Whether you’re talking about students, faculty or alumni, Florida State University’s College of Law has plenty to brag about. In the top tier of American law schools, the FSU College of Law during the past three years has pushed its overall ranking upward 14 spots, according to “U.S. News & World Report.”
College of Law students are top shelf, too. “According to ’U.S. News & World Report,’ FSU law students have higher LSAT scores than students at any of the other nine law schools in Florida,” says Don Weidner, who, as dean of the law school, works with some of the brightest law students in the nation. “We also have top bar passage rates. We’ve been first in the state on the Florida Bar exam for two of the last three (years).”
And once its students have completed their studies, FSU’s College of Law boasts an astounding 99 percent job-placement rate within nine months of graduation.
Without a doubt, the College of Law serves its students exceptionally well, and they, according to Weidner, are not only an academically talented but also a diverse group. Current students hail from 37 states, 10 countries and 222 colleges and universities.
Recent FSU law graduate Jen Lopez, a Hispanic student, says all of her needs were met above and beyond expectation.
"Any question I ever had about anything-whether it was law-related or not-never went unanswered," Lopez recalls. "The staff was always there readily able to assist me. They always went out of the way to answer any question I had."
Such dedication helped the College of Law earn the distinction of being chosen for the last three years as one of the nation's Top Ten Law Schools for Hispanics by “Hispanic Business” magazine.
The exceptional faculty that helped Lopez and her classmates are also highly sought after to serve as visiting professors at various law schools across the country, including Harvard, Columbia and Vanderbilt.
It’s no wonder they’re in such high demand. FSU College of Law is ranked highly in several different areas among the nation’s law schools. For example, FSU’s tax law program ranks 21st, and the environmental law program ranks 12th strongest in the nation, according to “U.S. News.” FSU’s law school is the home base for some of the nation’s leading environmental law scholars, including Professor J.B. Ruhl.
"We have four full-time faculty who devote their attention to environmental law and land use law,” Ruhl says, “and several other faculty whose work on related fields also strengthens the faculty presence."
Weidner is proud of his esteemed faculty. “They're hot, and they're so good with the students,” he says. “Our students report that what they like most about the school is the faculty, and [their] accessibility to the students.”
The faculty also provides FSU law students with vital professional exposure. This year, the College of Law brought in some of the world’s top leaders for a conference to discuss global pharmaceutical concerns.
"FSU is a leader in research and development of new medicines,” says FSU Law Professor Fred Abbott, who led the legal discussion at the conference.
“We were very much involved in the development of Taxol,” he adds, crediting the University’s overall reputation as a leader in research and its Mag Lab as reasons FSU won the honor of hosting the meeting. “The Mag Lab is doing some exciting work in mapping sub-cellular structures, and that’s very exciting for people who attended."
In another exciting development, former College of Law Dean and FSU President Emeritus Sandy D'Alemberte received the prestigious Tobias Simon Pro Bono Service Award earlier this year.
The honor was steeped in personal significance for D’Alemberte.
"[Simon] served on the faculty of Florida State’s College of Law, and while he was here, he brought major prison litigation to clean up conditions in Florida prisons,” D'Alemberte says. “Toby Simon was a great hero of mine, a personal friend and a person who really cared an awful lot about justice. On a personal level, it's really wonderful to be associated with Toby in this way."
Additionally, the law school has a lot to brag about when it comes to alumni. Recent graduates work in 47 states and are successful in law, business, government and politics. College of Law graduates also remain very engaged in the law school. From serving as mentors to providing part-time work opportunities for students, alumni are constantly finding ways to enrich the educational experience of current students.
Thanks to its outstanding student body, dynamic faculty of experts and successful,
engaged graduates, the law school’s reputation continues to rise rapidly.