CREIGHTON UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW Founded in 1904, Creighton University School of Law is a Jesuit Catholic institution educating aspiring attorneys in the theory, practice and ethics of lawyering for more than 100 years. Consistent with its mission, the Law School's motto is "educating for service and justice," and its goal is to produce attorneys who not only meticulously care for their clients' needs, but also recognize their own over-arching duty to the profession and society-at-large. Three years after its founding, Creighton Law was granted full accreditation to the Association of American Law Schools in 1907, becoming the second religiously-affiliated law school (along with Georgetown) to achieve accreditation in the AALS. In 1924, Creighton, St. Louis, and Georgetown became the first religiously-affiliated law schools to be accredited by the American Bar Association.
GRADUATING CLASS OF 2011
153 Students
88.4% of students were employed, enrolled in a full-time degree program or not seeking employment nine months following graduation*
92.7% of those employed were in bar required/preferred positions
$60,764 Salary Mean**
Graduates employed in 20 states and the District of Columbia.
83% Bar Passage Rate for first-time test takers
*Does not include 6 unknown students; includes 3 students enrolled in full-time degree programs and 3 students not seeking employment. Of those employed, 5.6% were part-time jobs.
** 44 out of 124 students (35.5%) from the Class of 2011 reported salary information.
FACULTY
32 Full-Time Professors
26 Adjunct and Part-Time Faculty Members
Student/Faculty Ratio: 18:1
There are four endowed chairs and two endowed professorships in the School of Law.
Students also have the unique opportunity to take a seminar class that is jointly taught by United States Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and Creighton's G. Michael Fenner, James L. Koley '54 Professor of Constitutional Law. Offered every other year, the class provides opportunities for students to discuss Constitutional Law and interact with Justice Thomas.
LECTURES & SYMPOSIA
Each year, Creighton University School of Law hosts lectures by nationally-prominent attorneys and other officials. Recent events include the following:
March 23, 2012
The 2012 TePoel Lecture was held in the Ahmanson Law Center on Friday, March 23, 2012. The featured speaker was Prof. John Burwell Garvey, JD Sufflolk University. The event followed the Creighton Law Review Symposium, held earlier that morning, with the theme of "Changes in Legal Education and the Professional and Ethical Implications for Practicing Attorneys." Prof. Garvey addressed the topic, "Making Law Students Client-Ready: A New Model in Legal Education."
November 10, 2011
The 2011-2012 Lane Lecture was held in Room 124 of the Ahmanson Law Center on November 10, 2011. The featured speaker was Prof. Ann Southworth, JD Stanford Law School. Prof. Southworth's remarks were drawn from her book, Lawyers of the Right: Professionalizing the Conservative Coalition (University of Chicago Press, 2008). | CURRICULUM
The School of Law offers a curriculum designed to provide students with intellectual challenge, academic rigor, and an opportunity to develop a foundation of moral values for life-long service in the law. Students are prepared for practice in the traditional law firm structure as well as in the many other settings where a legal education can play an important role.
Students may earn a certificate indicating that they completed intensive work in particular areas of concentration, including:
(a) Business Law;
(b) Criminal Law and Procedure;
(c) International and Comparative Law; and
(d) Litigation.
PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE
Students may participate in a broad variety of externships with city, county, federal, and non-profit legal offices in the Omaha area and in several other states. Third-year students also have the opportunity to work and study in the Milton R. Abrahams Legal Clinic, or in the Community Economic Development Clinic, both located in the Law School. Creighton Law also provides summer grants through a competitive process for students who work in public interest positions.
TUITION & FINANCIAL AID
$31,986 for 2012-2013
A variety of scholarships and loans are available to qualifying students.
RECENT POINTS OF PRIDE
Creighton Law alumna Francie Riedmann, JD'93, was appointed to the Nebraska Court of Appeals on July 31, 2012. Prior to her appointment, Riedmann practiced law with Gross & Welch.
The Honorable Douglas F. Johnson, JD '87, Judge of the Separate Juvenile Court of Douglas County, recently received the 2012 Commissioner's Award from the Administration on Children, Youth and Families (ACYF) during an annual conference in Washington, D.C. This prestigious award honors one recipient from each state who has made exceptional contributions to the prevention and treatment of child abuse and neglect in his or her state, district, or territory. The Douglas County Juvenile Court is one of 36 Model Courts nationwide that is implementing strategies designed to improve the handling of child abuse and neglect cases. Judge Johnson also teaches Juvenile Law as an adjunct professor at Creighton, and he is the 2010 recipient of the Law School's Alumni Merit Award. He was appointed Judge of the Separate Juvenile Court of Douglas County in 1993.
During the spring 2012 semester, Creighton sent two trial teams to compete at the regional level of a competition sponsored by the Texas Young Lawyers' Association and held at Gonzaga Law School in Spokane, WA. Creighton was named champion of the region. Both Creighton teams won all their preliminary and semifinal rounds. In the final rounds (there are two bracketed finals), Christine Galt, Cory Campbell, and Joshua Dunyon won and advanced to the national finals, which were held March 22-24 in Austin, TX. Ryan Sandstrom, Ben Williams and Marcus Sladek lost in their final round to second-place winner Montana. Both teams were coached by Prof. R. Collin Mangrum.
Creighton Law's team was named a semifinalist during the 2012 ABA Criminal Justice Trial Advocacy Competition in Chicago. Undefeated in the preliminary rounds, the team lost a split decision in the semifinals to the eventual national champion.
In late February 2012, Creighton Law made a first-time appearance in the Niagara International Moot Court Competition, held this year in Washington, D.C. This event has been held every year since 1976, and is a program of the Canada-United States Law Institute. The hypothetical cases argued each year are problems of international law. Creighton was represented by four 3L students. Creighton participated in six rounds of arguments and reached the final four. In addition to earning an award for participating in the semifinals, Creighton's team earned the coveted award for best memorial (brief) on the respondent's side.
Alumna Jessica A. Perez, JD'01, served as the 2011 President of the State Bar of New Mexico Board of Bar Commissioners. Perez is a native of Bernalillo where she practices with her father, former District Court Judge George Pérez, her brother Christopher, and her mother Veronica, their paralegal. She was previously employed as a field representative for U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman, as an assistant attorney, and as an analyst for the State Senate. A Bar Commissioner since 2003, she is past chair of the Personnel Committee and a member of the Bylaws and Policies, Annual Meeting Planning, Bench and Bar Relations, Finance, and Governmental Affairs committees. She is also a past president of the Sandoval County Bar Association.
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