DePaul University College of Law

For the 2020 entering class, DePaul Law welcomed 147 full-time students and 24 part-time students with a median LSAT of 155. Ages for all students ranged from 19-54 with a median age of 24 for full-time students and 28 for part-time students.[14]

DePaul Law is dedicated to promoting inclusiveness and diversity among its student body.[15] Its 2020 entering class was 29% minority students and 56% female students. The College has a full-time director of diversity, inclusion and student life[16] and has created a Diversity Council as one of its primary alumni boards.[17]

For the 2020-2021 academic year, full-time tuition is $48,670 and part-time is $31,620.[18]

Based on the most recent ABA Bar Passage report, in 2019, DePaul Law had a total of 213 graduates. The total first-time Bar takers in any jurisdiction was 192, and the total who passed the Bar in any jurisdiction was 133.[19]

Based on the ABA Employment Summary for the Class of 2019, a total of 90.5% of the Class of 2019 obtained employment within 10 months of graduation.[20]

DePaul Law offers a wide variety of certificate and degree programs:[22]

• 12 Juris Doctor (JD) certificates: Art & Museum Law; Business Law; Criminal Law; Family Law; Health Law; Health Care Compliance; Information Technology, Cybersecurity & Data Privacy Law; Intellectual Property; International and Comparative Law; Patent Law; Public Interest Law; and Taxation[23]
• Seven Joint Degrees: BA/JD (3+3 program with College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences and College of Communication); JD/Master of Arts in International Studies; JD/Master in International & European Business Law; JD/Master of Business Administration; JD Master of Science in Computer Science; JD/Master of Science in Public Service Management; JD/LLM[24]
• Five Master of Law (LLM) degrees: Health Law; Intellectual Property Law; International Law; Taxation Law; and U.S. Legal Studies[25]
• Six Master of Jurisprudence (MJ) concentrations: Business Law & Taxation; Criminal Law; Health Care Compliance; Health Law; International & Comparative Law; and Public Interest Law[26]

DePaul Law has six Programs of Excellence that build on the traditional strengths of the law school.[27] These allow students to better focus their studies, enable collaborations with other schools and increase opportunities for their careers. Many of these Programs of Excellence also house centers or institutes, which further complement their mission by supporting outreach and scholarship, hosting educational events, and providing students and attorneys with mentorship and fellowship opportunities. [28]

• Business Law & Tax Law
• Family Law (Schiller DuCanto & Fleck Family Law Center)
• Health Law (Mary and Michael Jaharis Health Law Institute)
• Immigration Law & Human Rights Law (International Human Rights Law Institute)
• Intellectual Property Law & Information Technology Law (Center for Intellectual Property Law & Information Technology (CIPLIT®); Center for Art, Museum & Cultural Heritage Law)
• Public Interest Law & Public Service (Center for Public Interest Law)

Other Centers and Institutes include the Center for Animal Law and the Center for Jewish Law & Judaic Studies

Throughout the year, DePaul College of Law hosts many symposia and programs covering a vast array of legal topics. Notable annual events include:

• The Clifford Symposium on Tort Law and Social Policy is not only DePaul Law’s longest running program but also is the longest running civil justice symposium in the country. Established in 1994 by Robert Clifford (JD ’76), this two-day event looks at real world legal issues and provides real world solutions. Recent topics have included the opioid crisis, dark money and judicial elections, and patient safety.[29]
• The Enlund Scholar-In-Residence Program was established in 1988 by alum E. Stanley Enlund, and the lecture provides unique perspectives on law and social justice. Recent topics have included immigration enforcement during the Trump Administration, the emotional root of law, and Puerto Rican statehood.
• The Jaharis Symposium on Health Law and Intellectual Property is an interdisciplinary symposium that focuses on the legal, technological and social ramifications of the changing medical landscape. Recent topics have included genetics, biohacking, and telehealth.[30]
• The Family Law Symposium is hosted by the Schiller DuCanto & Fleck Family Law Center, and this annual day-long event looks at relevant issues involving family law such as elder law, public benefits, and guardianship.[31]
• The Intellectual Property Scholars Conference (IPSC) was founded by DePaul Law in 2000. IPSC brings together intellectual property scholars from across the world to present their works-in-progress and benefit from the feedback of colleagues. Held at DePaul Law every four years (most recently in 2019), the conference is co-sponsored by the IP programs at UC Berkeley School of Law, Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University, and Stanford Law School.[32]
• The DePaul Law Review Symposium and the DePaul Business & Commercial Law Journal Symposium are hosted by two of the school’s law journals and cover timely legal issues and topics while also providing journal content.

