Drake University Law School

The JD Program

At Drake Law School you not only gain a solid foundation in legal theory, but also go to work in hands-on, practical experiences. All of our faculty have practiced law and bring their expertise into the classroom. Students gain real-world experience through clinical programs, internships and clerkships.  

Drake's First-Year Trial Practicum, the only program of its kind in the country, adds an important experiential learning dimension to the first-year curriculum. During the spring semester, students observe an actual state court trial—from jury selection to verdict—in the courtroom of the Neal and Bea Smith Law Center. Breakout discussion groups and post-trial debriefings of the attorneys, judges, and jurors poignantly illustrate how law on the books becomes law in action.

Centers of Excellence and Certificate Programs

• Agricultural Law Center: Our internationally recognized agricultural law program addresses the important issues in American and international law and policy regarding food production. Students conduct research, publish an agricultural law journal, and write articles on a wide range of topics. The center frequently hosts international agricultural law scholars who teach courses on international issues and topics such as farmland preservation, legal issues in biotechnology, and tax planning for agricultural businesses. The center also offers a series of one-week courses for students and attorneys in the Summer Agricultural Law Institute. The center offers a Food and Agricultural Law Certificate program, the first of its kind at an American law school.
• Business Law Certificate Program: The Business Law Certificate Program is designed to guide and further the interests of students in a business or transactional practice and prepare them for careers in business law, including private practice, with state or federal agencies, or as inside counsel for private and public companies. The certificate provides formal recognition of the knowledge, experience, and skills achieved by students who complete coursework and activities related to business, commercial, and transactional practice.
• The Compliance and Risk Management Certificate helps prepare students to enter one of the fastest growing legal fields. Coursework in this program includes The Law of Compliance, Introduction to Risk Management, Business Associations, Negotiations, and Administrative Law.
• Constitutional Law Center: Drake is one of only four schools selected to receive a congressional endowment for the establishment of a Constitutional Law Resource Center. The center sponsors a lecture series and annual symposia featuring nationally recognized constitutional scholars. The nationally renowned Dwight D. Opperman Lecture in Constitutional Law has been delivered by 11 current and former justices of the United States Supreme Court. The center also offers a Constitutional Law and Civil Rights Certificate program.
• The Criminal Law Program offers students the opportunity to earn a Prosecution and Defense Certificate. This program is designed to prepare students for careers in criminal prosecution or defense through extensive criminal law course offerings—beginning in the first year—and experiential training, including internship and clinical experiences.
• Center for Legislative Practice: Drake is one of only a few schools in the country that offers a Legislative Practice Certificate. Classroom study and a wide range of internships expose students to the underpinnings of legislative and rule-making processes. Students who complete the program are uniquely prepared to work for administrative or government agencies, research and draft legislation, represent businesses and organizations with government interests, or work in a variety of other public policy-making positions. Drake’s close proximity to the Iowa State Capitol and other state and federal offices, trade associations, union headquarters, and public interest group agencies provides students with numerous opportunities to learn firsthand how these institutions operate.
• The Middleton Center for Children’s Rights pursues a broad agenda, advancing children’s rights through the legal process, training, public information, and public policy formation. Drake Law students learn the interdisciplinary process essential to addressing the complex issues involved in child welfare and children’s rights.
• The Institute for Justice Reform and Innovation serves as a center for research and training on topics including implicit bias, sentencing reform, and improving trial procedures. 
• The International Law and Global Citizenship Certificate program combines coursework in Drake’s international and comparative law and related course offerings with a required study-abroad experience.
• Civil Litigation and Dispute Resolution Certificate: Drake Law School has achieved a well-deserved reputation for its education and training of future litigators, mediators, negotiators, and judges. Our alumni are well represented among the nation’s leading trial and appellate lawyers and on both the federal and state courts. The Civil Litigation and Dispute Resolution Certificate program capitalizes on the school’s traditional strengths in advocacy and dispute resolution.