| Florida State University College of Law | |
|---|---|
| Established | 1966; 59 years ago (1966) |
| School type | Public |
| Location | Tallahassee, Florida, U.S. |
| Enrollment | 454[1] |
| Faculty | 62[1] |
| USNWR ranking | 38th (tied) (2025)[2] |
| Bar pass rate | 82.97% (Overall 2023 first-time takers)[3] 83.4% (Florida bar exam, July 2023 first-time takers)[4] |
| Website | law |
| ABA profile | Standard 509 Report |
TheFlorida State University College of Law is thelaw school ofFlorida State University located inTallahassee, Florida. It is currently tied for the highest ranked law school in Florida and is ranked in the top 40 best law schools in the United States. The College of Law is also ranked as one of the top 20 public law schools in the country and holds the second highest bar passage rate in the state.
The law school borders the southeast quadrant of the University's campus, near theDonald L. Tucker Center, an arena and part of the Tallahasseecivic center area. The College of Law campus consists of four major buildings, four historic houses around a green and five parking lots. It occupies two full city blocks and is directly across the street from theFlorida Supreme Court and one block from the Florida Legislature. The school's most recent addition is its 50,000-square-foot Advocacy Center, which includes five courtrooms.
According to Florida State University's 2016 ABA-required disclosures, 72.6% of the Class of 2015 obtained full-time, long-term, bar passage required employment (i.e., as attorneys) ten months after graduation.[5] According to those same disclosures, 81.7% of the Class of 2015 obtained full-time, long-term, bar passage required jobs or JD preferred positions within ten months of graduation.[6]
The College of Law was founded in 1966, and holds classes in the B.K. Roberts building, named in honor of the Florida Supreme Court Justice's role in creating Tallahassee's first law school at nearbyFlorida A&M University, in 1949.[7] Roberts held the State of Florida must provide African Americans some form of legal education in denyingVirgil D. Hawkins admissions to the University of Florida Law School.[8][9] Sixteen years later, the Florida legislature voted in 1965 to close FAMU law and open a law school at Florida State University by transferring allocated funds from FAMU law to Florida State University's law school.[7]
For the class entering in 2023, the school accepted 695 applicants out of 3,290 (21.12%), with 139 of those accepted enrolling, a 20.00% yield rate. The medianLSAT score was 165 and the median undergraduateGPA was 3.85. Two students were not included in both the LSAT and GPA calculations. Its 25th/75th percentile LSAT scores and GPA were 158/166 and 3.67/3.93.[1]
The College of Law offers theJuris Doctor (J.D.), which is thefirst professionallaw degree. The three-year program provides students a foundational first-year program, alegal writing program, and a varied offering of upper-level courses,seminars,clinics, and co-curricular activities.
Externship programs exist in the United States and abroad — including at theInternational Bar Association inLondon, theInternational Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia inthe Hague, the Special Court ofSierra Leone, inWashington, D.C., and in every major city inFlorida, allowing students to spend asemester outside of Tallahassee.
The College of Law offers aMaster of Laws (LL.M.) program inEnvironmental Law and Policy, as well as an LL.M. program for foreign lawyers. Additionally, the College of Law offerscertificate programs and its faculty also offer a significant range of courses in Criminal Law.
The College of Law offers aMaster of Studies in Law (J.M.), Juris Master degree. It has multiple concentrations and it is designed for non-attorneys to get a deep understanding of law in their respective fields of work. Some of these fields or specialties are Cyber Security, Financial Regulation, Employment Law, Human Resources Risk Management, Healthcare Regulation, Environmental Law, Criminal Law, etc. This masters degree program is a two year program for full-time working professionals and has rigorous requirements to be accepted into the program as it is very selective.
The College of Law offersjoint degree programs allowing students to earn other degrees in conjunction with the J.D., includingMaster of Arts,Master of Science,Master of Business Administration, andPh.D. degrees.
The Charter Class (1969) is the first--and only--class in any law school in Florida to have a bar examination passage rate of 100%.[Dictum, Obiter, "Obiter Dictum Vol. 1, No. 1 (Fall, 1971)" (1971). Obiter Dictum. 2.https://ir.law.fsu.edu/obiter-dictum/2]
In 2023, the overall bar examination passage rate for the law school’s first-time examination takers was 82.97%. The Ultimate Bar Pass Rate, which theABA defines as the passage rate for graduates who sat for bar examinations within two years of graduating, was 94.09% for the class of 2021.[3]
According to Florida State University's official 2016 ABA-required disclosures, 72.6% of the Class of 2015 obtained full-time, long-term, bar passage required employment ten months after graduation.[5] Florida State University'sLaw School Transparency under-employment score is 8.3%, indicating the percentage of the Class of 2015 unemployed, pursuing an additional degree, or working in a non-professional, short-term, or part-time job nine months after graduation.[10]
The faculty scholarship of Florida State Law regularly ranks among the top 30 law schools based on downloads, according to theSocial Science Research Network, which hosts working papers by Florida State Law Faculty in Public Law and Legal Theory,[11] Law, Business & Economics[12] and Sustainability Law & Policy.[13]
Nationally prominent law professors at FSU include faculty in: Administrative and Regulatory Law (Mark Seidenfeld); Constitutional Law (Nat Stern); Criminal Law (Wayne Logan,Gary Kleck); Environmental, Energy and Land Use Law (Donna R. Christie, David L. Markell, Hannah Wiseman); International Law (Frederick M. Abbott,Fernando Tesón); Law & Humanities, including Legal Philosophy (Rob Atkinson andFernando Tesón); Law, Economics & Business (Bruce L. Benson, Manuel Utset, Kelli Alces,Shawn Bayern); and Tax Law (Joseph M. Dodge, Steve Johnson, Jeffrey Kahn).
Florida State Law faculty members have published their own casebooks in environmental law — David Markell and Donna Christie. Other faculty authored books are widely used in law schools across the country for courses in Tax Law (Joseph M. Dodge), International Intellectual Property Law (Frederick M. Abbott), and Law and Economics (Mark Seidenfeld). Beyond the classroom, Florida State Law faculty members are regularly cited as authorities by courts, law reform bodies and other scholars. One faculty member,Sandy D'Alemberte, is a former president of both theAmerican Bar Association and the National Judicature Society.
Affiliated faculty from other university departments holding courtesy appointments at the law school includeJohn Scholz, a leading political scientist addressing regulatory enforcement;Bruce L. Benson, an economist focused and law and economics;R. Mark Isaac, a leading experimental economist; andGary Kleck, a criminologist known for his work on guns and deterrence.
TheFlorida State University Law Review is the flagshiplaw review of Florida State Law. It publishes four issues a year.
TheJournal of Land Use and Environmental Law is the state's first and remains its only student publication in the field. It ranks among the top environmental and land use law journals based on citations.
TheJournal of Transnational Law & Policy publishes articles in the field of international law, including human rights, comparative law and U.S. foreign policy.
TheFlorida State University Business Review is a law journal published annually at the College of Law which examines the interrelated disciplines of business and law. Originally founded and published by second year law students in 2001, the Business Review has become an official journal of the College of Law.[14]
.jpg)
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
