Marquette University Law School

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

Official Guide to ABA-Approved JD Programs

For more than a century, Marquette University Law School has been committed to training men and women to serve the public interest by becoming highly skilled and ethical attorneys. Traditionally, the curriculum has emphasized the practical aspects of legal education, including an impressive array of clinical, internship, and supervised fieldwork programs. This emphasis includes particular excellence in the areas of intellectual property, dispute resolution, sports law, labor and employment law, criminal law, family law, and litigation-related courses. The National Sports Law Institute, the premier sports law program in the United States, is a part of the Law School. Our more than 7,000 alumni serve in a broad range of legal, public, and corporate positions throughout the United States.

The Law School is located on the university campus—two blocks from the Milwaukee County Courthouse and a short walk from the federal courthouse and downtown Milwaukee. Marquette is the only law school in southeast Wisconsin. Marquette—a Catholic, Jesuit, and urban university—is the largest private university in the state. The Catholic and Jesuit nature of the school manifests itself in a specific concern for the well-being of each student, indeed each individual—the Marquette principle of cura personalis. Persons of all religious and cultural backgrounds attend Marquette, serve on our faculty, and are valued in our community. The Law School is committed to academic freedom, the broadest possible scope of inquiry, and the examination of any subject.

Learn more about Marquette Law

The JD Program

The Law School offers a full-time, three-year program, leading to the JD degree. A part-time option, requiring four to six years to complete the JD, is also available. The Law School’s curriculum is rooted in core courses that include consideration of the theoretical underpinnings of the law as well as the practical application of substantive legal concepts. The curriculum is national in focus and scope and emphasizes the skills and values necessary to be a competent and ethical lawyer as well as a contributing citizen and community leader. Our adjunct faculty includes many of the state’s outstanding practitioners who supplement required and core courses by teaching a broad range of electives.

Students may earn a JD/MBA through the Law School and the Graduate School of Management; of special note is the JD/MBA with a sports business concentration. Joint programs with the Graduate School allow students to earn a JD/MA in international affairs or political science. Each joint-degree program requires meeting all requirements of both the Law School and the other degree-granting program. Typically, each of these aforementioned joint degrees can be completed in four years. As an alternative to a joint degree, law students may take up to six hours of coursework in a related graduate program at Marquette, such as sociology, philosophy, or history.

Learn more about the JD program at Marquette Law

Marquette holds a strong reputation as a practical law school. For many years, the Law School has placed its students in the community working with actual clients under supervising attorneys. Wisconsin’s student-practice rules permit qualified law students to try cases prior to graduation. The Law School’s comprehensive trial practice courses provide an exceptional opportunity for students to develop trial skills. Distinctive clinics include the prosecutor and defender clinics and the Law and Entrepreneurship Clinic (LEC). The LEC is the first program in the Milwaukee area to offer free legal services to startup businesses and entrepreneurs, providing law students with hands-on training in transactional law while at the same time enhancing the Law School’s commitment to public service. Clinical or supervised fieldwork experiences, including judicial internships, are available to all law students, and the vast majority of our students complete at least one clinic or supervised fieldwork program prior to graduation.

Learn more about this opportunity

Marquette Law School’s sports law program provides a comprehensive offering of sports law courses and student internships with sports organizations, as well as opportunities for membership on the Marquette Sports Law Review and the sports law moot court team. Our broad, well-rounded curriculum is designed to provide students with both theoretical and practical education concerning legal regulation of the amateur and professional sports industries. Each year, the National Sports Law Institute and the sports law program host a sports law conference and other events which bring industry professionals to the Law School to talk with our students; these are just some of the numerous networking opportunities our students have with attorneys working in the field.

Learn more about this opportunity

From youth, high school, and college athletics, to the adult recreational and professional arenas, the sports world is unique unto itself.

Marquette’s Sports Law program has long served as a leading resource for that singular world – providing the nation’s most comprehensive offering of sports law courses and student internships with sports organizations. Ours was the first law review based only on sports scholarship. And, through our affiliation with the National Sports Law Institute, we have provided a national forum for discussion of American and international sports issues since 1989.

