Georgetown University Law Center

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Georgetown University Law Center
Parent school Georgetown University
Established 1870
School type Private non-profit
Dean William Michael Treanor
Location Washington, DC, US
Enrollment 1626 (full time)
334 (part time)
Faculty 125 (full time)
159 (part time)
(See List)
Bar pass rate 90.96%
LSAT 75th% 172
Median LSAT 170
LSAT 25th% 168
Undergrad. GPA 75th% 3.78
Median Undergrad. GPA 3.67
Undergrad. GPA 25th% 3.45
Annual tuition $45,105
Website
ABA profile link
Outlines 0 (See List)
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Georgetown University Law Center is located in Washington, DC

Georgetown University Law Center (GULC) is Georgetown University's law school. It is among the ten most selective law schools in the United States and is considered to be in the "top 14," a legal insider recognition of its reputation. Princeton Review ranks it in the top ten for "Best Career Prospects" and "Best Overall Academic Experience." Law School 100, a ranking scheme that purports to use qualitative criteria instead of quantitative, ranks the law school seventh overall, tied with Cornell, University of Virginia and others. The school is a member of the Association of American Law Schools (AALS). Its current dean is T. Alexander Aleinikoff. The law school ranked in the top 10 in 7 categories of U.S. News 2006 edition, including tax, international law, and others. The law school often emphasizes in its materials that its location in close proximity to federal government agencies, courts, and the Supreme Court offer a significant advantage in the study of law.

History[edit | edit source]

The school's original sign, preserved on the north quad of the present-day campus.

Opened as Georgetown Law School in 1870, it was the first law school run by a Jesuit institution within the U.S. GULC has been separate from the main Georgetown campus (in the neighborhood of Georgetown) since 1890, when it moved near what is now Chinatown. The GULC campus is located on New Jersey Avenue, several blocks north of the Capitol, and a few blocks due west of Union Station.

Campus[edit | edit source]

The Georgetown University Law Center campus, viewed across I-395 looking east. From left to right, the Edward Bennett Williams Law Library, McDonough Hall, and Gewirz Student Center.

The campus is composed of Bernard P. McDonough Hall (1971, expanded in 1997), housing classrooms and Law Center offices and designed by Edward Durrell Stone, the Georgetown Law Library, (housed in two buildings: the Edward Bennett Williams Law Library (1989) which houses the Law Center's United States law collection, and the John Wolff International and Comparative Law Library), the Bernard S. and Sarah M. Gewirz Student Center (1993), which provides housing to mostly first year law students, and the Eric E. Hotung International Law Center (2004). A four-level Sport and Fitness Center (2004) including a pool, fitness facilities, and cafe connects the Hotung Building to the Gewirz Student Center and completes the Capitol Hill campus.

Curriculum[edit | edit source]

McDonough Hall, the main classroom building, facing 2nd St. NW

Georgetown Law Center's J.D. program can be completed over three years of full-time day study or four years of part-time evening study. The school offers LL.M. programs in Taxation, Securities and Finance Regulation, and Global Health Law, as well as a general LL.M. curriculum for lawyers educated outside the United States. Beginning in the 2007-08 school year, Georgetown will offer a Masters of Studies in Law (M.S.L.) degree for professional journalists.

Students are offered the choice of two tracks for their first year of study. "Curriculum A" is similar to the traditional law curriculum taught at many schools, including courses in contracts, constitutional law, torts, property, criminal procedure, civil procedure, and legal research and writing. "Curriculum B" is a more interdisciplinary, theoretical approach to legal study, but covers largely the same content in order to prepare students to take the same upper-level classes as their Curriculum A peers. The Curriculum B courses are Bargain, Exchange and Liability (contracts and torts), Democracy and Coercion (constitutional law and criminal procedure), Government Processes (administrative law), Legal Justice (jurisprudence), Legal Practice (legal research and writing), Legal Process and Society (civil procedure, criminal procedure, and ethics), and Property in Time (property). Students in both curricula participate in a week-long introduction to international law between the fall and spring semesters.

JD, JSD, LLM Programs[edit | edit source]


Faculty[edit | edit source]

The Hotung International Law Center and the GULC fitness center, seen across the south quad.
Gewirz Student Center provides student housing for mostly first-year law students.

Notable current faculty include (the following is a non-exhaustive list):

The roster of current professors also includes many former Supreme Court clerks and other notable legal academics and professionals.

Former professors include:

Publications[edit | edit source]

Edward Bennett Williams Law Library, viewed from the campus north quad.

