Georgia State University College of Law

The information on this page was provided by the law school.

Official Guide to ABA-Approved JD Programs

Introduction

Georgia State Law’s state-of-the-art home features 23 classrooms, including courtrooms of varying sizes, a dedicated clinical space and skills suite, the Atlanta Center for International Arbitration and Mediation suite, and a 230-seat appellate courtroom for training and special events. The Law Library occupies the top two floors and offers quiet and collaborative workspaces, a casual café and outdoor terrace, and a formal reading room.

Georgia State Law was founded in 1982 and is accredited by the American Bar Association. The college also is a member of the Association of American Law Schools. Georgia State University is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges.

Library and Physical Facilities

The Law Library is equipped to meet the demanding research needs of today’s students, faculty members, staff, and members of the legal community. It is the official law library of the Supreme Court of Georgia. The library’s extensive collection includes three main statutory codes for federal law: United States Code, United States Code Annotated, and United States Code Service. Its Georgia collection includes primary Georgia legal materials, including Georgia Laws, the Official Code of Georgia (OCGA), Georgia Reports, Georgia Appeals Reports, and Georgia Digest.

Curriculum

Georgia State Law offers a blended traditional and innovative curriculum designed to meet the needs of our students and to reflect the growing reach of technology. The college builds on the foundational areas of the law in the first year with flexible options and elective opportunities that cover virtually all aspects of public and private law in the second and third years. Varied theory and special interest courses are available, such as law and religion, arts and entertainment law, or human subjects research, in addition to myriad skills and clinical courses.

Degree Programs

The College of Law offers 10 degrees, including the JD, the LLM, and nine dual degrees within Georgia State University and Georgia Institute of Technology, including

Bachelor/JD with the Honors College
JD/MA in philosophy
JD/MBA
JD/MCRP (Master of City and Regional Planning) with Georgia Institute of Technology
JD/MPA (Master of Professional Accounting)
JD/MPA (Master of Public Administration)
JD/MPH (Master of Public Health)
JD/MSHA in health administration
JD/MBA/MHA in health administration
LLM for Foreign-Trained Lawyers
LLM with a Concentration in Health Law
LLM with a Concentration in Intellectual Property Law
LLM with a Concentration in Environmental and Land-Use Law

Admission

The College of Law actively seeks to enroll students with diverse educational, cultural, and racial backgrounds, who will enrich the learning experience of the entire student body. Applicants are encouraged to visit. Contact the Office of Admissions to make arrangements to tour the campus, attend a class, and meet with students, faculty, and staff.

