University of California, Irvine School of Law

History

The school was first eligible for and granted provisional accreditation by the American Bar Association in 2011 and was granted full accreditation in June 2014.

Admissions

Classes officially began on August 24, 2009. Approximately four percent of applicants were accepted to join the inaugural class of 60 students. The school's inaugural class was composed of 34 women and 26 men, with a median LSAT of 167 and a median undergraduate GPA of 3.61.

Tuition

For the first, second and third entering classes, tuition was paid for by private scholarships from Mark P. Robinson Jr. and others, at 100%, 50% and 33%, respectively.

The tuition for the 2011-2012 academic year was approximately $40,000 for California residents and $52,000 for non-residents and the total cost of tuition (not including the cost of living) at the University of California-Irvine School of Law for the 2025–2026 academic year was $61,208 for California residents and $73,453 for non-residents. The estimated cost of living on campus is $25,786 per year.

Scholarships

The school raised funds for full scholarships for all members of its inaugural class.

Despite offering reduced scholarships to its next two classes (one-half for 2013 and one-third for 2014) and applicant pools dropping to less than 1000 per year, GPA and LSAT numbers for these classes remained largely the same.

The school announced that universal scholarships would not be offered for the Class of 2015, while need-based financial aid would still be available. The school funded 20 full scholarships, including ones specifically for students wishing to pursue public interest law.

During the 2019–2020 academic year, 39.1% of students received a scholarship covering more than 50% of the tuition cost, 55.1% of students received a scholarship covering less than 50% of the tuition cost, and 2.1% of students received no scholarship.

Rankings

UCI Law School was ranked #30 in the nation by U.S. News & World Report in March 2015. By then, the applicant median LSAT score was 164, and the median undergraduate GPA was 3.53. The publication ranked UC Irvine 11th for its clinical program, 23rd for its intellectual property law program, and in the top ten for the student diversity index..For 2025, U.S. News & World Report ranked the UCI Law School 38th nationally. The entering class had a median LSAT score of 167 and a median GPA of 3.81.

Federal clerkships

In December 2011, the percentage of the Class of 2012 students who had received Federal District Court or Circuit Court judge clerkships for the year following graduation was second to the highest-ranking Yale and ahead of Harvard Law.{{cite web | access-date = 2011-12-13 }}

In May 2015, the ABA law school employment data ranked UCI third in the placement of federal clerkships, behind only Yale and Stanford. In 2023, there were 15 federal clerkships. Between 2020 and 2024, UCI reported on average 12 federal clerkships per year.

Employment

According to UC Irvine's official 2015 ABA-required disclosures, 93% of the Class of 2024 obtained full-time, long-term, JD-required employment nine months after graduation. UC Irvine's Law School Transparency under-employment score was 6%, indicating the percentage of the Class of 2024 unemployed, pursuing an additional degree, or working in a non-professional, short-term, or part-time job nine months after graduation. As of January 2025, 97% of the 2023 graduating class was employed, with a 97% bar passage rate.

References

References

1. (2022-04-07). "Austen Parrish is Named Third Dean of UCI's School of Law". UCI News.
2. "UCI Consumer Info".
3. "University of California {{ndash}} Irvine Law School Overview". [[U.S. News & World Report]].
4. (2019-12-16). "California Bar Exam Results: A Breakdown By Law School (July 2019)".
5. "Our History".
6. Haire, Chris. (2017-05-17). "UC Irvine law dean Erwin Chemerinsky named dean of Berkeley's law school, will begin July 1". [[Orange County Register]].
7. Vega, Priscella. (2017-12-27). "New UC Irvine dean will be only woman of color to lead a top law school, university says". Los Angeles Times.
8. "A message from Bryant Garth, Interim Dean and Distinguished Professor of Law Emeritus". University of California, Irvine School of Law.
9. (2022-04-07). "Austen Parrish is named third dean of UCI's School of Law".
10. "Accreditation".
11. "Offer of Free Law School Allows UC Irvine to Be Choosy - News - ABA Journal".
12. (September 18, 2009). "About the Inaugural Class".
13. "Mark P. Robinson, Jr. Profile Page". Robinson Calcagnie Robinson Shapiro Davis, Inc..
14. (2010-10-21). "UCI Law School Press Release, October 21, 2010".
15. "Tuition and Aid".
16. "Cost of Attendance and Debt at University of California - Irvine".
17. (2015-03-10). "Best Law Schools". [[U.S. News & World Report]].
18. (2014-11-18). "Class Profile". University of California, Irvine School of Law.
19. (9 March 2015). "UC Irvine debuts at No. 30 on U.S. News & World Report law school ranking".
20. (2026). "University of California Irvine, U.S. News & World Report, Best Graduate Schools".
21. (May 2015). "Visualizing law school federal judicial clerkship placement, 2012-2014".
22. "Judicial Clerkships {{!}} UCI Law".
23. "Judicial Clerkships".
24. "Employment Summary for 2024 Graduates {{!}} UCI Law".
25. "Employment Summary {{!}} UCI Law".