Elon University School of Law

Introduction

With its groundbreaking new model of legal education, Elon Law aims to be the nation’s preeminent school for engaged and experiential learning in law. Elon Law’s strategically sequenced progression of classroom learning and learning by doing provides accelerated preparation, stronger professional partnerships, and exceptional value unlike any other American law school.

Key Features

Elon provides all students with a sequence of increasingly immersive law practice experiences, including

• A first-in-the-nation program to provide all students with full-time, course-connected residencies in the practice of law
• A seven-trimester, two-and-a-half year curriculum that exceeds American Bar Association standards for required credit hours, reduces tuition and living costs, preserves summer breaks, and enables students to take the bar exam and begin careers earlier than those in traditional, three-year programs
• Rigorous courses taught by professors with significant practice experience and deep engagement in cutting-edge areas of law
• Lab courses that enrich foundational law courses with real-world insights and practical workshops presented by accomplished practicing attorneys
• Nationally recognized leadership training
• Shadowing of attorney-mentors to expose students to business and professional dimensions of law practice
• Moot court, mock trial, legal communications, and advocacy programs grounded in simulation-based learning
• Five clinics in which students provide legal services to businesses, children, families, and refugees
• Culminating Bridge-to-Practice and bar preparation courses transition students from legal theory to readiness for entry into the profession and practice in their areas of interest
• Four advisors assigned to each student based on individual career interests
• A supportive and collaborative community that is located in central North Carolina’s legal hub and professionally connected at regional, national, and international levels
• A fixed tuition 20 percent below the national average for private law schools and guaranteed not to increase for an enrolled student

National Recognition

Elon Law’s innovations in legal education have earned the school national recognition:

• In 2012 and 2017, The National Jurist named Elon Law one of America’s most innovative law schools.
• In 2013, Elon Law’s leadership program won the American Bar Association’s E. Smythe Gambrell Award, the top national award for excellence in legal professionalism education.

Personal and Professionally Connected

Elon Law’s 9-to-1 student-faculty ratio, with 25 students or less in a majority of classes, reflects the school’s emphasis on the individual development and success of each law student. In a small-school environment, students benefit from regular interactions with their professors and form close bonds with their peers. The law school provides every student with an individual faculty advisor, a practicing attorney mentor, an executive leadership coach, and a professional development advisor. Advisors support students in the creation of custom pathways to career success by providing integrated guidance about their courses, professional experiences during law school, personal goals, and networking plans.

Professors Who Teach from Experience

Elon’s curriculum is anchored in substantive law courses and distinctive skills development programs, taught by outstanding professors known for innovative teaching, influential scholarship, contributions to clients while in practice, and enduring commitment to the educational and professional success of students. All Elon Law faculty members have legal practice experience, enabling them to connect theory to practice in the classroom. All are also members of the North Carolina Bar Association.

Attorney Mentors from Day One

The Preceptor Program at Elon Law connects attorneys with law students in a mentoring relationship that introduces students to the business and professional dimensions of law. Preceptors invite students to shadow them at their practices, enabling students to observe trials, client interviews, depositions, mediations, and other aspects of law practice. Preceptors also advise students on their in-class performance and their professional and career objectives. While primarily involved with first-year students, preceptors regularly interact with upper-level students, as well as with alumni of the law school.

Clinics Where Students Practice Law for Those in Greatest Need

Students obtain in-depth legal experience working with clients through four law clinics at Elon. Our newest clinic, the Constitutional Law Appellate Advocacy Clicic, gives students an opportunity to work on a pending case before a state or federal appellate court with significant public policy implications. The Guardian ad Litem Appellate Advocacy Clinic represents abused and neglected children in the North Carolina appellate courts. The Humanitarian Immigration Law Clinic serves international refugees and asylum seekers fleeing war and conflict. The Small Business & Entrepreneurship Clinic provides legal services to start-up companies in the central North Carolina region. The Wills Drafting Clinic serves low-income residents of the region, many of whom are homeowners referred by Habitat for Humanity.

Moot Court and Mock Trial Anchor Elon Law’s Skills Development Programs

In addition to robust clinical and work-placement opportunities, Elon Law fields a nationally competitive moot court program and a mock trial program. Elon teams have won numerous best brief awards and regularly finish among the top teams in national competitions. Elon Law’s Moot Court Board annually hosts the Billings, Exum & Frye National Moot Court Competition, named for the three former Chief Justices of the North Carolina Supreme Court who served as founding members of the law school’s national advisory board, drawing dozens of teams from law schools across the country. Elon Law is also home to the Elon Law Review, an extensive trial advocacy program and an in-depth legal research and writing program.

