The University of Georgia School of Law (Georgia Law) is the law school of the University of Georgia, a public research university in Athens, Georgia. It was founded in 1859, making it one of the oldest American university law schools in continuous operation. Georgia Law accepted 12.72% of applicants for the class entering in 2025.
Georgia Law recent graduates include 11 governors, over 110 state and federal legislators, approximately 70 federal judges, and numerous state supreme court justices, practitioners, government officials, ambassadors, trial court judges, academics and law firm principals. Notable recent alumni of Georgia Law include former acting United States Attorney General Sally Yates, former President Pro Tempore of the U.S. Senate Richard B. Russell Jr., former Chief Judge and present Senior Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals Larry Edmondson, and Ertharin Cousin, named to the TIME 100 most influential people in the world list and Payne Distinguished Professor at Stanford University's Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies.
History The law school was founded in 1859. The founding three professors of the university's new law school included one of the United States' first state supreme court chief justices, Joseph Lumpkin, a Princeton alumnus. Joining him was attorney Thomas Cobb, who was the author of first enacted comprehensive codification of common law in the United States. The third original law professor was William Hull, an honors graduate of the University of Georgia, who had been a United States Attorney and a Solicitor General of the United States. Previously, law courses had been offered as part of the undergraduate curriculum of Franklin College of the university. The first classes of the Lumpkin Law School, as it was originally designated, were held at the law offices of Lumpkin and Cobb at the corner of Prince Avenue and Pulaski Street until 1873.
By 1880, the curriculum included courses in equity, parliamentary law, and various commercial law studies such as partnership, insurance, tax, and tariffs. Around 1889, stricter admission standards mandated that students be at least 18 years old. Two years later, an entrance exam had been instituted. The modern method of case law instruction was ushered in during the 1920s. In December 1931, the school was granted membership in the Association of American Law Schools. After being housed in various buildings over the years, the law school in 1932 moved into the new Hirsch Hall, named in honor of prominent attorney Harold Hirsch, located on historic North Campus at the University of Georgia.
Hirsch Hall, expanded by many thousands of square feet over the years in connected buildings and upgrades, remains the site of law school classrooms and offices, as well as the Alexander Campbell King Law Library and the Hatton Lovejoy Courtroom. A 2012 renovation created almost 4,000 square feet of additional space, including a cafe and enclosed three story courtyard.
The law school's four-story, 40,000-square-foot separate addition, Dean Rusk Hall, opened in 1996 adjacent to Hirsch Hall. Named for former U.S. Secretary of State Dean Rusk, who was a Georgia Law professor, this building became the new home of the Dean Rusk International Law Center, founded in 1977. Dean Rusk Hall also houses additional classrooms, faculty offices, and library space, and a second law school courtroom, the James E. Butler Courtroom.
In the three years up to 2020, the Law School raised an additional $61 million to add to its endowment for scholarships, teaching, clinics, and experiential offerings. In 2024, the Law School received an additional $5 million donation from the Stanton Foundation.
Academics More than 300 courses, clinics, and seminars are offered at Georgia Law, including business-related law, property-related law, personal rights and public interest law, trial and appellate practice, as well as global practice preparation. Although academics, theory, and legal reasoning are primary, Georgia Law is also ranked A+ and 16th of all ABA law schools for practical training. Ninety-four percent of students participate in clinics and externships.
Degrees awarded include the Juris Doctor (J.D.), the Master of Laws (LL.M.) for foreign-trained lawyers, and the Master in the Study of Law (M.S.L.) for those who do not want to practice law, but wish to gain an understanding of legal principles and perspectives in order to advance their careers. Students also may choose to pursue interdisciplinary coursework in other University schools and colleges, or to earn one of many dual degrees including a J.D./M.B.A. or LL.M./M.B.A.
The law school is accredited by the American Bar Association (ABA), is a member of the Association of American Law Schools, has a chapter of the Order of the Coif, and is host to two advocacy inns: Lumpkin Inn of Court, one of the earliest American inns of court, and E. Wycliffe Orr Sr. American Inn of Court. Both are modeled after the English Inns of Court. It is also an academic partner of the American Society of International Law.
