Brigham Young University—J. Reuben Clark Law School

Introduction

Since its founding in 1973, the J. Reuben Clark Law School at Brigham Young University has been distinguished by the strength of its programs and the accomplishments of its graduates. The Law School’s relatively small entering class size of 140 students lends itself to individualized instruction, while the university, with its 30,000 students, provides all the athletic, cultural, and social opportunities that a student expects from a great university. The students also benefit from the location of the Law School, which is situated in Provo, Utah, at the foot of the Wasatch Mountains, giving students easy access to multiple state and national parks, ski resorts, and public lands with outstanding outdoor recreational activities. The Wasatch Front is the home of some of the top information technology, biomedical, aerospace, and outdoor-product companies in the world and offers law students early access to a strong business network both inside and outside the State of Utah.

The Law School is fully accredited by the American Bar Association, is a member of the Association of American Law Schools, and has a chapter of the Order of the Coif. It also possesses a highly qualified faculty that, in addition to publishing in top journals and presenting regularly at academic conferences, consistently demonstrates a commitment to the development of individual law students. The faculty members do this by assisting students with directed research projects, hiring students as research or teaching assistants, coauthoring papers with them, and guiding students through the networking process for clerkships and employment after law school. They also regularly take students to lunch and participate in student events. Due in large part to its outstanding faculty, the Law School has produced 14 United States Supreme Court clerks and has an enviable placement record throughout the country in all branches of the legal profession.

The students themselves have academic qualifications placing them among the top law school applicants in the nation every year, and they possess a commitment to leadership and service that sets them apart. Each entering class typically comes from over 20 different states, and approximately half of the students have lived abroad for at least a year engaging in various work, education, and volunteer activities. Over 70 percent of the students speak more than one language, and they currently range in age from 20 to 57. The diversity of the students’ backgrounds and experiences makes each entering class a rich community of ideas and viewpoints.

Faculty and Curriculum

The combination of the small entering class size and our internationally renowned faculty creates unique opportunities for learning. Together, our faculty members seek to meet the challenge of making a difference worldwide as they engage in research, publishing, and public service. The objective of the Law School’s curriculum is to maximize the students’ mastery of legal reasoning and other legal skills while teaching the basic substantive rules of law. Approximately 150 courses and seminars are offered each year by 30 full-time faculty members and over 50 adjunct faculty members. In addition, the Law School provides opportunities for students to develop practical skills through international and US externships with private law firms, corporations, and government agencies, as well as public defenders, legal services, city and county attorneys, judges, attorneys general, and guardians ad litem.

The Rex E. Lee Advocacy Program

In addition to knowing the law, lawyers must synthesize complex information, analyze and formulate strategy, predict outcomes, and present information persuasively. The Rex E. Lee Advocacy Program administers a two-semester required course for first-year law students in the essential skills of legal writing, research, analysis, and oral advocacy. Students receive individualized attention during one-on-one conferences with instructors and teaching assistants and in small classes. In the Advocacy Program, students learn and practice the critical skills that bring success in both law school and the profession.

International Center for Law and Religion Studies

The BYU International Center for Law and Religion Studies promotes freedom of religion and belief for all people. The center sponsors and participates in symposia and conferences with scholars, government leaders, nongovernment groups, and religious organizations from numerous countries and faith traditions, in an ongoing effort to promote religious liberty for individuals and cooperative relationships between governments and religious organizations. Additionally, the center produces US and internationally based scholarship on law and religion. Finally, the center sponsors three important websites dedicated to disseminating in-depth knowledge on law and religion in every country worldwide: the International Center for Law and Religion Studies, the Religion and Law Consortium, and the Strasbourg Consortium.

Clinical Experiences

The Law School offers several clinical classes and programs designed to allow students with diverse interests to engage in meaningful work with lower-income clients, entrepreneurs, and other members of the community. These experiential courses and programs include

• Child Advocacy
• Community and Economic Development Clinical Alliance
• Community Lawyering
• Domestic Relations
• Domestic Violence Intervention
• Elder Law
• Family Law Skills Lab
• Government and Legislative Clinical Alliance
• Immigration Law Skills Lab
• Law and Entrepreneurship Clinic (in coordination with BYU’s Marriott School of Management)
• Mediation Practicum
• Negotiation and Conflict Resolution Clinic

The Externship Program

The Law School offers an academic externship program to students following their first year of law school. This program allows students to work with judges, law firms, corporations, public interest groups, and government organizations throughout the world. During the summer of 2013, over 190 students completed an externship, earning an average of four units of law school credit. Thirty-eight of those placements were international, with externships in 24 different countries. Over the entire year, 258 students participated in 313 externships.

The Academic Success Program

The Academic Success Program (ASP) is designed to help students adjust to and meet the rigorous demands of a legal education. The ASP offers skills training workshops, informal mentoring, and one-on-one tutoring to all students upon request and by dean’s referral.

Cocurricular Programs

The cocurricular program at the Law School offers rigorous experiences in research, writing, editing, and advocacy in six programs:

• Brigham Young University Law Review
• Board of Advocates Moot Court
• Trial Advocacy
• Brigham Young University Journal of Public Law
• Brigham Young University Education and Law Journal
• Brigham Young University International Law and Management Review

Career Services

The Career Services Office (CSO) is available to all students and graduates seeking employment. The CSO offers two legal career-planning courses featuring skills training and presentations by practicing attorneys who participate as guest lecturers. The office also publishes a Professional Development Handbook, Job Hunt Book, Public Service Handbook, Alternative Careers Handbook, and Judicial Clerkship Handbook and maintains a webpage with links for both students and employers. Graduates are placed in all 50 states and a number of foreign countries. The CSO brings firms to campus every year for on-campus interviews and has interviewing events in Washington, DC; New York; California; Texas; and Nevada.

Library and Physical Facilities

The Howard W. Hunter Law Library is one of the most technologically advanced law libraries in the world. It houses 475 individual study carrels with full Internet and LAN computer connectivity (hardwired and wireless). Thus, each student in his or her private study space has access to electronic resources that include Westlaw, LexisNexis, and the growing Hunter Law Library Electronic Reserve, which contains archives of past examinations. In convenient locations, printers and scanners are available for students on all library floors. The law library also contains 14 group-study rooms (4 of which are family-support rooms to assist law students who are parents and need to view closed-circuit broadcasts of classes) and spacious casual seating in open areas. Office and research space, along with a conference room for the Law School’s four scholarly journals, two advocacy groups, and the Student Bar Association, are also conveniently located. Specialized rooms are dedicated to video viewing, interactive video, and television hookups. The Rex E. Lee Reading Room and the Law School Conference Center Room provide ample space for special seminars and receptions. The library houses a collection of nearly 500,000 volumes and volume equivalents. Via interlibrary loan, students have access to many more titles found in the catalogs and collections of other worldwide institutions that, like Hunter Library, subscribe to the Online Computer Library Center (OCLC). A mock trial courtroom with state-of-the-art technology provides a superb training ground for learning trial advocacy skills. An open and spacious student commons area provides students with comfortable seating and a place to dine and have conversations with colleagues.