About the College
10 Reasons to Study Law at Willamette
1. Excellent Preparation for the Bar
For the last seven consecutive years, the graduates of Willamette University College of Law have outperformed their peers on the Oregon State Bar examination. Eighty-eight percent of Willamette graduates who took the July 2009 exam for the first time passed. The graduates of all other law schools passed at a rate of 75.1 percent.
- This difference of 12.9 percentage points is the second largest in the last 30 years. The highest was in 2004 (84.9 percent vs. 71.8 percent).
- In the last seven years, Willamette graduates have outperformed the graduates of other law schools by an average of 6.8 percentage 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. WUCL Was Ranked a "Best Value Law School" by The National Jurist
In September 2011, Willamette University College of Law was ranked among the top "Best Value Law Schools" by The National Jurist for the third straight year. The magazine identified those law schools that give students the best bang for their buck — ones that "carry a low price tag and are able to prepare their students incredibly well for today's competitive job market." The College of Law placed second among the nation's 107 private law schools.
Willamette's law school ranked above the other three private law schools in the Northwest. For more information on the "Best Value Law Schools" ranking, click here.
3. Five Certificate Programs for Specialized Study
- International and Comparative Law
- Law and Business
- Law and Government
- Dispute Resolution
- Sustainability Law
4. 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.
5. 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
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 420 students studying law full time. The 2011 entering class boasts 146 first-year students. Fifty-seven percent of these students are non-Oregon residents. Women compose 39 percent of the class. Eighteen percent are students of color. The average student age is 25.
The Class of 2014 represent 87 undergraduate institutions and 39 different undergraduate majors, from the more traditional law backgrounds of political science and criminal justice to the less common ones of anthropology, engineering, linguistics and zoology. They speak 20 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.