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Case Western Reserve University Franklin Thomas Backus School of Law is the law school at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. It opened in 1892, making it one of the oldest law schools in the country. It was one of the first schools accredited by the American Bar Association and was a charter member of the Association of American Law Schools (AALS). Students of color were admitted with the first entering class in 1892; women were admitted in 1918. It currently has a curriculum of more than 200 courses, over 150 of which were newly added since 1997. In addition to the Juris Doctor degree, Case Western offers an LL.M. in U.S. Law to foreign lawyers. The student/faculty ratio is 13.8. 98.6% of graduates are employed or in post-J.D. degree programs. The median starting salary is 18% above the national average.

History

Case Western Reserve University School of Law is one of the oldest law schools in the country, having opened its doors in 1892. In many ways, the School of Law played a leading role in legal education from its inception. It was one of the first law schools in the nation to require a three-year course of study. Furthermore, it was a charter member of the Association of American Law Schools, a charter member of the Order of the Coif (the national scholastic honor society), and was on the first American Bar Association list of accredited law schools, published in 1924.

The law school is part of Case Western Reserve University, formed in 1967 through the federation of Case Institute of Technology (founded 1880) and Western Reserve University (founded 1826). Case Western Reserve University is a top independent research institution with one of the largest collegiate endowments.

The School of Law has a proud tradition of diversity. It admitted students of color with its first class in 1892 and women in 1918. Since that time it counts many distinguished attorneys from all walks of life among our graduates.

Student Body

• Approximately over 650 JD students;
• 52 LLM students from 14 different countries;
• 47% women;
• 26% students of color;
• 67% from outside of Ohio;
• 129 undergraduate programs represented;
• 31 states, the District of Columbia, and 7 foreign countries represented;
• Median LSAT: 160;
• Median Undergraduate GPA: 3.5.

Class of 2013 Profile

• Total Applicants 2211
• Class Size 236
• Women 47%
• Minorities 22%
• International Students 3%
• Non-Ohio residents 67%
• Average Age 24
• Colleges Represented 129
• Graduate Degrees Held 22
• Different Majors 51
• Foreign Countries 7
• States Represented 31 & DC

LSAT PERCENTILE

• 75% 162
• Median 160
• 25% 157

GPA PERCENTILE

• 75% 3.64
• Median 3.50
• 25% 3.26

Rankings

It is ranked:

• #55 (Full-Time Program) in the 2010 U.S. News & World Report graduate school rankings.
• #60 (Part-Time Program) in the 2010 U.S. News & World Report graduate school rankings.
• #4 U.S. News & World Report Specialty Area Rankings for Medical Law Program.
• Brian Leiter Law School Reports: "obviously underrated"
• Among the top twenty law schools in the country in alumni giving.
• #31 by the "Internet Legal Research Group" (ILRG) for Cost-Benefit Analysis of American Law Schools.
• #36 by the "Internet Legal Research Group" (ILRG) for Law School Rankings by Median Salary.
• #46 by the "Internet Legal Research Group" (ILRG) for 2008 Law School Rankings of Employment Rate at Graduation.
• #39 by the "Internet Legal Research Group" (ILRG) for 2008 Law School Rankings of Employment Rate 9 months after Graduation.

Journals

• Canada-United States Law Journal
• Case Western Reserve Law Review
• Health Matrix: Journal of Law-Medicine
• Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law
• Case Western Reserve Journal of Law, Technology & the Internet

Institutes & Centers of Academic Excellence

• Canada-United States Law Institute (with Western Law School at the University of Western Ontario)
• Frederick K. Cox International Law Center
• Center for Business Law and Regulation
• The Law-Medicine Center
• Symposium on Men's Legal Issues
• CISCDR (Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Conflict and Dispute Resolution)
• Center for Law, Technology, and the Arts
• Institute for Global Security Law and Policy
• The Center For Professional Ethics
• Milton A. Kramer Law Clinic Center

Legal Education

From an original size of four permanent members, the law school faculty has grown in number and expertise. Their scholarship and dedication over the years have allowed the School of Law to develop many cutting edge programs. The oldest health law program in the U.S., the Law-Medicine Center, was established at Case Western Reserve University School of Law in 1953. This academic center has developed into one of the most highly respected programs in the country. Other academic centers that have achieved national recognition include the Frederick K. Cox Center for International Law, established in 1991, and the Center for Law, Technology, and the Arts, established in 2002.

