take advantage of internships with private firms, and
government and not-for-profit agencies, along with opportunities with both federal and state judges,
as Spokane is home to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Washington.
Contents
[hide]

1Campus & History

2Admissions

3Rankings

4Bar passage rates

5Post-graduation employment

6Costs

7Degrees and curriculum

o

7.1J.D. Program

7.2J.D. Program for Internationally Educated Lawyers

7.3Joint-Degree Programs

8Clinic program

9Centers and institutes

10Journals

11William O. Douglas Lecture Series

12Notable People
12.1Faculty

12.1.1Full Time and Adjunct faculty

12.1.2Former faculty
12.2Alumni

13References

14External links

Campus & History[edit]

Gonzaga University campus in the fall, with Lake Arthur pictured, and the law school visible in the background.

Gonzaga University was established in 1887 as a private, Jesuit institution, and by 1912, the
leadership of the University desired the creation of a law school program. Founded on the motto A
First Class Law School, or None at All, Gonzaga University School of Law opened its doors on
October 1, 1912. Two classrooms on the third floor of the Administration Building were provided for
the law school. The schools first dean was Edward J. Cannon. In June 1915, Gonzaga University
School of Law graduated its first law class of 13 students.[3]
During the first half of the 20th century, the law school continued to expand its enrollment and
curriculum, and by the 1960s, the school had outgrown its facilities. Gonzaga University President
Father John Leary, S.J., acquired a nearby vacant grade school in July 1962 for the law school. The
former Webster School was originally built in 1901, was the victim of a fire in 1945, and was
subsequently restored as a trade school. The former Webster School would house the law school for
the next thirty-eight years.[3]
In the 1970s, the law school experienced explosive growth, and the law school building underwent
several renovations. In 1974, it opened one of the country's first legal clinics. By the 1990s, the law
school occupied the old Webster school along with several adjacent buildings. Under Dean John
Clute, fundraising was begun to build a new law school building. The class of 2000 was the last to
graduate from the old law building. In late May 2000, the new Gonzaga University School of Law
building, located on the banks of the Spokane River, opened its doors.[3] The new building is 104,000
square feet (9,700 m2), and was completed at a cost of $18.5 million. The Law School houses the
Barbieri Courtroom which has been used by both the Washington Supreme Court and the U.S. Ninth
Circuit Court of Appeals to hear oral arguments.[4][5][6] In 2014, The National Jurist magazine's preLaw
magazine gave the Law School an 'A-' rating, ranking it among the Top Law School facilities in the
nation.[7] In 2012, the law school celebrated its centennial.

Admissions[edit]
In 2015, the school enrolled 127 students in the 1L class.[8] The median GPA was 3.25 and the
median LSAT score was 153 (65th percentile).[8]

Students of the entering class hailed from 20 states and speak at least 13 different languages.
[8]
Underrepresented ethnic minorities comprised 13 percent of the 1L class.[8] In 2013, The National
Jurist Magazine's preLaw magazine named GU Law the #3 Top School for Latter-day Saint students
and the #8 Most Devout Catholic Law School.[9]

Rankings[edit]
The U.S. News & World Report named Gonzaga Law School

#56 (Survey of Highly Regarded American Law Firms) (2012)[10]

#117 (Peer Reputation Ranking) (2017)[11]

#132 overall (2016)[2]

The National Jurist named Gonzaga Law School

'A-' Top 46 Law School Facilities in the Nation (2014)[7]

'B+' Top 37 Law Schools for Practical Training (2016)[12][13][14]

'B+' Top 40 Law Schools for Small Law (2015)[15]

#3 Top School of Latter-day Saints (2014)[9]

#8 Most Devout School for Catholics (2014)[9]

Recent editions of the The Princeton Review listed Gonzaga Law School

"Best 169 Law Schools" (2016) (The list does not provide a final comprehensive ranking of
schools overall.)[16]

Moody's Employment Rankings named Gonzaga Law School

#63 (2014)[17]

Gonzaga Law has also received national recognition as supporting one of the most innovative law
school curricula in the U.S.[18] The school was one of ten schools awarded a Diversity Matters Award
from the Law School Admissions Council for its diversity outreach efforts in 2013.[19]

Bar passage rates[edit]

Graduates averaged a passage rate of between 85 and 100% on the Washington Bar Exam over
recent years, consistently performing above the state average on the Washington Bar Exam. In
February 2016, 100% of Gonzaga Law students taking the Washington bar exam for the first time
passed.[20] In July 2015, 86.1% of Gonzaga Law students taking the Washington bar exam for the first

time passed. In February 2014, 85.7% of Gonzaga Law students taking the Washington bar exam
passed (both first and non-first time takers), the highest rate of any Washington law school by 16%.
[21]
In July 2013, 91% of Gonzaga Law students taking the Washington bar exam for the first time
passed, while those taking out-of-state bar exams had an 89% passage rate. The Washington state
average rate was 84.8% in July 2013.[22]

Post-graduation employment[edit]
According to Gonzaga Law's official 2015 ABA-required disclosures, 64.4% of the Class of 2015
obtained full-time, long-term, bar passage-required employment nine months after graduation,
excluding solo-practitioners.[23]
GU Law's Law School Transparency under-employment score is 24.8%, indicating the percentage of
the Class of 2015 unemployed, pursuing an additional degree, or working in a non-professional,
short-term, or part-time job nine months after graduation.[24] Total employment for the Class of 2015
was 83.5% while 5.8% were pursuing graduate degrees and 10.7% were unemployed nine months
graduation.[23]

Costs[edit]
The total cost of yearly attendance (indicating the cost of tuition, fees, and living expenses) at
Gonzaga Law is estimated as $53,287.[25]
The Law School Transparency estimated debt-financed cost of attendance for three years is
$202,601.[26]

Degrees and curriculum[edit]

The law school offers a traditional J.D., a J.D. for internationally educated lawyers, and joint
J.D./graduate degree programs.

