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For Prospective Students » Law School Community


Law School Community

The phrase “law school community” refers to a way of thinking, planning, and communicating that emphasizes partnerships among students, faculty, and staff. It is as simple as doing things together. Professor Carol Parker gives upper-division law students experience as teaching assistants in her legal writing classes. Students work with professors as research assistants. Faculty members work with students individually to assist them in projects and activities that spotlight individual interests. The Moot Court Program draws in virtually every faculty member in some way. Faculty members spend countless hours helping students hone their skills so teams may represent the College of Law in interschool competition. Students, faculty, and staff serve together on major committees. Law students can choose from a variety of student programs, activities, publications, and organizations to enhance their classroom experience. As in any type of community, involvement is the key to success, and plenty of room for involvement exists in the UT College of Law community.

And it’s not all serious. Members of the law school community also have fun together with such activities as town meetings, open forums, the long-standing tradition of Chilla at Halloween, committee meetings over pizza, banquets to honor student achievements, and parties to celebrate the beginning and the end of the year. Each year ends with a celebration featuring an auction to raise money for the Student Bar Association’s student emergency loan fund, and each year’s graduating class appoints a development council that plans a class project to leave a lasting gift to the college.

The UT College of Law will provide you with a unique environment in which to live and learn. Tennessee has a relatively small law school; entering classes in the 150- to 155-student range allow for a favorable student-to-faculty ratio. The entire student body has fewer than 500 students. First-year sections of 50 to 55 students are comparatively small, and students at Tennessee are even better positioned for personal attention in their second and third classes. Upper-division classes in the fall of 2007 averaged 23 students per class, and several special interest seminars were conducted with one faculty member and five students.