The school is on the forefront of clinical education with the first Juvenile Court Intern Program in the nation. It continues to believe in the importance of clinical programs in educating students while also serving clients. CaseArc, the school's Integrated Legal Skills Program launched in 2003, has again broken new ground. This program follows a sequenced and comprehensive approach to help students develop interviewing, counseling, fact-gathering, legal research, writing, oral advocacy, and negotiation skills.

Today, the school's faculty members are known for being distinguished in their scholarship and for their excellence as educators. they offer a legal education that combines theory with practice and a curriculum of more than 200 courses that prepares students for leadership in the practice of law. The school's student body is selected from a competitive national pool, with over 60 percent of our students coming from states other than Ohio. With graduate employment statistics that far exceed national levels, including a placement rate of over 95 percent.

CaseArc Integrated Lawyering Skills Program

The Program merges the teaching of legal theory and policy, legal doctrine, lawyering skills, and professional identity in a unique and exciting way, combining traditional classroom methods with experiential learning. We believe that every law student should be trained in the fundamental skills of effective lawyering. From the beginning, this approach creates better informed and more capable lawyers.

The program combines its key components into one sequenced and comprehensive approach that has created a very innovative lawyering skills program. Students are taught by teams of professors, each of whom brings special expertise to the common goal of providing a completely integrated approach to teaching law and lawyering. The CaseArc courses are carefully planned so that each succeeding semester builds on the previous ones. Each course is linked to a subject students are studying -- like Criminal Law or Constitutional Law. All of the students learn to grapple with increasingly complex life-like situations in the context of those subjects. From the first day of law school, they learn the essential skills of litigating cases and planning transactions. They learn how to represent individuals and they learn to represent corporations and other entities. They learn the complexities of problem-solving and strategic thinking. Finally, students begin to face the ethical and professional challenges confronting contemporary lawyers in an increasingly competitive and complex world.

FIRST YEAR

CORE I

In the first semester, as a complement to their doctrinal classes where they are learning legal analysis, students begin learning the most fundamental lawyering skills, such as interviewing, counseling, objective legal analysis and writing, and legal research.

Linked with:

• Criminal Law;
• Contracts; or
• Torts

CORE II

During the Spring Semester, Core II introduces negotiation skills, more advanced legal research, persuasive legal writing and analysis, and oral advocacy.

Linked with:

• Constitutional Law;
• Civil Procedure; or
• Property

SECOND YEAR

CORE III

During the second year, in Core III, students learn transactional lawyering skills, including negotiation and transactional drafting, and representation of business or entities.

Linked with:

• Business Associations
• Professional Responsibility

SECOND OR THIRD YEAR

Strategic Representation and Communication

Also taken in the second or third year (after Core III), this course focuses on problem-solving and strategic thinking. Students represent a single client in a simulated case from start to finish. They perform an extensive client interview and counseling session and negotiate with opposing counsel. They perform legal research and draft memos and client letters. They collaborate with co-counsel in brainstorming and implementing legal strategies. Students choose the type of case they want to work on.

Possible subjects (will vary by semester):

• Criminal Law
• Real Estate Law
• Intellectual Property Law
• Environmental Law
• Consumer Law
• Entertainment Law
• Landlord-Tenant Law
• Business Litigation
• Alternative Dispute Resolution

Notable faculty

• Jonathan H. Adler - A contributing editor to National Review Online and a regular contributor to “The Volokh Conspiracy," Adler is frequently cited in the American media and has been recognized as one of the most cited professors in the field of environmental law.
• Arthur D. Austin II - An expert on Antitrust and Contract Law. A prolific author, he has published frequently-cited articles in leading law reviews and three books: Antitrust: Law, Economics, Policy (1976), Complex Litigation Confronts the Jury System (1984), and The Empire Strikes Back: Outsiders and the Struggle over Legal Education (1998).
• Paul Gianelli - One of the country's foremost evidence experts, Gianelli has co-authored several leading evidence and scientific evidence texts.
• Richard Gordon - Former Senior Counsel of the International Monetary Fund. Gordon Advised the government of Indonesia on the reform of tax, company, and securities laws. Following September 11, 2001 he was appointed to the select IMF Task Force on Terrorism Finance and was a principal author of the report on the role of the IMF and World Bank in countering terrorism finance and money laundering.
• Sidney Jacoby (deceased) - a Nuremberg prosecutor.
• Lewis Katz - An expert on criminal law and author of significant portions of the Ohio criminal code, Katz was a candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives 14th District seat in Ohio.
• Henry T. King (deceased) - King was a former Nuremberg prosecutor.
• Juliet Kostritsky - An expert on promissory estoppel, Kostritsky was the former chair of the contracts division of the AALS.
• Michael P. Scharf - An expert on international law, Scharf assisted in the training of the judges in Iraq's Saddam Hussein trial.

