preLaw Magazine - Fall 2008 - (Page 33) Best law schools for Public Interest Law 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 West Virginia University College of Law University of Akron School of Law Arizona State University College of Law University of Houston Law Center Chicago-Kent College of Law Drake University Law School Syracuse University Law School University of New Mexico School of Law Cleveland-Marshall College of Law Fordham University School of Law Santa Clara University School of Law University of Pennsylvania Law School Southern Illinois University School of Law Suffolk University Law School Loyola University-New Orleans College of Law Pepperdine University School of Law Tulane University Law School Emory University School of Law Vanderbilt University Law School University of Kansas School of Law Oklahoma City University School of Law Stetson University College of Law North Carolina Central University School of Law University of Texas-Austin School of Law University of San Diego School of Law 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 University of Nebraska College of Law Duke University School of Law UDC David A. Clarke School of Law Vermont Law School University of Florida Fredric G. Levin College of Law Harvard Law School New England School of Law University of Miami School of Law Marquette University Law School Washington and Lee University School of Law Here is how we assigned points: •The student involvement category assigned points for student activity and percentage of graduates of the Class of 2006 who entered jobs in the public interest field (defined as jobs in legal services, nonprofit organizations and public defender offices, but not including government jobs or judicial clerkships generally.) •The curriculum category assigned points for the existence of a public interest coordinator, strength of clinical programs, and existence of a voluntary or mandatory pro bono graduation requirement. •The financial factors category assigned points for cost of tuition, availability of grants and scholarships and strength of loan repayment or loan assistance programs. American University Washington College of Law Public Interest Programs 7-11% of WCL graduates annually accept postgraduate public interest employment, far higher than the national average of 3%. An additional 13-20% of WCL graduates secure employment in the government sector. Over the past five years, more than 30 WCL graduates have received prestigious postgraduate public interest fellowships, including: Equal Justice Works, Skadden, New Voices, the E. Barrett Prettyman Fellowship, Soros, Women’s Law and Public Policy Fellowship, Echoing Green, and the ACLU Reproductive Freedom Fellowship. We are a community of faculty, staff and students providing extraordinary opportunities to acquire the knowledge and legal skills to become effective advocates for justice: Full-Tuition Public Interest/Public Service Scholarship Nationally Recognized Clinics Pro Bono Honors Pledge Program Equal Justice Foundation Fellowships for Summer Public Interest Work ß Public Interest Loan Repayment Assistance Program ß ß ß ß ß ß ß ß ß Marshall-Brennan Constitutional Literacy Teaching Fellowships Supervised Externship Program United Nations Commission Against Torture Project More than a dozen public interest centers and publications Individualized public interest career counseling “I decided to go to law school to gain the practical and technical knowledge to more effectively advocate for social justice, both domestically and internationally. WCL’s commitment to public interest and international law brought those two together wonderfully. “ Lindsay Jenkins, 2008 To learn more about our Public Interest Program visit EO/AA University and Employer www.wcl.american.edu/publicinterest Fall 2008 33 http://www.wcl.american.edu/publicinterest http://www.wcl.american.edu/publicinterest
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