Georgetown University Law Center has ten student-run law journals and a weekly student-run newspaper, the Georgetown Law Weekly. The journals are:

Notable alumni[edit | edit source]

Name Degree and year received Accomplishments
William W. Belknap 1851 United States Secretary of War (1869-76)
George Cortelyou 1895 U.S. Secretary of Commerce and Labor (1903-04), U.S. Postmaster General (1905-07), U.S. Secretary of the Treasury (1907-09)
Hall S. Lusk 1907 U.S. Senator from Oregon (1960), Chief Justice of the Oregon Supreme Court
Dennis Chavez 1920 U.S. Senator from New Mexico
Joseph A. Cantrel 1922 Spoke at the Law Center's 50th Anniversary Celebration in 1920, stating "Law is but the means - Justice is the end."
John Sirica 1926 Chief Judge, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia
J. Caleb Boggs 1937 U.S. Senator from Delaware
Edward Bennett Williams 1944 Founder of law firm Williams & Connolly LLP; owner of the Washington Redskins and Baltimore Orioles
John Dingell J.D., 1952 U.S. Representative from Michigan
John D. Spellman 1953 Governor of Washington
Van P. Smith 1955 Chairman of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce
George Mitchell 1961 U.S. Senator from Maine, Democratic Senate Majority Leader (1989-95); chairman of the board of the Walt Disney Co., board of directors of the Boston Red Sox
Michael N. Castle J.D., 1964 U.S. Representative from Delaware
Robert E. Davis LL.B., 1964 Kansas Supreme Court Justice
Patrick Leahy J.D., 1964 U.S. Senator from Vermont; Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman (effective Jan. 2007)
John Dean 1965 White House Counsel to President Richard Nixon and key figure in Watergate scandal
Frank Wolf J.D., 1965 U.S. Congressman from Virginia
Thomas Hogan 1966 Chief Judge, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia
Steny Hoyer J.D., 1966 U.S. Representative from Maryland
Michael Slive 1966 Commissioner of the Southeastern Conference; first commissioner of Conference USA and Great Midwest Conference
Brendan Sullivan 1967 Senior partner of the law firm Williams & Connolly LLP
Mickey Kantor 1968 U.S. Secretary of Commerce (1996-97)
Keith Stroup 1968 Executive Director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws
Richard C. Bosson J.D., 1969 Chief Justice of the New Mexico Supreme Court
Richard Durbin J.D., 1969 U.S. Senator from Illinois, Democratic Whip
D. Michael Fisher 1969 Judge on U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
Martin Frost 1970 U.S. Representative from Texas
Ricardo M. Urbina J.D., 1970 Judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia
Dan Lungren J.D., 1971 U.S. Representative from California
Don Siegelman 1972 Governor of Alabama
Gary Bauer 1973 Conservative activist and Reagan Administration official
Thomas L. Ambro 1975 Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
James H. Webb 1975 U.S. Secretary of the Navy; noted author and senator from Virginia
John Podesta 1976 White House Chief of Staff under President Bill Clinton
Bob Barr 1977 U.S. Representative from Georgia from 1995 to 2003
Robert M. Kimmitt 1977 Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Treasury
Albert Wynn J.D., 1977 U.S. Representative from Maryland
Lane Evans J.D., 1978 U.S. Representative from Illinois from 1983 to 2007
Douglas Feith J.D., 1978 Former Undersecretary of Defense for Policy in the George W. Bush Administration
Mazie Hirono J.D., 1978 U.S. Representative-elect from Hawaii
Francisco Besosa 1979 Judge, United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico
Mitch Daniels 1979 Governor of Indiana, director of Office of Management and Budget
Greta Van Susteren J.D., 1979
LL.M., 1983
Anchor of On the Record on the Fox News Channel
Rick White 1980 U.S. Representative from Washington
Jeffrey R. Howard 1981 U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit
Rives Kistler J.D., 1981 Oregon Supreme Court justice
Jim McGreevey 1981 Governor of New Jersey
Peter Visclosky LL.M., 1982 U.S. Representative from Indiana
Marc Morial 1983 Mayor of New Orleans, Louisiana
Bradley Belt J.D., 1984 Former Executive Director of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation
Gov. John Lynch J.D., 1984 Governor of New Hampshire
Terry McAuliffe 1984 Chairman of the Democratic National Committee
Marilyn Milian J.D., 1984 Current host of The People's Court and former Florida circuit court judge
Jack Abramoff 1986 Lobbyist, political fundraiser
Chris Van Hollen J.D., 1990 U.S. Representative from Maryland
Michael S. Steele 1991 Former lieutenant-governor of Maryland, candidate for U.S. Senate (lost to democratic candidate Ben Cardin.)
Mark Kirk J.D., 1992 U.S. Representative from Illinois
Michael Powell J.D., 1993 Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission
David Catania J.D., 1994 Washington, D.C. councilmember
Ted Lieu J.D., 1994 California State Assembly member
Adam G. Ciongoli 1995 Advisor to U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito
Bill Jefferson LL.M., 1995 U.S. Representative from Louisiana
Stephanie Herseth Sandlin J.D., 1997 U.S. Representative from South Dakota
Stephen Glass J.D., 2000 Journalist infamous for fabricating stories

Also attended[edit | edit source]

External links[edit | edit source]