Seattle University

School of Law

The School of Law provides an excellent legal education in congruity with the overall educational mission of Seattle University. Reflecting the Jesuit tradition of academic distinction, we commit ourselves to preparing our students for the highest degree of professional performance. The 21st century presents novel and exciting challenges for legal practitioners, and we are dedicated to anticipating these challenges and educating our students to meet them. Our curriculum, designed with an eye to the future, enables our students to develop the intellectual abilities and practical skills necessary for a full range of career options -- whether they choose to enter solo or large-firm practices, serve as government or public interest lawyers, or use their legal educations to enhance civic leadership or business careers.

Grounded in the Jesuit Catholic tradition that promotes open inquiry, social responsibility and concern for personal growth, Seattle University School of Law strives to educate the whole person. By addressing mind, heart and soul, we bring authenticity and integrity to our educational vocation.

We educate lawyers who will lead and serve others with integrity and compassion. We aspire to foster the finest qualities of leadership and service: clear and critical thinking, effective communication, wise judgment, ethical behavior, and a charitable spirit. We explore with our students the purposes of the law, examining the value contexts in which citizens make decisions and take action. We conceive of legal ethics as a lifetime in the law at the service of justice, rather than as the mere observance of a professional code. We ask our students to exercise critical intelligence and to evolve a generosity of spirit as they grow professionally. Ultimately, we challenge our students to contribute to the common good by shaping an equitable legal system so that the American people may honor the law and respect its lawyers.

We do not choose among teaching, scholarship and service. Our faculty engages in cutting-edge scholarship while at the same engaging with our students and challenging them to not only learn but to live the law, through clinical programs and externship. We value innovation and creativity that enrich the classroom experience and deepen understanding. Our teaching is both demanding and humane; it blends legal theory, doctrinal analysis, and comprehensive practical-skills training. Our faculty is dedicated to scholarship and professional activities, for we recognize that the quality of teaching is enhanced by learning, that intellectual progress is inherently valuable, and that the pursuit of justice is furthered by dialogue with colleagues inside and outside of the law. Together, and through all of these pursuits, our faculty, administrators, and staff seek to be role models for the principled and public-spirited attorneys that we wish our students to become.

Home to the only part-time legal education program in the state of Washington, and programs and initiatives that examine law at the service of justice, the School of Law is a vital part of Seattle University, the Northwest's largest independent university.  The law school serves an impressive body of students, whose diversity encompasses age, life experience, and cultural heritage. Fittingly, the law school has been recognized nationally for its diverse faculty and welcoming environment for older students.

Seattle University School of Law has been recognized as having the preeminent legal writing program in the country. The three-year curriculum incorporates cutting-edge teaching technology into an innovative practice-oriented course of study.

The Access to Justice Institute (ATJI) is a sophisticated center of legal activism that enables students to connect their classroom learning to real cases involving real clients. Every year more than 300 students volunteers are placed in one of 55 legal services program, or participate in the other project administered by ATJI.

Working with judges, attorneys and advocates, students gain critical legal skills as they provide pro bono to low-income communities.

The Center on Corporations, Law & Society was established in 2003 to foster interdisciplinary scholarship and dialog about the roles and obligation of corporations in an increasingly privatized and interdependent global society.

In addition to serving as a platform for enhanced scholarly inquiry, the Center provides a forum for sustained discussion among academics, legal practitioners, business leaders, policy makers and community members on the complex relationships between business enterprises and their many stakeholders.

The mission of the Seattle Journal of Social Justice (SJSJ) is to promote critical interdisciplinary discussions on urgent problems of social justice, including exploring the often-conflicting meaning of justice that arise in a diverse society.

Now in its fourth year, the SJSJ has published articles in corporate ethics, environmental law and sexuality, civil liberties after 9/11, access to justice, and international human rights by such authors as Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Rita Dove, the Honorable Earl Johnson, Jr., Adrienne Rich, Ruthann Robson, and Alice Walker.

Our focus on the professional formation has led the School of Law to create one of the nation’s leading trial advocacy programs, providing opportunities for students to learn professional skills in both classroom and real-life settings, and to reflect on the legal, ethical and personal impact of their experiences.

In addition to the Trial Advocacy Program and an extensive Externship Program, the Ronald A. Peterson Law Clinic gives students real-world experience as practicing attorneys under the supervision of six full-time and seven adjunct faculty members. Clinical courses cover the full range of legal issues, including administrative and bankruptcy law, general civil practice, trust and estates, immigration, and international human rights. An innovative entrepreneurship clinic provides hands-on transactional experience in addition to the more standard litigation focus of many clinics.

Our students are, and will remain, distinctive and diverse. We admit students whose life experiences and talents demonstrate the ability, intellect, and character to complete our program successfully, whether they are entering directly after college, changing careers, or combining legal education with their ongoing professions. We actively seek diversity in our community, welcoming qualified persons of different races, ethnicities, religions, ages, disabilities, genders, sexual orientations, socioeconomic backgrounds, and points of view.

With a bold spirit and a steadfast commitment to academic distinction, open inquiry, and social responsibility, the Seattle University School of Law strives to promote learning in law as the cornerstone of effective democracy.

The law school is fully accredited by the ABA and holds full membership in AALS