University of North Carolina School of Law | |
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![]() Van Hecke-Wettach Hall | |
Parent school | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill |
Established | 1845 |
School type | Public |
Dean | Martin H. Brinkley |
Location | Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States 35°54′31.08633″N79°2′32.73″W / 35.9086350917°N 79.0424250°W |
Enrollment | 572 [1] |
Faculty | 65 (full-time) [1] |
USNWR ranking | 20th (tied) (2024) [2] |
Bar pass rate | 92.00% (2023 first-time takers) [3] |
Website | law |
The University of North Carolina School of Law, sometimes referred to as Carolina Law, is the law school of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Established in 1845, it is among the oldest law schools in the United States and is the oldest law school in the state of North Carolina.
On December 12, 1842, following discussion in the North Carolina legal community, the trustees of the University of North Carolina authorized the university's president David L. Swain to review and establish a law professorship. In 1845, William Horn Battle was named the first professor of law, and legal instruction began at the university. [4] In the years following, assistant professors and later an organized faculty and law library were added.[ citation needed ]
In 1915, Margaret Berry became the first woman to graduate from the law school. [5] In the 1920s, the school began taking on much of the character of a modern law school, after the American Bar Association first published guidelines for schools. University President Harry Woodburn Chase was instrumental in leading the efforts for this reorganization over notable opposition, including the governor of North Carolina. [6]
In June 1951, Harvey Beech, James L. Lassiter, J. Kenneth Lee, Floyd McKissick, and James Robert Walker Jr. became the first five Black students enrolled at the law school, leading the integration of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. [7] McKissick and other Black students had demonstrated in court that a state law school for African Americans in Durham was not equal to that in Chapel Hill. [7] In March 1951, a U.S. Court of Appeals agreed and ordered UNC to stop excluding Black applicants. [8]
Upon enrollment, the Black students "immediately confronted the intense pressure of trying to succeed in a highly competitive law school while dealing daily with racial bias from the very people tasked with fostering their educational success and with the pressure of having many other people's hopes and dreams riding on them." [9] Their first few months required a round-the-clock armed protective police escort due to Ku Klux Klan threats and other harassment, [10] but the students sometimes received more support from their peers than the school's administration. [11] For example, the student body voted to hold an integrated Barrister's Ball in 1952, but the university chancellor vetoed the social event. [12]
Despite the racism and institutional challenges, Beech graduated in June 1952, "becoming the first African American graduate of the law school and UNC-Chapel Hill." [13] In 1962, Sylvia X. Allen became the first Black female student to graduate, and did so as the mother of six children. [14]
As of 2023 [update] , the law school has 572 enrolled students and a student-faculty ratio of 8.8 to 1. The entering class of first-year law students in 2023 was composed of 179 students from 27 states, the District of Columbia, and Canada. Sixty percent of students were from North Carolina, and students of color made up 32.52% of the class. Sixty percent of incoming students were female, while 38% were male. [15] [16]
As of 2023, the University of North Carolina School of Law is ranked 22nd (tied) in the nation by U.S. News & World Report . [17]
For the class entering in 2023, the school accepted 16.27% of applicants, with 37.99% of those accepted enrolling. The average enrollee had a 166 LSAT score and 3.78 undergraduate GPA. [15]
The law school is currently located in Van Hecke-Wettach Hall, towards the southeastern side of the Chapel Hill campus, neighboring the School of Government and several athletic facilities. Van Hecke-Wettach Hall includes the Kathrine R. Everett Law Library, located primarily on four floors on the back side of the building.
The UNC School of Law is home to several centers that focus on issues of state and national interest: [18]
Clinics provide students with the opportunity to learn legal theory and put the legal theory to practice. [19]
The school is home to six student-edited law journals. [20] Founded in 1922, the North Carolina Law Review is the oldest law journal in the state.
