Boalt Hall of the University of California Berkeley School of Law, commonly called Berkeley Law, is one of the country's finest law schools. It is situated in the gorgeous San Francisco Bay area and is currently ranked 6th by U.S. News and World Report, higher than two of the five Ivy League law schools.
Admission at Berkeley Law is highly selective with an acceptance rate of just 12% in 2007, which is actually the highest it has been in several years. Berkeley Law is noted for its long-standing commitment to environmental law and also has a particularly strong intellectual property and international law departments as well.
Berkeley Law's three-year full-time Juris Doctor (J.D.) program operates from mid-August to mid-May; there are no part-time or evening programs or summer sessions. Housing information can be obtained at Housing Options.
Contact Information
215 Boalt Hall
Berkeley, CA 94720-7200
(510) 642-1741
Email: admissions@law.berkeley.edu
Website: http://www.law.berkeley.edu/
Fast Facts (Class of 2012)
- Enrollment Information
- GPA/LSAT Scores
- Costs and Fees (2009-2010)
Applicants: 7,960
Enrolled: 292
Women: 50%
Students of color: 40%
Student to Faculty Ratio: 1: 12
LSAT Median: 168
LSAT 25/75 Percentile: 165-170
UGPA Median: 3.83
UGPA 25/75 Percentile: 3.69-3.95
Tuition and health fees: $35,907 (residents); $48,152 (nonresidents)
Students may request instate tuition status after the first year of study.
Room, board, books, and personal expenses are not included in the above prices.
Application Procedures
Application fee: $75
Application deadline: February 1 for admission the following fall; recommended that you submit applications between October 1 and December 1.
Online applications through the Law School Admission Council (LSAC) are preferred, but applicants may also download a paper application and mail it to the school (Internet Explorer is recommended for download).
In addition to the application and fee, applicants must submit:
- Personal statement (2-4 pages)
- LSDAS report
- Two letters of recommendation
- Supplemental questionnaires (optional but recommended)
- Resume (recommended)
- Addenda (optional)
Transfer Procedures
Berkeley Law accepts transfer students who have completed one year and are in good standing at an ABA-accredited law school; the school receives approximately 200 applications for the 40-50 spots available to transfers. Admitted transfer students are generally in the top 3-5% of their law school class.
Transfer applicants must submit applications between April 1 and June 15 of the year in which they wish to transfer. In addition to the $75 application fee and completed transfer application, available through LSAC, transfer applicants must also submit the following:
- Personal statement
- Two recommendations from law professors with whom they have studied
- LSDAS report
- Home law school transcripts with spring grades
- Letter of good standing from home law school
For more information on transferring to Berkeley Law, see For Transfer Applicants.
Degrees and Curriculum
In order to earn a Juris Doctor degree, a student must acquire 85 semester units of credits, including:
- Required first-year curriculum
- Completion of moot court
- Completion of a professional responsibility course in the second year
- Completion of the Constitutional Law course
- Fulfillment of the writing requirement
- Six semesters of residence credit
For more specific information, see J.D. Requirements and Graduation.
The first-year curriculum includes Civil Procedure, Contracts, Torts, Criminal Law, Legal Research and Writing, and Written and Oral Advocacy; Constitutional Law is also recommended during first year and in any event required for graduation.
Berkeley Law offers the opportunity for students to earn several concurrent degrees with other departments at Berkeley, combined degree programs with other schools such as the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University or the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, and the Berkeley-Harvard Degree Program through with Berkeley Law students take their third year at Harvard Law and vice versa.
The law school also offers graduate L.L.M. and S.J.D. degrees. For more information on graduate law degrees at Berkeley Law see the school's website.
Study Abroad
From the Berkeley Law website: "Many students take advantage of study abroad programs run through other ABA-approved law schools during their 3L year. Students may go away for a semester or the entire year with permission from the dean of students. Generally, students should have completed all graduations requirements (except for the 85 units) before taking advantage of a study abroad program."
Law Journals and Other Activities
Berkeley Law has 14 student journals, including the California Law Review, Berkeley Journal of Gender, Law & Justice, and Berkeley Journal of Middle Eastern & Islamic Law.
Along with many student organizations, the law school has specialized centers for specific legal interests including the Berkeley Center for Criminal Justice, Center for Law, Energy & the Environment, and the Chief Justice Earl Warren Institute on Race, Ethnicity and Diversity; Berkeley Law also has nine different legal clinics available.
Bar Exam Passage RateA majority of Berkeley Law students take the California State Bar Exam and, in 2007, achieved an 84.9% pass rate. The overall pass rate for the California Bar Exam was 65%.
Post-Graduation Employment
From the 2007 graduating class, 99% were employed at graduation and 99% were employed nine months after graduation. For the Class of 2006, starting salaries in the private sector averaged $135,000, and $50,000 in the public sector.
Seventy-two percent of the Class of 2008 secured work in private practice, 10% went to public interest jobs, 9% received judicial clerkships, 5% accepted other government positions, and 4% entered the business field.
