Academic Program
The 2014 U.S. News & World Report http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-law-schools/law-rankings placed Tulane University School of Law as the 48th best law school in the nation, climbing its way back to the top 50 law schools after dropping to the 51st spot back in 2013. The 2013 U.S. News & World Report law-school rankings placed Tulane Law as 51st in the nation overall, a drop from 47th in the 2012 rankings, and 7th in environmental law, a rise from 8th in the 2012 rankings. In terms of academic reputation, the 2012 U.S. News rankings put Tulane at 38th. "The Law School 100" for 2009-2010 ranks Tulane as 34th, relying on a qualitative (rather than quantitative) assessment. The Hylton law-school rankings, conducted in 2006, put Tulane at 39th. The 2010 Leiter law-school rankings put Tulane at 38th, based on student quality, using LSAT and GPA data. The global financial crisis of 2007-2009 reportedly led to an increase in student selectivity for the class of 2012, as applications to law schools across the nation were estimated to have risen by 5% between 2008 and 2009, including a 15% increase at Tulane Law alone.
To complete the Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree program, a student must finish six semesters in residence, 88 credit hours, an upper-level writing requirement, and a 30-hour community-service obligation. The first-year curriculum comprises eight required courses. The first-year legal-research-and-writing program is taught by instructors with significant experience as lawyers and writers, each assisted by senior fellows.
After the first year, all courses are electives, except for a required legal-profession course. All first-year and many upper-class courses are taught in multiple sections to allow for smaller classes. The upper-class curriculum includes introductory as well as advanced courses in a broad range of subject areas, including international and comparative law, business law, corporate law, environmental law, maritime law, criminal law, intellectual property, taxation, litigation, and civil procedure, among others.
Tulane Law offers six optional concentration programs for J.D. students who wish to receive one certificate of completion in an area. The six are European legal studies, environmental law, international and comparative law, maritime law, sports law, or civil law.
Tulane’s Eason Weinmann Center for Comparative Law, its Maritime Law Center, and its Institute on Water Policy & Law, promote scholarship in comparative, maritime, and environmental law.
Tulane conducts an annual summer school in New Orleans and offers summer-study programs abroad. Tulane also offers semester-long exchange programs with select law schools in a number of countries throughout the world.
In addition to the J.D., the school offers two graduate degrees in law: The Master of Laws (LL.M.) the Doctor of Laws (S.J.D.) program. The five specialized LL.M. programs are in: maritime law, energy and environmental law, American business law, American law, and international and comparative law. LL.M. students may also pursue a general LL.M., which does not concentrate in any one area.
The law school offers six live-client clinical programs, in the areas of: civil litigation, criminal defense, juvenile litigation, legislative and administrative advocacy, domestic violence (the Tulane Law School Domestic Violence Clinic), and environmental law (the Tulane Environmental Law Clinic). In addition, there is a trial-advocacy program, and third-year students may engage in externships with federal and state judges, with a local death-penalty project, or with certain administrative agencies. The judicial externships are possible because of Tulane's close proximity to the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, and the Louisiana Supreme Court, all of which are in New Orleans. The school was the first in the country to institute a pro bono program requiring that each student complete legally related community service prior to graduation.
Every summer, BarBri, a national bar exam-preparation company, offers New York Bar Exam and Louisiana Bar Exam preparation courses at the Tulane Law School. Additionally, a California Bar Exam preparation course is offered when demand warrants it, as it did in 2010.
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