Notable graduates

Alumni are part of a network of over 12,000 professionals worldwide.

Government and politics

• Thomas A. Burke, former Mayor of Cleveland and Ohio Senator.
• Nicholas E. Calio, President George H. W. Bush's Assistant to the President for Legislative Affairs; member of the White House Iraq Group.
• Marc Dann, former Attorney General of Ohio.
• William Daroff, Chief Lobbyist for Jewish Federations of North America and Presidential Appointee to US Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad..
• Lincoln Diaz-Balart, U.S. Congressman.
• Lee Fisher, former attorney general of Ohio and Democratic lieutenant governor of Ohio.
• Tim Grendell, Ohio State Senator.
• Ray Gricar, former Centre County, Pennsylvania District Attorney
• Martin Hoke, former U.S. Congressman.
• Dr. Mohamed Ibn Chambas, lawyer, diplomat, politician and academic from Ghana. He is the current Executive Secreteary of ECOWAS.
• Ron Klein, former U.S. Congressman.
• Donald L. Korb, Chief Counsel for the Internal Revenue Service.
• Capricia Marshall, Deputy Assistant to President Clinton; Social Secretary at the Clinton White House; National Finance Director for Hillary Clinton campaign; Currently Chief of Protocol of the United States.
• Roscoe C. McCulloch, former Ohio U.S. Congressman and Senator.
• Kevin G. Nealer, Senior Fellow of The Forum for International Policy.
• Jim Petro, Former Ohio Attorney General.
• Stephanie Tubbs Jones, U.S. Congresswoman (1999–2008).
• Michael Turner, U.S. Congressman.
• Mark A. Weinberger, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Tax Policy from 2001 to 2002 and as Chief of Staff and Counsel to the President's 1994 Bipartisan Commission on Entitlement and Tax Reform.
• Charles Z. Wick, Former Director of the USIA under Ronald Reagan (1981–1988).
• Ann Womer Benjamin, Director of the Northeast Ohio Council on Higher Education. Former director of the Ohio Department of Insurance.
• William D. Fosnight, Senior Vice President and General Counsel, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland

Business and industry

• Nicholas E. Calio, Citigroup Senior Vice-President for Global Government Affairs. He is responsible for government relations for Citigroup and all of its subsidiaries.
• Michael G. Cherkasky, former CEO and Board Member at Marsh & McLennan Companies.
• Austin Fragomen Jr., Managing Partner and founder of Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy LLP and Fragomen Global Immigration Services LLC.
• Paul Fields, Vice President, Odyssey Reinsurance Company.
• Frederick J. Krebs, President, Association of Corporate Counsel.
• Barry Meyer, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Warner Bros. Entertainment.
• Jacquelyn “Jones” Nance, President of Cleveland Browns Foundation.
• Geralyn M. Presti, Burton Awards for Legal Achievement "Legend of the Law."
• George L. Majoros, Jr., President and Chief Operating Officer, Wasserstein & Co.
• Laura G. Quatela, General Counsel, Chief Intellectual Property Officer and Senior Vice President, Eastman Kodak Company
• Michael Sharnas, Vice President and General Counsel, Visteon Corporation
• Elizabeth O'Keeffe, Assistant General Counsel, Dartmouth-Hitchcock.
• David Dvorak, President and Chief Executive Officer, Zimmer, Inc.
• Joseph (Joe) F. Hubach, Senior Vice President, Secretary and General Counsel, Texas Instruments, Inc.
• John (Jack) E. Lynch, Jr., U.S. General Counsel - Canada, E&P U.S. BP America Inc. Houston, Texas
• Marilyn J. Wasser, Executive Vice President and General Counsel, Realogy Corporation.
• Valerie Gentile Sachs, Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, OM Group, Inc.
• Mark Costello, Vice President, General Patent Counsel and Chief Strategy Counsel, Xerox Corporation
• Kurt R. Waldo, Vice President and General Counsel, Alcoa Inc.
• Alexander C. Schoch, Executive Vice President Law, Chief Legal Officer and Secretary, Peabody Energy
• Catherine M. Kilbane, Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary, American Greetings
• Colleen Batcheler, Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, ConAgra Foods
• Paul Marcela, Vice President, General Counsel & Secretary, Blue Bird Corporation
• Peter V. Leparulo, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Novatel Wireless, Inc.

Judicial

• Kathleen M. O'Malley, Circuit Judge for the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
• Edmund A. Sargus, Jr., District Judge for the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio.
• Leslie Crocker Snyder, Former New York State Supreme Court (New York County) judge.
• Mary Jane Trapp, Ohio Court of Appeals, Eleventh Appellate District.

