Stanford Law School (SLS) is the law school of Stanford University. It was established in 1893. George Triantis currently serves as dean.
Stanford Law School employs 98 full-time and 128 part-time faculty members and enrolls approximately 570 students who are working toward their Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree. Stanford Law also confers four advanced legal degrees: a Master of Laws (LL.M.), a Master of Legal Studies (M.L.S.), a Master of the Science of Law (J.S.M.), and a Doctor of the Science of Law (J.S.D.). Each fall, Stanford Law enrolls a J.D. class of approximately 190 students, giving Stanford the smallest student body of any law school ranked in the top fourteen (T14). Stanford also maintains eleven full-time legal clinics,"Clinics Offered". Stanford Law School. Retrieved 27 June 2015 including the nation's first and most active Supreme Court litigation clinic,"Supreme Court Litigation Clinic" . Stanford Law School. Retrieved 27 June 2015 and offers 27 formal joint degree programs."Overview of Joint Degree and Cooperative Programs". Stanford Law School. Retrieved 27 June 2015
History Stanford first offered a curriculum in legal studies in 1893, when the university hired its first two law professors: former U.S. president Benjamin Harrison and Nathan Abbott - who attended Boston University School of Law. Abbott headed the new program and assembled a small faculty over the next few years. The law department primarily enrolled undergraduate majors at this time and included a large number of students who might not have been welcome at more traditional law schools at the time, including women and students of color, especially Hispanic, Chinese and Japanese students.
In 1900, the department moved from its original location in Encina Hall to the northeast side of the Inner Quadrangle. These larger facilities included Stanford's first law library. Beginning to focus more on professional training, the school implemented its first three-year curriculum and became one of 27 charter members of the Association of American Law Schools (AALS)."AALS Member Schools". The Association of American Law Schools. Retrieved 27 June 2015. In 1901, the school awarded its first professional degree, the Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.).
Starting in 1908, the law department began its transition into an exclusively professional school when Stanford's Board of Trustees passed a resolution to officially change its name from Law Department to Law School. Eight years later, Frederic Campbell Woodward became the first dean of the law school, and in 1923, the law school received accreditation from the American Bar Association (ABA). In 1924, Stanford's law program officially transitioned into a modern professional school when it began requiring a bachelor's degree for admission.
The 1940s and 1950s brought considerable change to the law school. After World War II caused the law school's enrollment to drop to fewer than 30 students, the school quickly expanded once the war ended in 1945. A move to a new location in the Outer Quadrangle, as well as the 1948 opening of the law school dormitory Crothers Hall (the result of a donation by Stanford Law graduate George E. Crothers), allowed the school to grow, while the 1948 inaugural publication of the Stanford Law Review (helmed by future U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher '49) helped to augment the law school's national reputation. The decision that Stanford should remain a small law school with a very limited enrollment emerged during this period. For the third time in its history, the law school relocated in the 1970s, this time to its current location in the Crown Quadrangle.
In the 1960s and 1970s, the law school aimed to diversify its student body. During this period, students established a large number of new and progressive student organizations, including the Women of Stanford Law, the Stanford Chicano Law Student Association, the Environmental Law Society, and the Stanford Public Interest Foundation. Additionally, in 1966, the school sought to academically diversify its student body by collaborating with the Stanford Business School to create its first joint-degree program. A year earlier, in 1965, the law school enrolled its first black student, Sallyanne Payton '68, and in 1972, the school hired its first female law professor, Barbara A. Babcock, and its first professor of color, William B. Gould IV. In 1968, Stanford appointed Thelton Henderson, future judge of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, as the first assistant dean for minority admissions. Henderson expanded minority enrollment from a single student to approximately a fifth of the student body. Stanford Law's commitment to diversity continues today, and The Princeton Review currently ranks Stanford Law as one of the ten best law schools for minority students."Stanford University - School of Law". The Princeton Review. Retrieved 27 June 2015.
Earning national recognition in the 1980s and 1990s, the law school embarked on innovating its curriculum. Stanford offered new courses focusing on law and technology, environmental law, intellectual property law, and international law, allowing students to specialize in emerging legal fields. In 1984, it launched its first clinical program, the East Palo Alto Community Law Project. By the 21st century, a new focus on interdisciplinary education emerged. In 2009, it transitioned from a semester system to a quarter system to align itself with Stanford's other graduate schools.Prossnitz, Annie. "Quarter System Integrates Law School. The Stanford Daily. 22 Feb 2010. Retrieved 26 June 2015. Stanford also expanded its upper-level offerings in international law, by adding new clinics, academic centers, and simulation courses, and expanded its joint degree programs."A '3D' JD". Stanford Law School. 28 Nov 2006. Retrieved 26 June 2015.
