Northern Kentucky University—Salmon P. Chase College of Law
The information on this page was provided by the law school.
Official Guide to ABA-Approved JD Programs
NKU Chase College of Law has educated individuals who make immediate contributions to the legal profession and to their communities. With a collegial, student-centered environment in full-time and part-time programs, Chase provides an intellectually rigorous education in legal theory and professional skills; offers practical training through its curricular offerings, cocurricular programs, and specialized centers; and instills the ideals of ethics, leadership, and public engagement.
Located near a major Midwestern center of commerce, industry, arts, and entertainment, the region supporting a thriving legal and business community, Chase offers an affordable legal education with unlimited opportunities for students to gain practical experience. It is accredited by the American Bar Association and is a member of the Association of American Law Schools.
The JD Program
Faculty
Our professors have years of teaching and practice experience and they are committed to helping students succeed. With a focus on student success, our professors provide the skills and knowledge needed to excel in today's competitive marketplace.
Our world-class faculty members are committed to providing you with an unparalleled educational experience in the classroom and through superb clinical opportunities for students to gain first-hand experience in the law outside the classroom.
Whether you want to become a trial lawyer, advise business executives, consult with nonprofits, or utilize your law degree in the media, government relations, or any of hundreds of other ways it can advance a career, we offer multiple ways to get there.
- The full-time program typically meets five days a week and you can complete your degree in three years.
- The part-time day program meets three days and you can complete your degree in four years
- The Chase evening program meets two nights per week and you can complete your degree in four years.
Part-Time Divisions
For 125 years, NKU Chase has been providing legal education to working professionals through its part-time evening division. The part-time evening division meets two nights per week and some Saturdays. In addition, NKU Chase offers a part-time day division designed for those who work evenings or have other commitments that prevent study in the evening. The part-time day program typically meets three times per week, although students are occasionally required to attend events on other days.
W. Bruce Lunsford Academy for Law, Business + Technology
W. Bruce Lunsford Academy for Law, Business + Technology
The Lunsford Academy offers students an honors program designed to enhance the comprehensive legal education provided by NKU Chase by emphasizing legal technology, quantitative methods, leadership, informatics, and other skills critical to the future of the practice of law and business.
The Lunsford Academy trains students in creative design and problem solving for their law practices. In addition, students also develop skills that allow them to fashion creative legal solutions for their clients’ businesses. In the Lunsford Academy, students develop the foundational skills for becoming business-competent lawyers and business leaders.
Lunsford Scholars receive special invitations to exclusive events with law school distinguished alumni, donors, and leaders in the business and legal communities. They also receive mentorship opportunities with prominent members of the community.
Students will attend Lunsford Lunches where they will have the exclusive opportunity to meet special guest speakers and gain insights into leadership, networking, and career development. Students can bring their own ideas to the Lunsford Academy administration to help shape future events and courses.
Clinics and Field Placements
Centers and institutes at Chase provide opportunities for students to expand their knowledge or to develop practical skills through symposia, training workshops, and competitions. The centers and institutes are directed by Chase professors and attract scholars and practicing lawyers from throughout the nation to participate in panel discussions and presentations. Clinical programs are opportunities for students to apply the knowledge, critical thinking, and practical skills they develop in classes to real situations with clients in contested cases or in business-related matters. Students assume responsibilities for interviewing clients, investigating claims, drafting documents, and, for those with a limited law license, appearing in court with a lawyer’s supervision.
- Children’s Law Center Clinic
- Constitutional Litigation Clinic
- Small Business and Nonprofit Law Clinic
- Kentucky Innocence Project
- Sixth Circuit Clinic
- Veterans Discharge Upgrade Review Clinic
Additional opportunities for study outside the classroom are provided to allow students to develop their practical and professional skills and deepen their knowledge of particular areas of law. Field placements are available in a wide variety of settings, including criminal prosecution and defense, civil family and poverty law, juvenile law, and tax law, as well as in both federal and state courts and fields specifically tailored to the individual student’s interests.
Centers for Excellence
The Center for Excellence in Advocacy provides students with the knowledge, skills, and values they need to represent clients from the initial interview through the appeals process. Attorneys, judges, alumni, faculty, and students work together through innovative courses and programming. As a result, NKU Chase students develop practical litigation skills and graduate with an in-depth understanding of the law. Students participate in substantive and skills-based courses, competition teams, clinical opportunities, field placements, research projects, alumni mentorships, and student organizations.
The Transactional Law Practice Center provides students with suggested course schedules, skills-building workshops, simulations, field placements, opportunities to compete in scholastic competitions, and other programs that students will need to best serve transactional law clients. Students acquire and hone interviewing, negotiating, drafting, business-planning, client-counseling, communicating, and problem-solving skills. Focus areas include business and commercial law, environmental law, real estate law, adoption law, and intellectual property law. Skills training offerings include interviewing, negotiating, contract drafting, business planning, and client counseling.
Pro Bono Service Program
Chase students learn early about lawyers’ professional responsibility to provide uncompensated legal services for the public good—and at the same time they develop practical skills and make professional contacts that enhance their own career development.
The Pro Bono Service Program requires students to complete 30 hours of legal pro bono service prior to graduation. Students may design their own projects or select placements from a database of approved organizations such as legal aid, public defenders offices and government law offices. NKU Chase also offers structured pro bono opportunities such as the Chase Street Law Program, Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program and the Veterans Discharge Upgrade Review Clinic.
Certificates and Concentrations
Certificate programs enable students to focus their studies on particular skill sets. Students may earn a certificate signifying excellence in advocacy or transactional law by completing coursework and participating in field placements and extracurricular learning opportunities.
Concentration programs provide students with an opportunity to “major” in a particular law subject while simultaneously obtaining a well-rounded legal education. Chase offers a concentration in employment and labor law.
Tuition and Aid
Salmon P. Chase Merit Scholar
Criteria considered: LSAT and prior academic performance
Award: Full-tuition scholarship plus priority consideration for a research assistantship in the 2nd or 3rd year of study.
Henry Clay Merit Scholar
Criteria considered: LSAT and prior academic performance
Award: Awards ranging from $5000 to $20,000 per year
Diversity Scholarship Opportunity
Diversity is defined as the ability to enhance the multicultural and socioeconomic diversity at the College of Law through such characteristics as ethnicity, race, gender, age, abilities/limitations, and/or multicultural and socioeconomic background.
John Marshall Harlan Diversity Scholarship
Receive an award ranging from $3000 to full-tuition per year in scholarship. Applicants considered for this program must demonstrate diversity and a strong record of achievement. You must submit a Diversity Statement with your NKU Chase application.
Admission Decisions: Beyond the Numbers
NKU Chase seeks to admit applicants who have the potential to produce high-quality academic work. The Admissions Committee relies heavily on undergraduate grades and performance on the LSAT. Additional factors considered include academic performance, including course-selection patterns, upward trends in grades, and postgraduate work completed; achievements made in another profession or vocation; community involvement and volunteerism; cultural, educational, or sociological diversity; demonstrated leadership and professionalism; employment background, including working while attending college; and letters of recommendation.
Admitted Applicant Profile
