The University of Washington School of Law:Blogger Fakir

The University of Washington School of Law

(About the UW School of Law)

The University of Washington School of Law, located in Seattle, was first organized in 1899 and is fully accredited. The current law building, William H. Gates Hall, was completed and occupied in September of 2003 and is located on the Northwest corner of the main University campus. The building houses classrooms, student lounge, a coffee/snack kios, locker areas, the Marian Gould Gallagher Law Library, and offices for faculty, administration, and student organizations. Financial aid, registration, and career service functions are run primarily as in-house operations. The building itself is fully accessible to persons in wheelchairs and is equipped with braille identifiers. William H. Gates Hall is a designated non-smoking area.

The Marian Gould Gallagher Law Library is one of the finest law libraries in the country. Its collection is among the largest university law collections on the West Coast and currently numbers more than 525,000 volumes. In addition to an extensive research collection, it supports the Asian Law, Law of Sustainable Development, and Tax graduate programs and serves as a federal depository for selected U.S. government documents. Law students also have access to the seventeen other libraries of the University, which hold more than six million additional volumes. Access is provided to all UW collections. The law library subscribes to computerized databases, such as LEXIS-NEXIS and WESTLAW. CD-ROM technology and full Internet accessibility is a growing part of the library's broad-based access to legal and non-legal information resources. A highly-trained staff of 38 facilitates access to a wide variety of legal information needs and services.

The law school has wireless internet access available throughout the entire building and outlets are available for each classroom seat to power laptops and other portable electronic devices. Classrooms are equipped with a wide range of audio/visual equipment including CD/DVD players and recording equipment. Podiums are wired for internet access and most have built-in computers. The law school Computer Labs contain 28 PCs for general use. All computers have ethernet access to Internet resources, the UW libraries and law library catalog, and the LEXIS-NEXIS and WESTLAW legal databases.

Despite its status as a state university law school, the University of Washington does not place undue emphasis on Washington State law in its instruction. Courses are designed to provide a broad view of the American legal system. At the same time, faculty members frequently mention or describe the Washington view on a particular issue as an illustration or a point of departure for a broad-ranging discussion.

Graduates of the school are well prepared to practice law anywhere in the United States. Each fall, an entering class of about 180 J.D. students begins the study of law. There is an excellent ratio of students to faculty (approximately 11:1), with many small classes and the opportunity for close student-faculty contact. Faculty members generally have an open-door policy to encourage contact and informal discussions with students. Because of the high number of applications received each year, the University of Washington School of Law is able to select an outstanding student body. Our students are not only academically excellent, but also have diverse personal, educational, and (in many cases) professional backgrounds, which creates a varied and stimulating intellectual atmosphere. All students take a full-time course load; the School of Law does not have a part-time or evening division.

Studying law at a top-ranking American law school is a demanding and challenging experience. At the University of Washington, students are constantly being invited by their teachers and peers to rethink and defend their conceptions of the law and its relation to social problems. First-year students are often surprised to learn that their principal objective is not to "learn the law" but rather to develop the intellectual tools and skills necessary to work with the law as professionals. Great emphasis is placed upon gaining experience in analyzing cases, statutes, and other legal materials, and in synthesizing from these materials general notions of the structure and operation of the legal system.

The University of Washington School of Law is fortunate to have an outstanding faculty. Each of the 57 full-time professors has varied interests and, as a result, the law school is able to offer classes in a number of specialized areas. Among the areas of specialization represented are labor law, tax law, international law, environmental and water law, family law, real property law, laws concerning business organization, commercial law, constitutional law, the law of sex and race discrimination, American Indian law, intellectual property, and health law. In addition, there are several faculty members specifically interested in questions of legal history, legal philosophy, and law and social science. All of these areas of interest are reflected in the School's curriculum.