Special Programs

Clinics and Clinical Programs: The Bankruptcy Assistance and Practice Program works with the Atlanta Legal Aid Society and low-income Georgians facing debt crisis, foreclosure, and bankruptcy. The HeLP Legal Services Clinic represents low-income families of children receiving healthcare services through Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. The Investor Advocacy Clinic trains students in arbitration, negotiation, and mediation as they work with investors who have suffered losses resulting from broker misconduct and cannot secure private legal representation because of the size of their claim. In the Philip C. Cook Low-Income Taxpayer Clinic, students provide legal representation to low-income individuals during the post-audit stage of their disputes with the Internal Revenue Service. The Law Volunteer Clinic for Veterans provides free legal assistance to veterans enrolled as students at Georgia State. The Olmstead Disability Rights Clinic, a partnership with Atlanta Legal Aid Society’s Disability Integration Project, helps clients obtain the assistance they need to live at home instead of in an institution.
Capital Defender Clinic: Students join the defense team for the Office of the Georgia Capital Defender, an agency representing indigent defendants statewide who face death penalty trials or are on direct appeal from death sentences. Students help strategize each phase of the process, compiling forensic evidence and formulating defense theories, to build a case that will lead to the reversal of death sentences.
The Landlord-Tenant Mediation Clinic: Students will mediate landlord/tenant disputes and other disputes later in the year, including cases handled in the state and magistrate courts—particularly small claim civil issues such as disputes between neighbors, consumers and businesses, and creditors and debtors. Olmstead Disability Rights Clinic is taught in partnership with the Atlanta Legal Aid Society’s Disability Integration Project. The clinic focuses on advocacy arising out of the US Supreme Court’s Olmstead decision.
Externships: The Externship Program places Georgia State Law students with more than 70 government agencies, nonprofit organizations, and judges in the Atlanta area where they can strengthen their practical skills, gain greater insight into the operation of the legal system, and develop a heightened sense of professional responsibility. Students receive academic credit for work done under the supervision of practicing attorneys and judges at preapproved sites.
International Programs: Study-abroad options include trips and spring break and legal study in Istanbul, Turkey—allowing Georgia State Law students a unique opportunity to experience firsthand how extremely dense metropolitan areas tackle the challenges of disaster preparedness.
Urban Fellows: Urban Fellows is an interdisciplinary initiative of the Center for the Comparative Study of Metropolitan Growth, which connects top graduate students from Georgia State University and Georgia Institute of Technology’s School of City and Regional Planning to scholars and leading professionals to study and discuss issues related to urban growth.
Legal Skills Program: Lawyering Foundations focuses attention on writing, problem solving, and advocacy skills in the first year through more assignments, smaller sections, and more feedback. In the second year, Georgia State Law students build upon their writing and advocacy skills in Lawyering Advocacy, a hands-on litigation course that teaches how to represent a client from the initial interview to discovery and pretrial motions, and throughout the trial process.

Cocurriculars

Moot Court and Mock Trial: Students compete in moot court and mock trial competitions in the United States and abroad while refining their advocacy skills.
Pro Bono Program and Pro Bono Recognition Program: Georgia State Law encourages students to develop legal expertise and professional networks through pro bono work. Center for Access to Justice’s Pro Bono Program connects students with legal volunteer opportunities to address unmet legal needs under the supervision of a practicing attorney to enhance the capacity of the law to do justice. Students who work in the community are recognized at graduation with pro bono distinction.
Georgia State University Law Review: The Law Review publishes four times a year and holds an annual symposium. Students can make significant contributions to legal scholarship while encouraging local engagement through the Peach Sheets initiative, a legislative history of the Georgia General Assembly.

Centers

Georgia State Law has four centers that provide a wide range of purposeful and practical experiences to our students that help prepare them to practice law:

Center for Access to Justice: Founded in 2016, the center establishes a regional and national base for the study of how lower-income individuals interact with the civil and criminal justice systems.
Center for the Comparative Study of Metropolitan Growth: Brings together a professional network of lawyers, planners, and engineers committed to finding sustainable answers to urban growth challenges.
Center for Intellectual Property: Features an engaged alumni advisory board of intellectual property practitioners that partners with college faculty and community leaders to develop mentoring programs, scholarships, writing competitions, and job fairs for students interested in pursuing intellectual property law.
Center for Law, Health, and Society: Aims to improve public health through engaging educational programs, advocacy, and community outreach initiatives. The center advances the key role that law plays in promoting the health of individuals, families, and communities.
Consortium on Negotiation and Conflict Resolution: An interinstitutional, multidisciplinary program for the development of theory and practice in conflict management and resolution.

Student Activities

The college has more than 25 student organizations and cocurriculars, including the Student Bar Association, the Georgia State University Law Review, moot court, the Student Trial Lawyers Association (mock trial), and the Public Interest Law Association, which raises scholarship funding for students to take unpaid internships at Atlanta nonprofit organizations that are in need of legal support.

Center for Professional Development and Career Strategies

The Center for Professional Development and Career Strategies is dedicated to providing real value to students and alumni. Services include personalized counseling, customized and innovative job search strategies, and effective networking advice for the development of authentic relationships. The overarching goal is to prepare, assist, encourage, and support students and alumni throughout their career journey. The center also offers personal communication and branding workshops, networking events, on-campus interviews and job fairs, interview guidance, and career coaching. The center conducts on-campus interviews and participates in the following job fairs: