LMU Loyola Law School in Los Angeles sits on a campus designed by famed architect Frank O. Gehry near downtown LA. It is part of Loyola Marymount University, a private Catholic university located on the other side of town.
During the past few years, the school has redesigned its curriculum to better serve potential employers by giving students the skills that will be vitally important for their first jobs and throughout their careers, according to Michael Waterstone, associate dean for research and academic centers.
“One strength of our school is our alumni network,” Waterstone said. “We have integrated alumni into developing these new concentrations.”
The school has the second largest number of alumni who are partners at large law firms in Los Angeles, following UCLA.
New courses include a civil litigation practicum — a six-credit course — in which students draft pleadings and write discovery motions and settlement agreements. They can also spend a semester shadowing lawyers in their practices. There is also a one-week intersession in January in which students have intense practice in drafting civil trial documents.
Loyola has had a strong commitment to public interest law for many years and was the first American Bar Association-accredited school in California with a mandatory pro bono service requirement. Students donate more than 20,000 hours of student legal services each year to nonprofits.
“We are so much a part of Los Angeles,” Waterstone said. “We make Los Angeles part of the student’s legal experience.”
The school, which is the largest in the region, also has a strong evening program for part-time law students — one of only a few opportunities in the area.