Oregon Law Fact Sheet

Founded in 1884, the University of Oregon School of Law is a public law school located in the heart of Oregon’s Willamette Valley.

Campus

Location: Eugene, Oregon — a short distance (roughly sixty miles) east of the Oregon Coast and west of the Cascade Mountains.

Facilities: One of the finest law school facilities in the country, the 138,000-square-foot Knight Law Center is the optimal environment for rigorous study while retaining Oregon’s signature warmth and informality. Built around a common town-square area, the building includes a light-filled and spacious library, comfortable offices for student journals and organizations, a mock courtroom, a 200-seat auditorium, and, in keeping with law school tradition, a basketball court.

Academics

Dean: Michael Moffitt

Full-time Faculty: 37 full-time faculty members

Bar Pass Rate: In 2011, 80 percent of Oregon Law graduates passed the Oregon State Bar Examination.According to data released by the Oregon State Bar, Oregon Law’s first-time bar examination passage rate is 80.4 percent, compared to the first-time state average of 78.8 percent.Oregon Law’s overall passage rate is 75.2 percent, 3.2 percent higher than the statewide average of 72 percent.

Degree Programs: JD; JD/MBA (Business Administration); JD/MS (Environmental Studies); JD/MA (International Studies); JD/MA or MS (Conflict and Dispute Resolution); JD/MA or MS (Journalism); Master’s Degree in Conflict and Dispute Resolution; LL.M. in Environmental and Natural Resources Law

Areas of Study: Appropriate Dispute Resolution; Business Law; Criminal Practice; Environmental and Natural Resources Law; Estate Planning; Family, Child Advocacy, and Elder Law; Green Business Law; Intellectual Property; International Law; Law and Entrepreneurship; Legal Research and Writing; Ocean and Coastal Law; Pro Bono Program; Public Interest and Public Service Law; Tax Law; Wayne Morse Center for Law and Politics

U.S.News & World Report Rankings (2012): 79th in the Nation. For the fourth year in row, the law school boasts three top ten programs. Oregon Law’s Legal Research and Writing (LRW), Environmental and Natural Resources Law (ENR), and Appropriate Dispute Resolution (ADR) programs are among the best in the nation, according to U.S.News & World Report’s 2012 edition of “America’s Best Graduate Schools.”

The LRW program is ranked fifth, and the ADR and ENR programs both are ranked eighth in the recent report. This is the eighth year the ENR program has appeared in the top ten, the fifth year for the ADR program, and the fourth year for the LRW program (LRW rankings began in 2005).

Only ten law schools in the nation have three or more top specialty ranked programs, including Stanford University, Harvard University, Columbia University, Georgetown University and George Washington University.

Student Body

First-year profile: 183 students welcomed into the Class of 2014

LSAT Profile (First-year students)
75th percentile 160
Median 159
25th percentile 157

GPA Profile (First-year students)
75th percentile 3.60
Median 3.39
25th percentile 3.17

Student Life

Student organizations: With 45 student organizations, Oregon Law offers something for every interest.

First, Best, and Only

• In 1921, the Oregon Law Review became the first law review in the Northwest.
• In 1978, Oregon Law established the world’s first environmental law clinic.
• In 2008, Oregon Law announced the formation of a course in Renewable Energy, one of the first of its kind in the nation.
• In 2008 and 2009, Prelaw Magazine named Oregon Law as one of the “Best in Practical Training” law schools in the country.
• Oregon Law’s Green Business Initiative is one of the first law school programs in the country dedicated to the intersection of law, business, and the environment.
• Oregon Law is the smallest public law school on the West Coast.
• Oregon Law is Oregon’s only public law school.
• Oregon Law is the only Oregon law school to offer venture capital and private equity, financial institutions and banking regulations, and two semesters of securities law.
• Oregon Law has placed first in the Oregon State Bar’s Pro Bono Challenge for eight years running.
• Oregon Law’s Public Interest Environmental Law Conference is the oldest and largest of its kind and is produced entirely by students.
• Oregon Law is the only law school in the Pacific Northwest that can boast of having three programs ranked in the “top ten” by U.S.News & World Report.