Academia

• Evelyn G. Abravanel, American University Professor of Law.
• Bryan Adamson, Seattle University Associate Professor of Law.
• Hal R. Arenstein, University of Cincinnati Lecturer on Law.
• Richard Balnave, Professor, University of Virginia School of Law.
• William M. Carter, Jr, Temple University Beasley School of Law.
• Douglas W. Charnas, Georgetown University Professor of Law.
• Kenneth B. Davis, Jr., Dean of University of Wisconsin Law School.
• John G. Day, University of Connecticut Lecturer in Law.
• Sandra Fegan Gavin, Professor, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey School of Law, Camden.
• Sophia C. Goodman, Professor, Indiana University School of Law – Bloomington.
• Amos N. Guiora, Professor, S. J. Quinney College of Law, University of Utah.
• William D. Henderson, Professor, Indiana University School of Law – Bloomington.
• Jerold H. Israel, Professor, University of Florida Fredric G. Levin College of Law.
• Peter A. Joy, Professor, Washington University School of Law, St. Louis.
• Frederick J. Krebs, Association of Corporate Counsel President, Georgetown University Professor of Law.
• Suzanne P. Land, University of Cincinnati Lecturer on Law.
• James P. Madigan, Professor, University of Chicago Law School.
• Bryan C. Mercurio, Professor, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Faculty of Law.
• Mary-Beth Moylan, University of the Pacific Lecturer in Law.
• Kevin G. Nealer, Professor, Georgetown School of Business, Fulbright Professor of trade law and policy in the People's Republic of China.
• Rosemonde Pierre-Louis, Fordham Law School Professor of Law.
• Michael D. Rose, Ohio State University Professor Emeritus of Law.
• Joshua Rosenberg, Professor, University of San Francisco School of Law.
• Orly R. Rumberg, University of Cincinnati Lecturer on Law.
• Harold R. Weinberg, University of Kentucky Professor of Law.
• Anthony S. Zito Jr. The John Marshall Law School Professor of Law.

Other

• Fred Gray, Civil Rights Attorney to Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rosa Parks.
• Mike Lebowitz, attorney, legal pioneer in military expression, military law.
• Robert Burton Oberndorf, Founder and President of the Environmental Law Society at Case Western Reserve University School of Law, International Environment & Natural Resources legal consultant with experience in over ten countries.

In popular culture

• In 2010, the show The Deep End on ABC features a main character, Addy Fisher, who graduated from Case Western Reserve Law School .

References

1. ABA-Approved Law Schools by Year
2. about AALS: Member and Fee-Paid Schools
3. The law school is approved by the Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admission to the Bar, 321 N. Clark Street, 21st Floor, Chicago, IL 60654; (312) 988-6738.
4. http://law.case.edu/AboutUs/History.aspx
5. US News Best Law Schools (Ranked in 2009)
6. US News Best Law Schools (Ranked in 2009)
7. http://law.case.edu/AboutUs/History.aspx
8. http://law.case.edu/AboutUs/History.aspx
9. http://law.case.edu/Academics/Curriculum/JDProgram/CaseArc.aspx
10. Case Law on The Deep End - http://www.hulu.com/watch/122229/the-deep-end-pilot

External links

• Case Western Reserve University School of Law
• US News and Reports Ranking
• Official Guide to ABA Approved Schools
• CWRU School of Law Professors on Real Law Radio Several CWRU law professors have appeared on the Cleveland-based legal news talk radio program, Real Law Radio with Bob DiCello, to discuss legal news and current events.

v t e Case Western Reserve University
Academics	Schools Case School of Engineering College of Arts and Sciences Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences School of Dental Medicine School of Law School of Medicine Weatherhead School of Management Notable 2004 U.S. presidential debates 2020 U.S. presidential debates Case Comprehensive Cancer Center Department of Biomedical Engineering Frederick K. Cox International Law Center Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law
Campus	Adelbert Hall Allen Memorial Medical Library Dittrick Museum of Medical History Flora Stone Mather Quadrangle · Kent H. Smith Quadrangle Health Education Campus Maltz Performing Arts Center Mather House Michelson-Morley Memorial Fountain Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center Warner and Swasey Observatory
Athletics	Case Western Reserve Spartans Football Academic Bowl DiSanto Field University Athletic Association
People	Notable alumni and affiliates Nobel laureates Presidents
Student life	2003 shooting Dhamakapella Science Fiction Film Marathon WRUW-FM The Observer

• Law schools in Ohio
• Case Western Reserve University
• Educational institutions established in 1892