Editing University of Minnesota Law School

{{Infobox Law School
| nickname                    = 
| image                       = 
| motto                       = ''Theory. Doctrine. Ethics. Skills. Practice.''
| parent                      = 
| established                 = 1888
| type                        = Public
| endowment                   = 85
| dean                        = David Wippman
| street_address              = 229 19th Ave S
| city                        = Minneapolis
| state                       = MN
| country                     = US
| full_time_students          = 632
| part_time_students          = 9
| full_time_faculty           = 54
| adjunct_faculty             = 139
| ranking                     = 
| tier                        = 
| bar_pass_rate               = 
| lsat_75_percentile          = 
| median_lsat                 = 
| lsat_25_percentile          = 
| gpa_75_percentile           = 
| median_gpa                  = 
| gpa_25_percentile           = 
| underemployment_score       = 
| library                     = 
| subsidized_annual_tuition   = 
| unsubsidized_annual_tuition = 
| tuition_subsidy_basis       = 
| website                     = www.law.umn.edu
| aba_profile                 = 
}}
[[Image:UMN-Law10-15-03.jpg|thumb|300px|right|Walter F. Mondale Hall, home of the Law School]]
The '''University of Minnesota Law School''', located in [[Minneapolis, Minnesota]], is a [[professional school]] of the [[University of Minnesota]].  The school offers a [[Juris Doctor]] (J.D.), [[Master of Laws|Masters of Law]] (LL.M.) for Foreign Lawyers, Masters of Law(LL.M.) Program in American Law in China (Summer 2007), and joint degrees with J.D./M.B.A.; J.D./M.P.A; J.D./M.A., J.D./M.S., J.D./Ph.D., J.D./M.D. J.D./M.P.P., J.D./M.B.S., J.D./M.P., J.D./M.B.T., J.D./M.U.R.P., and J.D./M.P.H. 

Founded in [[1888]], the [[Law School]] is consistently ranked among the top 20 law schools in the nation (according to '[[U.S. News & World Report]]') and has a reputation for turning out outstanding lawyers and public servants. With approximately 870 students, the Law School maintains a 15:1 student-to-faculty ratio.  Admission into the Law School is highly competitive. All first-year classes are graded on a curve.  Most upper-level classes are graded on a curve as well; only those classes with the smallest of enrollments are relieved of the curve.  The five-year average [[Bar_exam#United_States|bar exam]] passage rate is 99.18%.  

The Law School's [[Dean (education)|Dean]] position is currently held by Interim Co-Deans Guy-Uriel E. Charles and Fred L. Morrison, who will serve for two years as the law school searches for a permanent hire.  Both Co-Deans are long-standing professors of the law school.  Dean Alex M. Johnson, the previous (ninth) dean of the law school, announced his resignation effective [[June 1]], [[2006]].  Johnson is currently serving his fifth contract year as ''Emeritus'' Dean on [[sabbatical]].  Dean Johnson's predecessor, Dean E. Thomas Sullivan, now serves as the [[Provost]] of the University of Minnesota, as well as continuing to serve as Professor of Law at the Law School.  

The [[Law Library]] is the 8th largest of its kind in the United States, with over 1,000,000 volumes, and is open to the students 24 hours a day throughout the year. The chief librarian at the school is Joan S. Howland, who joined the Law School in 1992. Of particular note is The Riesenfeld Rare Books Research Center, which houses one of the top three collections of rare legal texts in the nation. For its millionth volume, the Law School acquired the papers of [[Clarence Darrow]].

In 1999-2001, the Law School initiated and completed an expansion of its facilities on the west bank of the University campus.

There are 19 legal education clinics, offering students the opportunity to handle real legal cases under supervision of teaching attorneys. The school also has a formal moot court system, in which a majority of students participate.  Second year J.D students are required to participate in either a moot court or legal journal.

==Study abroad programs==
The Law School offers a number of study abroad opportunities and recently announced the opening of a "campus" in [[Beijing]], where a summer study program for J.D. students in [[Law of the People's Republic of China|Chinese law]] is now offered in conjunction with [[China University of Political Science and Law]]. The school also features established study abroad programs with [[ESADE|ESADE Faculty of Law]] in [[Barcelona, Spain]]; [[University of Uppsala]], [[Uppsala, Sweden]]; [[University of Lyon|Université Jean Moulin (Lyon III)]] in [[Lyon, France]], [[Humboldt University]] in [[Berlin, Germany]]; [[University College Dublin]] in [[Dublin, Ireland]], [[Universiteit van Tilburg|Tilburg University Faculty of Law]] in [[Tilburg, Netherlands]]; and [[Bucerius Law School]] in [[Hamburg, Germany]].  In Fall 2006, the Law School announced a new exchange partnership with the [[Universidad de Montevideo]] in [[Montevideo, Uruguay]].

Most recently, the Law School announced a new 18-month LL.M. Program in Beijing, which offers foreign lawyers the opportunity to earn an American LL.M. degree from the University of Minnesota Law School in China.