As part of the DePaul University Loop Campus, DePaul Law occupies nine floors of the Lewis Center and O’Malley Place buildings, which are located on the corner of Jackson Boulevard and Wabash Avenue. They include smart, technology-enabled classrooms, as well as student lounges and meeting areas. The Leonard M. Ring Courtroom offers a simulated space to practice advocacy skills, while the three floors of the Vincent G. Rinn Law Library contain an extensive collection of legal texts and places for study and research.

The DePaul University Loop Campus also includes the DePaul Center, which houses the University’s main Loop library, a Barnes & Noble, University Ministry, and shops and restaurants. DePaul’s Colleges of Business, Communications, Continuing and Professional Studies, and Computing and Digital Media are also located on the Loop Campus.

DePaul Law’s experiential learning programs provide students with opportunities to work with real clients, develop skills applicable to a broad range of practice areas, obtain legal externships, and spend much of their third year in practice through the 3YP program.[34]

The College of Law’s legal clinics allow students to assist clients who are facing real legal issues. Available to second- and third-year students, DePaul Law offers nine in-house and field clinics.[35]

• Asylum & Refugee
• Business Law
• Civil Litigation & Health Law
• Civil Rights
• Criminal Appeals
• Croak Community Legal Clinic
• Family Law
• Immigration Law
• Technology/Intellectual Property

DePaul Law’s Legal Analysis, Research & Communication (LARC) Program begins with a rigorous three-semester sequence of classes that culminates in an advanced upper-level legal writing course.[36] Beginning Fall 2020, students will be placed in one of six specialized Legal Writing sections: Business Law, Family Law, Health Law, Intellectual Property Law, Litigation or Public Interest Law.[37]

One of DePaul Law’s most distinctive offerings is the Third Year in Practice (3YP) Program. 3YP provides qualifying students with the opportunity to engage in the actual and simulated practice of law by employing a combination of select courses and field placements to facilitate a student’s transition into the practice of law based on their professional interests.[38]

Students can join myriad organizations dedicated to different areas of law and justice to build networks and bolster their legal experience.[39] Organizations and affinity groups include the Asian Pacific American Law Students Association, the Black Law Student Association, OUTlaws, the Public Interest Law Association, and the Society for Asylum & Immigration Law, among many others.

DePaul Law publishes five academic journals:[40]

• Law Review
• Business and Commercial Law Journal
• Journal of Art, Technology & Intellectual Property Law
• Journal of Health Care Law
• Journal for Social Justice

The DePaul Law Review and the DePaul Business and Commercial Law Journal also host annual symposia.

• Albert E. Bennett, Illinois State Senator
• Michael A. Bilandic, former mayor of Chicago and Chief Justice of the Illinois Supreme Court
• Richard J. Daley, former mayor of Chicago
• Richard M. Daley, former mayor of Chicago
• Kirk Dillard, Chairman, Regional Transportation Authority; former Illinois State Senator
• Benjamin L. Hooks, American civil rights leader, executive director of the NAACP (1977 to 1992)
• J. Elmer Lehr, former Wisconsin State Senator
• Erica MacDonald, United States Attorney for the District of Minnesota
• Richard A. Napolitano, Illinois State Representative
• John Stroger, former president of the Cook County Board of Commissioners; namesake of Stroger Hospital
• Samuel Skinner, former U.S. federal prosecutor for the Northern District of Illinois and U.S. Treasury Secretary and Chief of Staff under President George H.W. Bush
• Juliana Stratton, Lieutenant Governor of Illinois
• Charles E. Tucker, Jr., retired U.S. Air Force major general and executive director of the World Engagement Institute (WEInstitute)