J.D. Program[edit]
The law school offers a traditional Juris Doctor (J.D.) program comprising 90 semester hours of
credit that full-time students may complete in three years. The program includes two years of legal
research and writing classes, although students are allowed to choose between four capstone
writing courses (Judicial Opinion Writing, Advanced Advocacy, Drafting for Litigation, and
Transactional Drafting). Doctrinal classes include Civil
Procedure, Contracts, Property, Torts, Criminal Law, Perspectives on the Law, Constitutional Law,
and Evidence. Students are also expected to take a Skills and Professionalism Labs, one using rules
of Civil Procedure and Torts to teach practical litigation skills and another using Contracts and
Property to teach practical transactional skills. The third-year curriculum includes a requirement that
all students earn at least three credits in either the school's clinic or its externship program. The
impetus behind this requirement is to assure that each student graduates with some experience in
applying their classroom knowledge and simulated skill set in an actual law practice setting. [27]

Students also have the opportunity to participate in the University Legal Assistance clinical
programs, serve on one of the law schools scholarly journals, audition for one of the law school's
trial or moot court teams, or study abroad. Optional programs in the law school include
the international law study abroad programs in Florence, Italy and Antigua, Guatemala. The Florence
Summer Law Program affords students the ability to live in Italy on Gonzaga University's Florence
campus for a summer, participate in a legal course of study, and travel to various sites in Europe.
The Guatemala Inter-American Program is a truly bilingual and inter-cultural approach including law
classes about Latin America taught in English and Spanish and bilingual field placements. These
classes take place at Rafael Landvar University.
Students are also permitted to attend other ABA-approved law schools for a semester or longer if an
area of legal study is not available at Gonzaga University.

J.D. Program for Internationally Educated Lawyers [edit]

The law school also offers a 15-month J.D. Program for Internationally Educated Lawyers designed
to prepare international law graduates for transnational legal practice relating to U.S. clients or
transactions.[28] Students must have a law degree from a university outside of the United States to
earn a U.S. J.D. degree. The program provides skills training and legal analysis for multilingual
lawyers. It can be completed in as little as 15 months and includes three legal research and writing
courses.[28]

Joint-Degree Programs[edit]
The law school offers three joint-degree programs:

J.D./MAcc. (Master of Accountancy) The MAcc. program is traditionally ranked within the top
accounting programs in the nation.

J.D./MBA (Master of Business Administration)

J.D./MSW (Master of Social Work).

Due to the walking distance proximity of Eastern Washington University, Whitworth University, and
Gonzaga University, some students have concurrently finalized second undergraduate degrees in
science fields to qualify for the USPTO Registration Exam ("patent bar").

Clinic program[edit]
The law school opened one of the country's first legal clinics in 1974. Today, the law school is
recognized in the Pacific Northwest for the Gonzaga Center for Law and Justice, a not-for-profit
University Legal Assistance clinical program. Clinic students represent clients who are residents of
the Spokane area, require legal representation, and who are without the means to hire a traditional
lawyer. The structure of the Clinic is modeled after a large law firm, and the Clinic specializes in
family law, elder law, civil rights, disability rights, and criminal defense. Students control their own
case loads, and represent clients in court under the supervision of law school faculty, and with
limited licenses to practice law. Students work 40 billable hours for each clinic credit hour.

The clinical programs available include:

Business Law Clinic

Elder Law Clinic

Environmental Law & Land Use Clinic

Federal Indian Law Clinic

Federal Tax Clinic

General Practice Clinic

Mortgage Foreclosure Clinic

Centers and institutes[edit]

Task Force on Race and the Criminal Justice System

Commercial Law Center

Institute for Law Teaching and Learning

Center for Law in Public Service

Journals[edit]
The law school currently publishes two legal journals. Student staff members are selected based on
a writing competition, editing competition, and first-year grades, or a publishable note or comment on
a legal topic.

Gonzaga Law Review[29]

Gonzaga Journal of International Law[30]

William O. Douglas Lecture Series[edit]

The law school hosts an annual lecture series for the purpose of promoting a strong commitment to
the freedoms of speech, religion, and assembly protected by the First Amendment to the United
States Constitution. The lecture series features distinguished individuals who share this strong
commitment to the First Amendment.[31] Guest speakers have included U.S. Supreme Court
Justices William O. Douglas (1972, inaugural speaker), William H. Rehnquist (1976), Byron R.
White (1982), Arthur Goldberg (1983), and Antonin Scalia (1994).[32]

Notable People[edit]
Faculty[edit]
Full Time and Adjunct faculty[edit]

Jane B. Korn,[33] Dean, legal scholar on employment discrimination, particularly based on

disability
Debra L. Stephens,[34] Washington Supreme Court Justice

Former faculty[edit]

J. Stanley Webster[35] (1912-1915), Washington Supreme Court Justice, U.S.

Representative, U.S. District Court Judge

Dean Lewis B. Schwellenbach[36] (1944-1945), Secretary of Labor, U.S. Senator, U.S. District
Court Judge

Thomas S. Foley[37] (1958-1959), Speaker of the House, U.S. Ambassador

Rosanna M. Peterson[38] (1999-2010), U.S. District Court Judge

Dean Earl F. Martin[39] (2005-2010), President of Drake University

Alumni[edit]
Main article: List of Gonzaga University School of Law alumni
The law school's alumni actively practice in all 50 states in the nation and include U.S. federal
judges, a U.S. Senator-elect, former U.S. Congressmen, and current and former U.S. Attorneys.
Alumni also include four current state supreme court justices, a former Governor of
Washington, state attorneys general in several states, and a NASCAR Champion.