Building on strengths like these, Marquette created its Sports Law Certificate. Earned as part of the J.D. degree, the sports law certificate systematically directs students to the courses, skills, and experiential learning opportunities needed to excel in this arena. Further, when that certificate is on a resume, it proves to future employers a commitment to and competence in the field.

Learn more about this opportunity

The Law School’s expanding curriculum in water law—part of its Water Law and Policy Initiative—offers coursework in securing, allocating, and adjudicating water rights; water technology/business and intellectual property; administrative law; patent and trade secret law; environmental policy and philosophy; land use planning and natural resources law; and more.

Learn more about this opportunity

Marquette Law School's Lubar Center for Public Policy Research and Civic Education supports the Law School’s extensive engagement in public policy research and civic education, covering a wide range of activities including speakers, polling, fellowships, research, debates, and conferences.

Learn more about this opportunity

Student Life

The Law School's facility, Eckstein Hall, is a state-of-the-art building—LEED certified and award winning—that features the latest technology and houses a full-service café, a conference center, a fitness center, two courtrooms, underground parking, and more. The path-breaking, four-level “library without borders” offers ample study and work space while meeting the goals for a law library in this era of digital legal research.

Learn more about this opportunity

The Law School publishes the Marquette Law Review, the Marquette Sports Law Review, the Marquette Intellectual Property Law Review, and the Marquette Employee Benefits and Social Welfare Law Review. Each journal is student-edited.

Learn more about this opportunity

Students interested in moot court first hone their brief-writing and oral-argument skills in the fall Appellate Writing and Advocacy course. The top 16 to 20 performers may take part in the Jenkins Honors Moot Court Competition hosted by the Law School each spring. Students also participate in regional and national moot court competitions.

Learn more about this opportunity

Nearly 40 student organizations contribute to the vibrant community at Marquette University Law School. From dynamic events to social engagements, student organizations connect students with their peers and with causes important to them. These organizations also provide numerous opportunities to meet speakers, attorneys, and judges who share students' interests and expose them to the law in practice.

Learn more about this opportunity

Marquette is the only law school in the city of Milwaukee, a lively locale on Lake Michigan, 90 miles north of Chicago. Wisconsin’s largest city, with a metropolitan-area population of almost 1.6 million, Milwaukee retains the appeal of a small town. Clean and well run, it is known for its many cultural and entertainment festivals and the variety of its cuisine.

Career Placement and Bar Passage

Because of Wisconsin's Diploma Privilege, since 1933, graduates of the Law School have been admitted to the practice of law in Wisconsin without having to take the Wisconsin bar examination. Marquette JD graduates are entitled to sit for the bar examination in any US jurisdiction.

The Career Planning Center (CPC) processes hundreds of listings of employment opportunities, coordinates campus interviews, and provides individual counseling assistance to students—helping them to assess career options, tailor job-search strategies, and navigate the competitive job market in a personal way. The CPC will help students network with Marquette alumni and other potential resource persons. The Law School’s employment rate consistently exceeds the national average. Our goals are to keep our placement rate high and to ensure a good fit and job satisfaction for all our graduates.

Learn more about career placement at Marquette Law

Tuition and Aid

Expense	Cost
Tuition	$50,950.00
Expected Cost of Attendance	$73,096.00

Although most students finance their educations through a combination of loan programs, all applicants offered admission each cycle are considered for merit scholarship awards as long as funds remain available.

Admission Decisions: Beyond the Numbers

Evaluation of completed applications begins after October 1 and continues through the spring. Although the applicant’s LSAT score and academic record are important considerations in the selection process, the Admissions Committee also considers qualitative factors, such as letters of recommendation, essays, work experience, extracurricular activities, and personal accomplishments and experiences that would help a student contribute to the Law School, the legal community, and the profession. Admitted applicants are required to submit nonrefundable tuition deposits in April and June. These deposits are applied to the student’s fall semester tuition. Interviews are not part of the application process.

Learn more about admission at Marquette Law