A Nationally Recognized Leadership Development Program

Elon Law’s leadership program is one of the only programs of its kind in the country, offering students the opportunity to develop leadership skills that can propel them to excel in their communities and at all levels of the legal profession. The program emphasizes direct client engagement, the cultivation of a strong ethical base, a service-oriented perspective on the role of the lawyer-leader, and development of skills in self-assessment, professional development, project management, and team leadership.

A Pioneering Approach to Business Training in Legal Education

Elon Law is one of only a handful of law schools in the nation that is home to an official court of the judicial system. The North Carolina Business Court hears cases involving complex commercial and corporate law disputes in the school’s Robert E. Long Courtroom. The Long Courtroom houses state-of-the-art technology, enabling students to engage in trial practice in an advanced courtroom setting. The law school offers a JD/MBA program that can be completed in three years, as well as international business law courses in partnership with Elon’s Martha & Spencer Love School of Business. Many students travel internationally to engage law firms, international courts, embassies, government entities, and businesses in Italy, the Netherlands, China, Southeast Asia, and other parts of the world. The law school also partners with Vermont Law School to offer a JD/Master of Environmental Law & Policy. Elon Law operates a Business Fellows program in which students benefit from annual scholarships and engage in stipend-supported work placements in the offices of in-house corporate counsel.

Opportunities for Student Leadership

Elon Law students have formed and lead more than 30 organizations and cocurricular programs. Each graduating class of students at Elon Law has contributed thousands of hours of community service while at Elon through the school’s clinics, classes, and student-led volunteer initiatives.

A Growing Alumni Community

Many Elon Law graduates enter into private practice in small- and medium-size law firms in the Southeast and mid-Atlantic regions, but also in large firms regionally and nationally. Graduates also work in corporate legal departments, consulting firms, and in other business and industry sectors. Within government, Elon graduates have accepted federal-level positions in the Judge Advocate General’s Corps (JAG) through the United States Military, Presidential Management Fellows program, and offices of the US Congress. State and local government placements include positions within district attorneys’ and public defenders’ offices, as well as judicial clerkships in the North Carolina appellate courts and federal courts.

The Elon Law Incubator supports Elon Law graduates who wish to develop solo practices and creates opportunities for lawyers to provide reduced-cost legal services for low-income residents of Guilford County.

Location

Elon Law is located in downtown Greensboro, the state’s third largest city and central North Carolina’s legal hub, with law firms of all sizes, government offices, and numerous federal and state courts located within blocks of the law school. Greensboro’s thriving downtown district is in the midst of more than $200 million in major development projects, including a $65-million performing arts center, a $40-million downtown university center, a $14-million downtown greenway, a $10-million park, a new hotel, and several apartment complexes. With a population of more than 270,000, including 40,000 students in higher education, Greensboro is an excellent place to study law, engage with the legal community, and enjoy an urban lifestyle.

Elon’s Values and Strengths

Elon Law’s innovations in legal education reflect the values and strengths of Elon University, the nation’s preeminent university for engaged global learning. Elon, home to 6,800 students, is one of seven private universities in the nation with accredited schools of law, business, communications, and education, along with a Phi Beta Kappa chapter. The university’s traditions of engaged learning, innovation, and academic excellence are foundations of Elon Law.

Admission

The Office of Admissions accepts applications on a rolling basis. Elon Law accepts applications submitted through LSAC. There is no fee. Elon Law is one of the very few law schools in the nation to interview applicants prior to admission, as part of the school’s holistic approach to evaluating applicants. The law school offers an Early Decision option. Accepted applicants who join Elon University School of Law become part of a talented and dynamic group of students.

Financial Planning

Scholarships ranging from a few thousand dollars to full tuition are awarded based on academic abilities, potential for the study of law, demonstrated commitment to service and leadership, and other considerations. All accepted applicants are considered for scholarships. Over 80 percent of students in the class of 2019 received merit-based scholarships. Each scholarship may be renewed for each year of law school, assuming satisfactory academic progress, and Elon Law has one of the highest conditional scholarship retention rates in the nation. In addition to scholarships, Elon Law invites applicants to apply for Advocacy, Business, and Leadership Fellows programs, which provide additional scholarships and stipend-supported externships. Elon Law welcomes and encourages applications from veterans of the US Military, offering scholarships to those who have served the nation.