Academics
Stanford Law School is known for its student-to-faculty ratio (4.3 to 1), one of the lowest in the country. The first-year class of approximately 180 students is divided into six smaller sections of 30 students each.JD Program | Stanford Law School. Law.stanford.edu. Retrieved on 2013-08-12.
The academic program is flexible. First-year students (or 1Ls) are required to take Civil Procedure, Contracts, Torts, and Legal Research & Writing during the autumn quarter, and Criminal Law, Constitutional Law, Federal Litigation, and one elective during the winter quarter. In the spring quarter, they take Federal Litigation, Property, and enroll in electives. Stanford Law offers 280 course titles beyond the first-year curriculum, and advanced courses range from White-Collar Crime to a Supreme Court Simulation Seminar."ABA-Required Disclosures". Stanford Law School. Retrieved 27 June 2015. Additionally, because of the law school's proximity to other academic programs on campus, there is a strong focus on joint-degree programs and interdisciplinary learning, and upper-level students may take classes at Stanford's other professional and graduate schools.
The Robert Crown Law Library at Stanford holds 500,000 books, 360,000 microform and audiovisual items, and more than 8,000 current serial subscriptions.
Admissions and costs Between 4,000 and 5,000 students apply for admission each year. Selection is competitive: the median undergraduate grade point average of admitted students is 3.92 and the median LSAT score is 173 (out of 180). Beyond numbers, Stanford places considerable emphasis on factors such as extracurricular activities, work experience, and prior graduate study. About three quarters of the members of each entering class have one or more years of prior work experience and over a quarter have another graduate degree. The school also accepts a small number of transfers each year.
The total cost of attendance (indicating the cost of tuition, fees, and living expenses) at Stanford Law School for the 2023–24 academic year is $112,364. A 2015 study by M7 Financial, which assessed law schools' "credit ratings" using data on average starting salaries, employment trends, and student loan obligations, found that Stanford Law had the lowest student debt burden of any law school in the study.. M7 Financial. Retrieved 27 June 2015.
Grading In August 2008, Stanford Law School changed its grading system, which no longer relies on traditional letter grades, joining Yale Law School, the University of California, Berkeley School of Law, and Harvard Law School. Students now receive one of four grades: honors, pass, restricted credit, or no credit."Stanford Law Drops Letter-Grade System". Law.com (2008-06-16). Retrieved on 2013-08-12. Unlike Harvard Law School and Yale Law School, Stanford Law School enforces strict curves which cap the number of honors grades to around 30%. As part of Stanford's grade reform, the law school no longer awards the honors of the Order of the Coif or Graduation with Distinction.Stanford Law School Grade Reform - Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) | Stanford Law School. Law.stanford.edu (2008-10-01). Retrieved on 2013-08-12.
Clinics and centers Stanford Law enables second- and third-year students to gain hands-on experience by working full-time in one of eleven legal clinics, including an Environmental Law Clinic, Criminal Defense Clinic, a Religious Liberty Clinic, and an Intellectual Property and Innovation Clinic. The Supreme Court Litigation Clinic has successfully brought over thirty cases before the Court,Supreme Court Litigation Clinic | Stanford Law School. Law.stanford.edu (2009-09-15). Retrieved on 2013-08-12. making it one of the most active Supreme Court practices of any kind. The clinic has served as lead counsel or co-lead counsel on the merits in numerous cases, including Kennedy v. Louisiana (2008), Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts (2009), United States v. Windsor (2013), Riley v. California (2014), and Bourke v. Beshear (2015)."Selected Cases" . Stanford Law School. Retrieved 27 June 2015
Stanford Constitutional Law Center Stanford Criminal Justice Center (SCJC) Stanford Three Strikes Project Environmental and Natural Resources Law & Policy Program (ENRLP) Steyer-Taylor Center for Energy Policy and Finance China Guiding Cases Project (CGCP) Rule of Law Program Stanford Center on International Conflict and Negotiation (SCICN) Stanford Human Rights Center Stanford Program in International and Comparative Law Stanford Program in Law and Society Arthur and Toni Rembe Rock Center for Corporate Governance John M. Olin Program in Law and Economics Securities Class Action Clearinghouse (SCAC) Center for E-Commerce Center for Internet and Society Center for Law and the Biosciences Stanford Center for Legal Informatics (CodeX) Fair Use Project Stanford Center in Law, Science, & Technology Stanford Program in Neuroscience and Society (SPINS) Transatlantic Technology Law Forum Stanford Center on the Legal Profession Martin Daniel Gould Center for Conflict Resolution Programs Gould Negotiation and Mediation Teaching Program Center for Internet and Society (CIS) John and Terry Levin Center for Public Service and Public Interest Law Stanford Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Law and Policy Project (SIDDLAPP)
The Stanford Center for Legal Informatics, often known simply as CodeX, is a research center at Stanford University focused on the application of technology to law and is jointly operated by Stanford Law School and Stanford University School of Engineering.