Admissions The law school is among the most selective law schools in the nation, Georgia Law accepting 12.72% of applicants for the class entering in 2025, with that class having a median LSAT score of 169, a 75th percentile LSAT score of 171, and on a 4.0 scale, a median undergraduate GPA of 3.92, and 75th percentile GPA of 3.97. Georgia Law's 2025 average selectivity rating was 96 out of a possible maximum of 99, Georgia Law enrolled students being within the top 3% of ABA law school applicants. Approximately 27% of enrolled students self-identify as belonging to historically underrepresented groups. Although grades, degrees earned, and standardized test scores are important, for each applicant the admissions committee primarily considers a mandatory personal admission essay, a mandatory resume detailing the applicant's education, employment, fellowships, skills, honors, awards, community involvement, volunteer work, and other accomplishments, as well as mandatory letters of recommendation.
The 165 students entering in 2023 came from 26 states, 15 countries, and 66 undergraduate institutions. Of those students, 73% received merit based scholarships and 92% received some form of financial aid.
Student support and faculty to student ratio Georgia Law's Mentorship Program matches every law student with a faculty member mentor, an upperclassman peer mentor, a Career Development Office counselor, and an alumnus professional mentor. New students may participate in the voluntary Summer Academic Success Program that begins before orientation to enhance academic success and the transition to the rigors of law school.
There are just six students for each faculty member.
Rankings For the 2024 Top 50 Law School Rankings, of the 197 ABA-approved law schools, Georgia Law was ranked No.13. However, according to the study by Law School Transparency, Georgia Law ranked in the top ten nationally for employment outcomes, while The New York Times recognized Georgia law as being in the top five law schools offering the best salary-to-debt ratios in the nation. Furthermore, the law school has been ranked No.13 of the top best law schools by the National Jurist as well as by Above the Law. U.S. News & World Report's 2025 ranks Georgia Law tied for 22nd out of 198 ABA schools, with U.S. News also ranking Georgia Law the No.9 school out of 198 schools for Law Schools With the Most Graduates in Federal Clerkships. Also, Georgia Law is a top school for graduates appointed as federal judges. The school is additionally individually ranked in Trial Advocacy, Business/Corporate Law, Clinical Training, Constitutional Law, Contracts/Commercial Law, Dispute Resolution, Environmental Law, Intellectual Property Law, International Law, Healthcare Law, Legal Writing, and Tax Law. U.S. News also reported that, out of all law schools, Georgia Law is the second highest in ultimate bar passage. The school is ranked in the from the top 5 to top 9 of 198 schools for mock trial, moot court,and practical training. The school is ranked No.24 in international law by U.S. News. Georgia Law has also been ranked in the top ten in various experiential rankings: quality of life (6th), classroom experience (6th), professors (10th), accessibility of professors (2nd), academic experience (4th), and quality of teaching (9th). Finally, based on outcome-driven factors such as average indebtedness, bar passage, and employment, Georgia Law has been ranked No.1 as the best value in legal education in the United States by the National Jurist six times in the last nine years, including in 2026.
Law review and journals Georgia Law students publish four legal journals: Georgia Law Review Georgia Journal of Law & Technology Georgia Journal of International and Comparative Law Georgia Criminal Law Review. These journals have frequently been cited by federal and state courts, as well as textbooks and law reviews. Membership on the journals is limited to students in their second and third years of law school. In addition to the Georgia Law Review, students publish the online component, the Georgia Law Review Posts, which features essays by students, practitioners, judges, and professors focused primarily on timely legal issues in the U.S. Supreme Court and U.S. courts of appeals.
Alexander Campbell King Law Library
The Alexander Campbell King Law Library is the oldest and largest law library in the state of Georgia. In 1967, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black gave the keynote address at an outdoor ceremony to dedicate a modern law library building adjacent to Hirsch Hall. Housing a collection of more than 500,000 digital and print titles, the law library is a founding member of the Legal Information Preservation Alliance and the Law Library Microform Consortium. It has been designated a Federal Depository Library. The library is also one of the United States' Specialized European Documentation Centres, houses the Faculty Writings Collection, the Phillips Nuremberg Trials Collection, the Rare Book Collection, and the J. Alton Hosch Collection, which includes the extensive personal library of Dean Hosch, a member of the law school faculty from 1935 to 1964.
The Louis B. Sohn Library on International Relations is housed within the school's Dean Rusk International Law Center. The Sohn library is the extensive international law collection of Louis B. Sohn, who was the Woodruff Chair professor at Georgia Law and previously the Bemis Professor of International Law at Harvard Law School.
Clinics and related initiatives