10 Reasons to Study Law at Willamette
1. Excellent Preparation for the Bar
Willamette University College of Law graduates have surpassed their peers in Oregon State Bar examination passage for six consecutive years.
- Among first-time takers of the July 2008 exam, 89.2 percent of Willamette graduates passed. The state passage rate for all first-time takers was 81.4 percent.
- The overall passage rate for Willamette’s first-timer takers and repeaters was 83.1 percent. The overall state passage rate was 74.2 percent.
- Throughout the last five years, Willamette's average passage rate was 83.8 percent an increase of 13.5 percentage points over the previous five-year period. During the same period, the state average rose by fewer than three points.
With these results, it's no wonder that many Willamette law graduates work at the most prestigious law firms in the greater Pacific Northwest (Alaska, Washington, Idaho and Oregon), as well as in Hawaii. Willamette students also work in Washington, D.C., and throughout California and Nevada. Several of our graduates have used their law degrees to pursue interesting nontraditional legal careers in business, industry and government.
2. Five Certificate Programs for Specialized Study
- International and Comparative Law
- Law and Business
- Law and Government
- Dispute Resolution
- Sustainability Law
3. You Can Earn an M.B.A. at the Same Time
With only one additional year of study, you can complete the Willamette University College of Law and Atkinson Graduate School of Management J.D./M.B.A. four-year Joint Degree Program.
4. Three Diverse Study Abroad Programs
- Shanghai, China at the East China University for Politics and Law
- Quito, Ecuador at the Catholic Pontifical University
- Hamburg, Germany at the Bucerius Law School
5. An Ideal Location for Work and Study
Willamette University is near the center of the historic, riverfront city of Salem, adjacent to Oregon's Capitol complex (and the Oregon Supreme Court and the Oregon Court of Appeals). Salem, the state's second-largest city, is not a college town like Eugene or an urban metropolis like Portland, but about an hour away from both and about the same distance to the Pacific Ocean and the Cascade Mountains.
6. Talented, Engaged and Accessible Professors
Among them are some very prolific scholars and deeply devoted teachers. They include, among others, widely-respected specialists in the areas of international and comparative law, corporate and business law, law and government, dispute resolution, environmental and natural resources law, labor law, sports law and constitutional law. The faculty also includes two former Oregon State Supreme Court Justices, distinguished jurists in residence and the chief justice of the Oregon Supreme Court.
7. An Impressive Facility for Legal Education
The Truman Wesley Collins Legal Center is an elegant, fully wireless, award-winning facility that is accessible 24 hours a day to Willamette law students. The beautiful J. W. Long Law Library anchors the north wing of the Collins Legal Center on the Willamette University campus. The law library's online catalog is highly impressive and includes the Oregon State Library and the State of Oregon Law Library. Additionally, Willamette University law students have access to the University's Mark O. Hatfield Library, which includes access to 22 million books and other materials.
8. A Small, Intimate Class Offering Great Diversity
Of the 25 law schools on the West Coast, only one is smaller than Willamette, which has 430 students studying law full time. The 2008 entering class boasts 159 first-year students. Forty-six percent of these students are Oregon residents. Women compose 43 percent of the class. Twenty-three percent are students of color. The average student age is 26.
The Class of 2011 represent 78 undergraduate institutions and 42 different undergraduate majors, from the more traditional law backgrounds of political science and criminal justice to the less common ones of biology, agronomy, foreign language studies, and art and design. They speak 14 different languages.
9. An Affordable Legal Education at a Private Law School
Generous scholarships enable the most talented law students to enjoy a Willamette education at a cost that is not only often less than many other private law schools, but less than many state-supported law schools. The stronger your predictors (test score and GPA), the larger the scholarship. Local rents also are dramatically lower than those of other West Coast law school cities.
10. Numerous Opportunities for Enrichment
At Willamette, we don't produce clones. As such, we provide a wealth of opportunities for students to pursue their individual interests and to learn outside the classroom. They have the opportunity to get involved in more than a dozen student organizations, including the Environmental Law Society, Multicultural Law Students Association, Sports Law Society, International Law Society, Willamette Lambda Legal Organization, Law Partners, Computer Law and Intellectual Property Students Group, J. Reuben Clark Law Society, Willamette Women's Law Caucus and the Law Student Christian Fellowship.