• The Honorable William J. Bauer, senior judge, United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
• The Honorable Thomas Durkin, U.S. District Judge, Northern District of Illinois
• The Honorable Lee M. Jackwig, United States Bankruptcy Judge, Southern District of Iowa
• The Honorable Franklin Valderrama, U.S. District Judge, Northern District of Illinois

• Jack M. Greenberg, former chairman and CEO of McDonald’s Corporation
• Michael Jaharis, founder of Kos Pharmaceuticals and Vatera Healthcare Partners LLC, and co-founder of Arisaph Pharmaceuticals
• Andrew J. McKenna, chairman emeritus of McDonald’s Corporation
• Harry Nicholas Pritzker, entrepreneur and philanthropist, patriarch of the Pritzker Family

• Robert A. Clifford, prominent Chicago trial attorney
• Gerald D. Hosier, intellectual property attorney and patent litigator
• Perry Wilbon Howard, attorney and Republican civil rights activist from Mississippi
• Sidney Korshak (1908–1996), an attorney best known as a liaison between the Chicago Outfit crime syndicate and corporate Hollywood, was a DePaul College of Law graduate.[41] He is the subject of numerous biographies and articles. Korshak, was widely considered to be a power broker in Hollywood and was reportedly one of the inspirations for Robert Duvall's character in The Godfather.[42]
• James Lyons, prominent Denver attorney and former federal judicial nominee to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
• George Remus, notorious Chicago criminal defense attorney and, later, bootlegger in Cincinnati, Ohio, known as the “King of the Bootleggers,” was an Illinois College of Law graduate.

• Chaz Ebert, CEO and publisher of Ebert Digital, which runs RogerEbert.com
• Dennis Shere, author
• Jody Weiner, novelist, non-fiction author, film producer and lawyer

• M. Cherif Bassiouni (professor 1964–2012) held the title of distinguished research professor of law at DePaul and was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize in 1999 for his work on behalf of the International Criminal Court. He taught international criminal law and served as the president of DePaul's International Human Rights Law Institute. In 2007, he was awarded the Hague Prize for International Law for his "distinguished contribution in the field of international law".
• Susan Bandes is Centennial Distinguished Professor Emeritus at DePaul Law. She is one of the most widely cited law professors in the field of criminal law and procedure,[43] and one of the founders of the field of Law and Emotion. Her book The Passions of Law is referred to as a "groundbreaking anthology" and a "high water mark" of the emerging discipline of the study of law and emotion."[44]
• Erwin Chemerinsky (assistant professor, 1980–83; associate professor, 1983–1984) is a nationally known professor of constitutional law and federal civil procedure, currently dean of the University of California, Berkeley School of Law.[45] At DePaul, he taught courses in administrative law, constitutional law, federal courts, and a seminar on law and the mass media. He was recognized by DePaul as an "Outstanding Teacher" in 1983.
• Clarence Darrow, a criminal defense attorney known for the Scopes Trial and the Leopold and Loeb case, among others, was an early adjunct professor at the College.
• James Fleissner (visiting professor 2003–2005) served as deputy to Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald in the Justice Department investigation into allegations that one or more government officials illegally disclosed the identity of a CIA agent. He is a professor at Mercer University's Walter F. George School of Law[46] in Macon, Georgia. While at DePaul, he taught criminal law, criminal procedure and evidence.

• Roberta Kwall is the Raymond P. Niro Professor at DePaul Law; the founder of the Center for Intellectual Property Law & Information Technology (CIPLIT) at DePaul Law; and the author of several books, including Remix Judaism: Preserving Tradition in a Diverse World, (Rowman & Littlefield, 2020) and The Soul of Creativity (Stanford U. Press, 2010.)[47]