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University of Alabama School of Law

The University of Alabama School of Law,[4] (formerly known as the Hugh F. Culverhouse Jr. School of Law at The University of Alabama)[5][6] located in Tuscaloosa, Alabama is the only public law school in the state. It is one of five law schools in the state, and one of three that are ABA accredited. According to Alabama's official 2017 ABA-required disclosures, 84% of the Class of 2017 obtained full-time, long-term, JD-required employment nine months after graduation. An additional 8.4% of the Class of 2017 obtained JD-advantage employment.[7]

University of Alabama School of Law

1872

428 (approx.)

50 full-time; 40 adjunct

33rd (tie) (2024)[2]

92.94%[3]

Approximately 428 JD students attended Alabama Law during school year 2022–2023. 51 undergraduate institutions, 23 states, and 3 countries are represented among the class of 2026, and the student-faculty ratio is 6.7 to 1.[8]

The Children's Rights Clinic works with the Alabama Disabilities Advocacy Program to assist youth with disabilities in the juvenile justice system.

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The Civil Law Clinic is Alabama's oldest clinic and provides free legal advice and representation to University of Alabama students and community members in civil matters. Civil clinic students handle over 200 cases annually.

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The Criminal Defense Clinic represents indigent defendants in misdemeanor and felony criminal matters for both bench and jury trials.

[12]

The Domestic Violence Clinic takes a holistic approach to assisting survivors of domestic abuse in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama. In addition to providing comprehensive legal services, clinic students also perform outreach and education.

[13]

The Entrepreneur & Nonprofit Clinic provides free transactional legal services to small businesses, start-ups, and nonprofit organizations. The suite of services include preparation of formation documents, agreement negotiation and drafting, and regulatory compliance.

[14]

The Mediation Law Clinic provides an alternative to the adversarial litigation process for families to settle disputes more promptly and with a reduction in emotional trauma.

[15]

[19]

Alabama Civil Rights & Civil Liberties Law Review

Alabama Law Review

[20]

Journal of the Legal Profession

[21]

Law & Psychology Review

[22]

In 2007 Jarvis & Coleman ranked the Alabama Law Review (ALR) 36th "on the basis of the prominence of their lead article authors."[16] This represents an incredible 63 position improvement from the rankings of ten years prior. For 2015–2016, ExpressO, UC Berkeley's manuscript submission service, ranked the ALR at 10th in terms of "number of manuscripts received."[17] In 2015 Washington and Lee's methods rank ALR at 46th in both the number of citations from other journals and the combined score.[18] These show an improvement of 10 and 26 positions, respectively, over the preceding 5 years.


Approximately 40% of students graduate with journal experience. This is a slightly lower percentage than many of Alabama's peer schools, but nonetheless above the national average.

Costs[edit]

Tuition and fees at the University of Alabama School of Law for the 2018–2019 academic year total $23,920 for residents and $42,180 for nonresidents.[25] 69.2% of students received discounts during the 2017–2018 school year; the remaining 30.8% paid full price. Law School Transparency estimated debt-financed cost of attendance for three years at full price to be $157,785 for residents and $231,042 for nonresidents.[25]

United States Representative from Alabama (1915–1933)[27]

Edward B. Almon

United States Senator from Alabama (1969–1978)[28]

James B. Allen

sportscaster best known as the "Voice of the New York Yankees" and first host of This Week in Baseball[29]

Mel Allen

United States Congressman from Alabama (1913–1917) and President of the University of Alabama (1902–1911)[30]

John W. Abercrombie

Associate Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court (1976–1989)

Samuel A. Beatty

United States Senator from Alabama (2023–present)[32][33]

Katie Britt

(Class of 1978), clerk to Chief Justice William Rehnquist, U.S. Supreme Court, founder of law firm, Cooper & Kirk, in Washington, D.C.

Charles J. Cooper

Miss Alabama 2003

Catherine Crosby

Southern Poverty Law Center founder[35]

Morris Dees

Alabama Representative

Paul DeMarco

(Class of 1972), one of the first three Black graduates of the law school, later served as president pro tempore of the Alabama Senate

Michael Figures

(J.D., in 1985), former United States district judge for the United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama (forced resignation 2015)[36]

Mark Everett Fuller

founder of Habitat for Humanity

Millard Fuller

journalist, political consultant, and author[37]

Victor Gold

27th chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court[38]

Perry O. Hooper, Sr.

first woman to practice law in Alabama[40]

Maud McLure Kelly

(Class of 1949) former governor of Florida

Claude R. Kirk, Jr.

(Class of 1960), Republican member of the Alabama House of Representatives from 1969 to 1974 from Mobile; lawyer in Birmingham[41]

Bert Nettles

writer, attended the school for several years, but did not complete a degree. (1930–2016)[42]

Harper Lee

perennial candidate for Governor of Alabama

Shorty Price

former Attorney General and Lieutenant Governor of Alabama, and Civil Rights lawyer[43]

Bill Baxley

84th United States Attorney General and former U.S. Senator from Alabama (1997–2017) [44]

Jeff Sessions

starting quarterback on Alabama's 1978 and 1979 national championship teams[45]

Steadman S. Shealy

justice of the Supreme Court of Alabama[46]

Henry B. Steagall II

(class of 1951), law clerk to Justice Hugo Black, U.S. Supreme Court, and mayor of Birmingham, Alabama

David Vann

former governor of Alabama[48]

George Wallace

former Chief Justice, Supreme Court of Alabama; Republican nominee, U.S. Senate Alabama Special Election December 12, 2017.

Roy Moore

public defender and reality show contestant[50]

Nick Wilson

Official website