David A. Clarke School of Law


The University of the District of Columbia David A. Clarke School of Law is a public law school in Washington, DC. It is part of the University of the District of Columbia.

History

UDC Law was established as the District of Columbia School of Law after Antioch University decided to close its law school. The Antioch School of Law was a Washington, D.C. school established as part of Antioch College's Antioch Network in 1972 by Jean Camper Cahn and Edgar S. Cahn, a married interracial couple dedicated to improving legal services for poor people.
Eager to retain the Antioch School of Law's mission, curriculum, clinical programs, and personnel for the benefit of the city, in 1986 Antioch School of Law students, alumni and local legal and civic leaders mounted a successful grassroots campaign to persuade the Council of the District of Columbia to pass legislation that re-established the school as the District of Columbia School of Law. The Council of the District of Columbia later passed legislation merging the School of Law with the University of the District of Columbia in 1996. In 1998 President Clinton signed legislation renaming the School after former D.C. Council Chair David A. Clarke, a civil rights leader and long-time advocate for the law school and its mission.
The District of Columbia School of Law was awarded provisional accreditation by the American Bar Association in 1991, while the David A. Clarke School of Law was awarded provisional accreditation shortly after its renaming in 1998. It was awarded full accreditation by a unanimous vote of the ABA House of Delegates on August 8, 2005.
On May 15, 2020, the council of the American Bar Association’s Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar met remotely and determined this school and nine others had significant noncompliance with Standard 316. This Standard was revised in 2019 to provide that at least 75% of an accredited law school’s graduates who took a bar exam must pass one within two years of graduation. The school has been asked to submit a report by Feb. 1, 2021; and, if the council does not find the report demonstrates compliance, the school will be asked to appear before the council at its May, 2021 meeting.

Academics

Curriculum

UDC Law requires more hands-on work in a clinical setting – on real cases on behalf of low-income people and the public interest – than any other U.S. law school. The school requires full-time first year students to take courses on Civil Procedure, Contracts, Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure, Law & Justice, Lawyering Process, and Torts. Upper-division full-time students are required to take clinical courses and courses on Constitutional Law, Evidence, Moot Court, Professional Responsibility, and Property.

Degrees offered

UDC Law students can earn their J.D. in three years as full-time students or in four years as part-time students. The school also offers a two-year LL.M. program with concentrations in Clinical Education, Social Justice, and Systems Change.

Faculty

The school had 28 full-time faculty and three part-time/visiting faculty, including Antioch founder Edgar S. Cahn, as of Spring 2018.

Experiential learning

Each first-year UDC Law student provides a minimum of 40 hours of community service with a DC non-profit or government agency as part of the course. After completion of the first year, all UDC Law students are eligible for a paid . UDC Law also has an , allowing students to earn academic credit for closely supervised law-related work done in conjunction with the School of Law's Externship Course. In addition, UDC Law has a service-learning program that facilitates law student, staff and faculty service at family detention centers in Texas and elsewhere.
However, the heart of UDC Law's experiential program are its legal clinics, and all upper-division students to take two clinical classes.
The school offers the following clinics:
UDC Law enrolled 247 students for the 2018-19 academic year 63% of J.D. students were racial minorities.
In 2018, UDC received 584 applications, of which 207 were offered admission. Of those 207 admitted, 61 matriculated. The median LSAT score for students enrolling in UDC in 2018 was 147.

Employment

According to UDC Law's 2019 ABA-required disclosures, 38.8% of the Class of 2018 obtained full-time long-term JD-required employment nine months after graduation.
Washington, D.C., Virginia, and Maryland were the top employment locations for 2016 graduates.

Student life

UDC Law students can participate in more than 30 student organizations, reflecting a variety of legal and social justice interests.

Costs

The 2018–2019 tuition rates for full-time students are $12,838 for District residents, $18,756 for metropolitan area residents, and $24,674 per semester for non-District residents. Tuition rates for part-time, visiting and non-matriculating students are $402 per credit hour for D.C. residents, $601 per credit hour for metropolitan area residents, and $802 per credit hour for non-District residents. The total cost of attendance at UDC Law for the 2018–2019 academic year is estimated to be $55,301 for full-time students who are D.C. residents and $78,973 for full-time students who are non-residents.

Notable alumni