==Publications==
The school produces a number of scholarly journals.  Those that are edited by students include ''[[Minnesota Law Review]]'' (the 14th most cited legal journal[http://lawlib.wlu.edu/LJ/index.aspx]), ''[[Law and Inequality]]'' (formerly the ''Journal of Law and Inequality''), and ''Minnesota Journal of International Law'' (formerly the ''Minnesota Journal of Global Trade''). Faculty edited journals include ''Constitutional Commentary'', ''Crime and Justice'', ''Minnesota Journal of Business and Entrepreneurship'', and ''Minnesota Journal of Law Science and Technology''.  175 students participate on a journal each year.  Students at the Law School also regularly publish the humorous newsletter and harbinger of Thursday night activities, ''The Bar Review Weekly''.

==Student life==
[[Image:TORTmusical04-102.jpg|thumb|200px|right|Scene from TORT's 2004 production of "Law Wars"]]
[[Image:UMNLaw-HamlineLaw-hockey.jpg|thumb|200px|right|The Fighting Mondales bench during a game against the [[Hamline University School of Law|Hamline Res Ipsa]]]]
===Musical===

An annual highlight for the Law School is when the student body puts on its own full-length musical: written, performed, directed and produced by the all-student [[Theatre of the Relatively Talentless]] (T.O.R.T.).  Begun in 2002, the event draws over a thousand audience members each year and features cameos by distinguished alumni and other distinguished members of the Minnesota legal community.  For the 2006 show, "West Bank Story" (a spoof on "West Side Story"), tickets sold out within three days.  Previous shows include: "Wizard of the Fritz" (2003, a spoof on "the Wizard of Oz"); "Law Wars" (2004, a spoof on "Star Wars"); and "Walter Wonka and the Lawyer Factory" (2005, a spoof on "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory").  The 2007 show was entitled "Frankenlaw."  Participants are known as the TORTfeasors.

===Hockey===
The '''Fighting Mondales''' hit the ice during the season in intramural play, club play and rivalry games against the law school hockey teams of [[Hamline University School of Law|Hamline School of Law's Res Ipsas]] and rival [[William Mitchell College of Law|William Mitchell Fighting Eelpout]].  For home hockey games, the Fighting Mondales play out of the [[Mariucci Arena]] on the U of M campus.  Before becoming the Fighting Mondales, the Law School teams were known as the Tortfeasors.

==Notable alumni==
[[Image:UMNFightingMondales.jpg|thumb|200px|left|Walter Mondale at the introduction of the "Fighting Mondales"]]
The Law School currently has 10,494 living alumni in 50 states and 68 countries[http://www.law.umn.edu/prospective/profile.html], including 275 serving as federal and state court judges nationwide[http://www.law.umn.edu/prospective/welcome.html].  Perhaps the most famous alumnus of the Law School is former [[Vice President of the United States]] and Ambassador to Japan [[Walter Mondale]] ('56).  The Law School's building was renamed Walter F. Mondale Hall in his honor in 2002.  His legacy and continued participation in the life of the school recently earned him a most interesting honor from the school's student-run Law Council: the naming of the mascot of the Law School as the "Fighting Mondales."

Other prominent alumni of the school include:

*[[G. Barry Anderson]], Justice of the [[Minnesota Supreme Court]] 
*[[Paul H. Anderson]], Justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court
*[[Russell A. Anderson]], [[Chief Justice]] of the Minnesota Supreme Court
*[[Wendell Anderson]], former [[Governor of Minnesota]] 
*[[James J. Blanchard]], former [[Governor of Michigan]] and Ambassador to Canada
*[[Kathleen A. Blatz]], former Chief Justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court
*[[Michael Ciresi]], trial lawyer
*[[David Durenberger]], former [[United States Senator]]
*[[Keith Ellison (politician)|Keith Ellison]], the first [[Muslim]] elected to the [[United States Congress]]
*[[Donald M. Fraser]], former [[United States Congressman]]
*[[Orville Freeman]], former Governor of Minnesota
*[[Mike Hatch]], Former [[Minnesota Attorney General]]
*[[Hubert "Skip" Humphrey]], former Minnesota Attorney General
*[[Ron Kind]], United States Congressman (D-[[Wisconsin|WI]])
*[[Harold LeVander]], former Governor of Minnesota 
*[[John Lind (politician)|John Lind]], former Governor of Minnesota
*[[Walter Mondale]], former Vice President of the United States and Ambassador to Japan.
*[[Mee Moua]], [[Minnesota Senate|Minnesota State Senator]] 
*[[Diana E. Murphy]], judge [[U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit]]
*[[Constance Berry Newman]], former [[United States Assistant Secretary of State]] for African Affairs 
*[[Alan Page]], Justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court 
*[[Tim Pawlenty]], Governor of Minnesota
*[[J. A. O. Preus]], former Governor of Minnesota
*[[Greg Raymer]], 2004 [[World Series of Poker]] Champion
*[[Warren Spannaus]], former Minnesota Attorney General
*[[Harold Stassen]], former Governor of Minnesota
*[[Guy Branum]], Head Writer of [[X-Play]]

==External links==
*[http://www.law.umn.edu University of Minnesota Law School mainpage]
*[http://www.tc.umn.edu/~tort/ University of Minnesota Law School Theatre of the Relatively Talentless]
*[http://www.politicslaw.org Institute for Law and Politics at the University of Minnesota Law School]