In 2023, the overall bar examination passage rate for the law school’s first-time examination takers was 92.00%. The Ultimate Bar Pass Rate, which the ABA defines as the passage rate for graduates who sat for bar examinations within two years of graduating, was 94.33% for the class of 2021. [3]
According to the employment disclosures required by the American Bar Association, within ten months of graduation 86.77% of the class of 2022 obtained full-time, long-term, JD-required employment (i.e., as attorneys) and 10.05% obtained JD advantage employment. Two students (1.06%) enrolled in further graduate studies. [21]
The total cost of attendance, including tuition, fees, and living expenses, at UNC for the 2017-2018 academic year was $49,562 for North Carolina residents and $66,193 for out-of-state students. [22] The Law School Transparency estimated debt-financed cost of attendance for three years is $176,368 for residents and $243,846 for nonresidents. [23]
There are more than 10,000 alumni of the University of North Carolina School of Law since its founding. [24] Roughly 40 percent of practicing North Carolina attorneys are Carolina Law graduates, more than any other law school in North Carolina. [24] Many have gone on to notable roles, including government offices, such as former US Senator and 2004 Vice Presidential candidate John Edwards, and former Chief of Staff to the President of the United States and former US Congressman, Mick Mulvaney. Additionally, many have served in positions in the North Carolina state government. Among these are the current and recent North Carolina governors (Cooper, Hunt, Holshouser, Moore, and Sanford) and (as of the 2021 term) three of seven North Carolina Supreme Court justices (Barringer, Newby, and Hudson) as well as one alumn currently serving on the Court of Appeals of Virginia (Frucci).
Chapel Hill is a town in Orange and Durham County, North Carolina, United States. Its population was 61,960 in the 2020 census, making Chapel Hill the 17th-most populous municipality in the state. Chapel Hill and Durham make up the Durham-Chapel Hill, NC Metropolitan Statistical Area, which had an estimated population of 608,879 in 2023. When it's combined with Raleigh, the state capital, they make up the corners of the Research Triangle, which had an estimated population of 2,368,947 in 2023.
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is a public research university in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Chartered in 1789, the university first began enrolling students in 1795, making it one of the oldest public universities in the United States.
Frank Porter Graham was an American educator and political activist. A professor of history, he was elected President of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1930, and he later became the first President of the consolidated University of North Carolina system.
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Douglas E. Berger is an American attorney, former prosecutor and politician who served as a member of the North Carolina General Assembly representing the state's 7th Senate district for four terms, starting in 2005. A member of the Democratic Party, his district included Franklin County, Granville County, Vance County and Warren County.
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Rameses is the ram mascot of the North Carolina Tar Heels. The anthropomorphic version of him wears a Tar Heels jersey. Two versions of Rameses appear at UNC sporting events. One is a member of the UNC cheerleading team in an anthropomorphic ram costume; the other is a live Dorset Horn sheep named Rameses who attends Carolina football games with his horns painted Carolina blue. There is a third UNC mascot; another anthropomorphic ram, Rameses Jr., or RJ for short.
The Norman Adrian Wiggins School of Law is a private law school in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. Founded in 1976, the law school is one of six graduate programs offered by Campbell University. The school is named after its founder, Norman Adrian Wiggins, former President and Chancellor of Campbell University, and creator of the institution's law division. Originally housed on the main campus of Campbell University in Buies Creek, the school moved to a newly constructed facility in downtown Raleigh in September, 2009.
Franklin Street is a prominent thoroughfare in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Historic Franklin Street is considered the center of social life for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, as well as the town of Chapel Hill.
Floyd Bixler McKissick was an American lawyer and civil rights activist. He became the first African-American student at the University of North Carolina School of Law. In 1966 he became leader of CORE, the Congress of Racial Equality, taking over from James Farmer. A supporter of Black Power, he turned CORE into a more radical movement. In 1968, McKissick left CORE to found Soul City in Warren County, North Carolina. He was an active Republican and endorsed Richard Nixon for president that year, and the federal government, under President Nixon, supported Soul City. He became a state district court judge in 1990 and died on April 28, 1991.
The University of North Carolina School of Medicine is a professional school within the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. It offers a Doctor of Medicine degree along with combined Doctor of Medicine / Doctor of Philosophy or Doctor of Medicine / Master of Public Health degrees.
The North Carolina Law Review is a law journal of the University of North Carolina School of Law. It publishes six issues each year as well as its online supplement, the North Carolina Law Review Forum.
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Robert Davis Glass was the first African American justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court, serving from 1987 to 1992. He was a plaintiff in McKissick v. Carmichael, which desegregated the University of North Carolina School of Law in 1951.
Martin H. Brinkley is an American lawyer. He is the 14th Dean and the William R. Kenan Jr. Distinguished Professor at the School of Law of the University of North Carolina.
Harold T. Epps Sr. was a prominent attorney in North Carolina who was instrumental in desegregating the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Law.