Columbus School of Law
The Catholic University of America Columbus School of Law is the law school of the Catholic University of America, a private Roman Catholic research university in Washington, D.C., United States.
"Catholic Law" redirects here. For the religion law, see Canon law of the Catholic Church.More than 400 Juris Doctor students attend Catholic Law. Incoming classes are typically composed of about 150 students, including day and evening programs.[2] Around 1,500 students apply annually.[2] According to Catholic Law's 2023 ABA-required disclosures, 92% of 2022 graduates obtained full-time, long-term employment requiring bar passage ten months after graduation.[5]
History[edit]
Catholic University of America began offering instruction in law in 1895, as part of its decision to open "faculties for the laity."[1] The department was turned into an official school in 1898.[1]
In 1919, the Knights of Columbus founded an educational program known as Columbus University which provided an evening education program for Catholic war veterans returning from World War I. This institution was closely affiliated with Catholic University and shared faculty at both institutions' Washington, D.C., locations. In 1954, Columbus University (then consisting only of an evening law school) merged with Catholic University's law school to form the Columbus School of Law.
The law school has been accredited by the Association of American Law Schools since 1921[6] and the American Bar Association since 1925.[7] Catholic University's law school has established a progressive history of inclusion. Its first African-American student was enrolled in 1902; its first female student in 1922.
Rankings[edit]
In the 2024 "Best Law Schools" edition of U.S. News & World Report, the Columbus School of Law is ranked 94th.[3] Its part-time program is ranked 26th.[3]
Student body[edit]
As of October 2021, Catholic Law enrolled 406 J.D. students, including 161 first-year students. Catholic Law received 1493 applications for 2021 enrollment and offered admission to 593, an acceptance rate of 40%. Among its first-year class, the median LSAT score was 158 and median undergraduate GPA was 3.5.[2]
Of Catholic Law's 406 students enrolled in October 2021, 283 (70%) attended full-time and 123 (30%) attended part-time. According to the U.S. News & World Report, 60% of the student body was female and 40% male. In addition, the student body was 68% white, 10% Hispanic, 6% Black or African American, 5% Asian, less than 1% Pacific Islander and American Indian, 5% two or more races, 5% unknown race, and 1% international.[3]
In the 2013–2014 academic year, Catholic Law admitted 161 students and enrolled a total of 519 students.[8] The law school had the third largest drop in enrollment between the 2010–2011 academic year and 2013–2014 academic year, with enrollment falling 39.5%.[9]
Over 30 student organizations are active on campus.[10] The school has a moot court program with teams practicing in international law, communications law, labor law, constitutional law, securities law, national security, and a trials competition.[11] The moot court team holds an annual inter-school competition between 1Ls called SoapBox.[12]
Costs[edit]
During the 2021-2022 academic year, annual tuition and fees were $56,040 for full-time J.D. students and $38,690 for part-time J.D. students. The annual estimated total cost of attendance for J.D. students not living with their parents, which includes tuition and fees, living expenses, transportation expenses, book expenses, and miscellaneous personal expenses, was $85,840 for full-time students and $68,490 for part-time students.[13] Between 2015 and 2019, the average annual increase in tuition and fees at Catholic Law was 2.86%.[14] In addition, in the 2020–21 academic year, 98% of part-time students and 100% of full-time students received a scholarship or grant from Catholic Law.[2]
Employment outcomes[edit]
According to Catholic Law's official 2021 ABA-required disclosures, the first-time bar passage rate of 2020 graduates was 89%.[4] Within nine months of graduation, 59% of 2021 graduates obtained full-time, long-term employment requiring bar passage; 23% obtained employment in full-time, long-term positions where having a J.D. was preferred; 2% obtained employment in other full-time, long-term professional positions; and the remaining 16% either obtained short-term positions or part-time positions, did not obtain employment, or did not report their employment status.[5] None of those jobs were school-funded positions.[5] Graduates who obtained full-time, long-term positions within nine months of graduation became employed in a variety of contexts, including approximately 4% in federal judicial clerkships, 15% in state and local judicial clerkships, 24% in government, 29% in private practice, 21% in business and industry, 6% in public interest, and 1% in education. Geographically, most of Catholic Law's 2021 graduates who became employed within nine months of graduation were hired to work in Washington, D.C., followed by Virginia and Maryland.[5]
Catholic Law ranked 150th out of the 201 ABA-approved law schools in terms of the percentage of 2013 graduates with non-school-funded, full-time, long-term, bar-passage-required jobs nine months after graduation.[15]
Campus[edit]
The Columbus School of Law is located on the campus of the Catholic University of America, and law students have access to many of the same services and facilities as undergraduate students. Completed in 1994, the law school building contains the Kathryn J. DuFour Law Library, the Walter A. Slowinski and Haislip and Yewell Courtrooms, and the three-story Keelty Atrium. The building is located in the Brookland neighborhood of Washington, D.C., and is a five-minute walk from the Brookland-CUA metro station.