About

The University of Illinois College of Law provides a rigorous course of study, an engaging and exceptional faculty, and an active and diverse student body. The diversity of the student body is evident in nearly 40 student organizations, based on interests and backgrounds including scholarly, service, social, political, ethnic, religious, and societal issues.

The University of Illinois and the larger Champaign-Urbana community offer exceptional arts, music, entertainment, Big Ten Conference athletics, a lively nightlife, and one of the nation's most ethnically and internationally diverse campuses.

Class Profiles
Student Employment Data

The College of Law – A Proud History

Established in 1897, the University of Illinois College of Law is one of the oldest and best-known law schools in the nation. It was one of the small number of charter members and founders of the Association of American Law Schools (AALS) and was on the first national list of law schools approved by the American Bar Association (ABA). Illinois is the home of the founding chapter of the law honor society now known as the Order of the Coif, has been the home to many of the nation's great law textbook and treatise writers, and is the birthplace of the interdisciplinary movements such as law and economics and law and psychology.

Our Mission

Our mission is the serve as a preeminent site for the study of law, legal institution, and legal culture; to educate our students effectively and comprehensively in legal principles and skills; and to advance justice and the public good.

As an institution, we are committed to:

• advancing knowledge through research about law, legal institutions, and legal culture, bringing to bear insights from non-legal disciplines and reaching across national and cultural borders in recognition of rising global interdependence and the increasing need for cooperative responses to transnational problems and opportunities;
• developing in students the substantive legal knowledge, analytic methodologies, practical skills, moral commitments, and temperament necessary to achieve excellence in their professional and civic endeavors;
• working diligently for beneficial change in the law, legal institutions, and society;
• finding ways to keep legal education affordable and accessible, so that students have an expansive opportunity to pursue professional studies in law and so that graduates are not unduly constrained by debt in their public service and career options; and
• assisting students and graduates in developing their full professional potential, in light of changing opportunities and societal needs.

Academics

Our ongoing commitment to the highest standards of academic excellence assures College of Law graduates of their education's value in the greater legal community, across the country, and around the globe.

With the significant resources of a major research university, the expertise of world-renowned faculty members, and a variety of special program opportunities, academics at the University of Illinois College of Law are first-rate. Complementing the breadth of courses is an array of opportunities for active learning, both in the classroom and beyond.

More on academics
More on clinical programs

Faculty

The faculty at Illinois is one of the most respected and highly cited in the nation, boasting national leaders in the fields of bankruptcy law, corporate law, criminal law, elder law, health law, labor law, property law, and a variety of other fields. Collectively, they consistently rank in the top 25 in the nation for scholarly influence. More than half of the College of Law faculty hold advanced graduate degrees beyond their juris doctorates in fields such as medicine, economics, engineering, business, and psychology. Four members of the College's faculty have won the University of Illinois' prestigious Campus Award for Excellence in Graduate and Professional Teaching.

More on faculty

Successful Alumni Worldwide

More than 10,000 College of Law alumni, located around the world, provide a solid base of support for the school and a global network of potential employers for students. In the past year, College of Law alumni provided financial support for student scholarship, faculty positions, programmatic support, and facility enhancements. College of Law alumni and students have collaborated on the innovative Loan Repayment Assistance Program and numerous law school events, including workshops, lectures, panel presentations, reunions, admitted student events, and the Alumni-Student Career Conference.

More on alumni

A World-class University

Since its founding in 1867, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has been committed to excellence in research, teaching, and public engagement.

A world leader in supercomputing design and applications, the University is home to the National Center for Supercomputing Applications, developer of the internet browser Mosaic™, which revolutionized the use of the World Wide Web. A prime indicator of the University's excellence is the success of its alumni: 11 alumni are Nobel laureates, 158 are Guggenheim Fellows, and another 17 have won Pulitzer Prizes.

More on the University of Illinois