Case Western Reserve University School of Law | Legal Affairs

Case Western Reserve University School of Law is a nationally recognized law school in the heart of Cleveland’s University Circle, a thriving cultural neighborhood and top-ranked arts district in the United States We are part of Case Western Reserve University, and offer 11 dual degree programs in combination with other colleges at CWRU.

Established 129 years ago, we are one of the oldest law schools in the country and have a long-standing commitment to diversity. We admitted our first African American student in our first class in 1892 and our BLSA chapter was the second in the nation, established 50 years ago. 21% of our students identify as a member of a historically underrepresented minority group, and 55% as female.

We are a national leader in experiential education. With our 3L experiential capstone requirement, every student gains real-world experience in our Law Clinic or in a semester-long externship. In 2021, PreLaw Magazine ranked us #6 for practical training, and as one of the top ten law schools that deliver the best public interest law opportunities.

We are also nationally known for several of our specialty areas. The 2021 U.S. News and World Report specialty rankings placed us as No. 11 for health law and No. 16 for international environmental law (A), criminal law (A), trial advocacy and litigation (A), human rights law (A-) and public policy law (A-).

We’ve had the top bar pass rate in Ohio in five of the past seven administrations of the bar exam. In 2020, our 95% national bar pass rate was 20th best in the country. And our law faculty is ranked 36th in the nation (top in Ohio) in scholarly impact according to the 2021 Sisk study.

At over $127 million, our endowment is the 32nd largest of any law school, enabling us to provide generous scholarships. More than half of our students are from outside Ohio, and over 60% of our 11,000 alumni live outside the state. Our graduates are employed in a wide variety of legal, government, nonprofit and business settings across the country. Many of our alums are CEOs, law firm managing partners and other recognized leaders, including newly elected mayor of Cleveland, Justin Bibb (class of 2018). We are ranked 41st in the nation for producing the most Thomson Reuter “Super Lawyers and Rising Stars.”

Jessica Berg and Michael Scharf are co-deans of the Case Western Reserve University School of Law.

The CJN offered each Ohio law school an opportunity to submit a Deans column.

Some opted not to participate.