George Washington University Law School

History

19th century

The George Washington University Law School was founded in the 1820s but closed in 1826 due to low enrollment. The first two professors were William Cranch, chief justice of the Circuit Court for the District of Columbia and William Thomas Carroll, a descendant of Charles Carroll the Settler and clerk of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1827 until his death in 1863. The law school was reestablished in 1865 and was the first law school in the District of Columbia.

Law classes resumed in 1865 in the Old Trinity Episcopal Church, and the school graduated its first class of 60 students in 1867. The Master of Laws degree program began in 1897.

20th century

In 1900, the school was one of the founding members of the Association of American Law Schools.

GW Law has one of the oldest intellectual property programs in the US. Its alumni have contributed to various technological advancements, including involvement in the patent for the Wright brothers' flying machine, granted on May 22, 1906.[[File:William Cranch.jpg|thumb|150px|[[William Cranch]], the first professor of the Law School and chief justice of the Circuit Court for the District of Columbia. ]]The school was accredited by the American Bar Association in 1923.

In 1954, it merged with National University School of Law. The law school operated under the name National Law Center for the 37 years from 1959 to 1996, when it was renamed George Washington University Law School.

Academics

Admissions

For the class entering in the fall of 2019, 2,488 out of 8,019 J.D. applicants (31%) were offered admission, with 489 matriculating. The 25th and 75th LSAT percentiles for the 2019 full-time entering class were 160 and 167, respectively, with a median of 166. The 25th and 75th undergraduate GPA percentiles were 3.40 and 3.84, respectively, with a median of 3.74.

Rankings and reputation

In 2025, U.S. News & World Report ranks GW Law as tied for the 31st top law school out of 195 in the United States.

Curriculum

GW Law offers numerous summer programs, including a joint program with the University of Oxford for the study of international human rights law at New College, Oxford each July.

Student recognition

Instead of supplying students with individual class rankings, the top 1–15% of the class are designated as George Washington Scholars, while the top 16–35% of the class are designated as Thurgood Marshall Scholars.

Publications

GW Law publishes ten journals:

• The George Washington Law Review
• The George Washington International Law Review
• The George Washington Business & Finance Law Review
• The Federal Circuit Bar Journal
• The American Intellectual Property Law Association Quarterly Journal
• The Public Contract Law Journal
• The Federal Communications Law Journal
• George Washington Journal of Law & Technology
• The Journal of Energy and Environmental Law
• International Law in Domestic Courts Journal

Student life

In the 2018–19 academic year, GW Law had 1,525 J.D. students, of which 25% were minorities and 51% were female.

Students enrolled in the J.D. program come from 206 colleges and 11 countries. The law school also enrolls students from approximately 45 countries each year in its Master of Laws and Doctor of Juridical Science degree programs.

Campus

GW Law is located in Washington's Foggy Bottom neighborhood.

The Jacob Burns Law Library holds a collection of more than 700,000 volumes.

The law school currently occupies nine buildings on the main campus of The George Washington University. The law school's main complex comprises five buildings anchored by Stockton Hall (1924) located on the University Yard, the central open space of GW's urban campus. Renovated extensively between 2001 and 2003, these buildings adjoin one another, have internal passageways, and function as one consolidated complex. Three townhouses directly across from the main complex house the Community Legal Clinics, Student Bar Association, and student journal offices.

Post-graduation employment

According to GW Law's official 2023 ABA-required disclosures, 90.0% of the Class of 2023 obtained full-time, long-term, bar passage-required, non-school funded employment ten months after graduation.

Costs

The total cost of full-time attendance (indicating the cost of tuition, fees, and living expenses) at GW Law for the 2024-2025 academic year was $106,471. GW Law's tuition and fees on average increased by 4.1% annually over the past five years.

The Law School Transparency estimated debt-financed cost of attendance for three years is $328,263. The average indebtedness of the 76% of 2013 GW Law graduates who took out loans was $123,693.

Notable people

Faculty

File:John F. Banzhaf III.jpg|John F. Banzhaf III, legal activist who devised the Banzhaf power index File:DavidBrewer.jpg|David J. Brewer (deceased), former U.S. Supreme Court associate justice File:Thomas Buergenthal.jpg|Thomas Buergenthal (deceased), former International Court of Justice judge File:Mary Cheh -- 05-14-2010.jpg|Mary Cheh, Washington, D.C. councilwoman File:John Marshall Harlan 1.jpg|John Marshall Harlan (deceased, taught at Columbian Law School), former U.S. Supreme Court associate justice File:Jeffrey Rosen National Constitutional Center (25417005805) (cropped).jpg|Jeffrey Rosen, National Constitution Center chairman and CEO, constitutional law journalist, and commentator File:Clarence Thomas official SCOTUS portrait.jpg|Clarence Thomas (former faculty), U.S. Supreme Court associate justice File:Jonathan turley 5263504.jpg|Jonathan Turley, legal commentator File:Justice Willis Van Devanter.jpg|Willis Van Devanter (deceased, faculty 1897 to 1903), former U.S. Supreme Court associate justice

Alumni

Main article: List of George Washington University Law School alumni

File:William Barr.jpg|William Barr, former U.S. Attorney General File:Secretary David Bernhardt (cropped).jpg|David Bernhardt, former U.S. Secretary of Interior File:Allen w dulles.jpg|Allen Dulles, longest-serving CIA director File:Senator John Foster Dulles (R-NY).jpg|John Foster Dulles, former U.S. Secretary of State File:Dan Glickman. Served as the 26th Secretary of Agriculture from 1995-2001.jpg|Dan Glickman, former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture and former U.S. Representative File:Hoover-JEdgar-LOC.jpg|J. Edgar Hoover, first director, Federal Bureau of Investigation File:Fulbright.jpg|J. William Fulbright, former U.S. Senator and founder, Fulbright Program File:Xu Mo2 (cropped).jpg|Hsu Mo, founding judge, International Court of Justice File:Harry Reid official portrait 2009.jpg|Harry Reid, former U.S. Senator and Senate Majority Leader File:Kellyanne Conway by Gage Skidmore 3.jpg|Kellyanne Conway, former Counselor to the President File:President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili in Tbilisi, March 22, 2008.jpg|Mikheil Saakashvili, former president of Georgia File:Russell Vought (cropped).jpg|Russell Vought, director, Office of Management and Budget File:James E. Webb, official NASA photo, 1966.jpg|James E. Webb, former NASA administrator and namesake of James Webb Space Telescope

References

References

1. "History".
2. (February 19, 2020). "GW Names New Law Dean".
3. "George Washington University – 2016 Standard 509 Information Report".
4. "George Washington University".
5. "Archived copy".
6. "Showing Our Strengths: The History and Future of GW Law".
7. "USNews – Best Law Schools".
8. "A Legal Miscellanea".
9. "Member and Fee-Paid Schools".
10. "Showing Our Strengths".
11. "Alphabetical School List".
12. (September 24, 2015). "GW Law: 150 Years of Making History, pp.12–13".
13. (December 4, 2019). "George Washington University – 2019 Standard 509 Information Report".
14. (December 4, 2019). "2019 Standard 509 Information Report". American Bar Association.
15. "GW-Oxford Summer Program".
16. "Academic Recognition and Grade Representation Policy". GW Law.
17. "Publications". GW Law.
18. (October 2010). "Welcome New Students". GW Law.
19. "Admissions". GW Law.
20. "DC & GW".
21. "Jacob Burns Law Library". GW Law.
22. "Cost of Attendance | GW Law | the George Washington University".
23. "George Washington University Profile, Costs".
24. "Which law school graduates have the most debt?". U.S. News & World Report.
25. Archie, Ayana. (2022-07-28). "Clarence Thomas drops out of teaching a law class after students protested". NPR.
26. (2022-07-27). "Justice Thomas no longer listed as GWU faculty after Roe backlash".