Dayton Law School | Legal Affairs

Though it has been many years, I remember my own process of deciding where to go to law school as one fraught with anxiety and confusion. When I confronted more recently in 2015 the decision of whether to become the dean Dayton Law, I was faced with a surprisingly similar decision.

I knew little about Dayton and even less about the university and its law school. Now, six-and-a-half years later, I consider my decision to accept the Dayton deanship as one of the best of my life. Let me explain just some of what I consider to be special about UDSL.

• Dayton Law is flexible: Giving Dayton a special place among American law schools, you can pursue your law degree over two, three or four years. Beyond our traditional three year degree, our two year program allows you to cut a year off of the typical time it takes to get a law degree.

At the other extreme, we are one of the only law schools in the United States to offer an ABA approved online hybrid J.D. This four-year program, designed for the busy professional, allows you to attend weekly synchronous classes over Zoom wherever you happen to be, and weekly pre-produced, but highly interactive classes wherever you happen to be and any time that is convenient.

• Dayton Law is affordable: While our private school tuition reflects the high quality of a Dayton education, what our stated tuition price does not convey is the very generous financial aid we make available to our students. In fact, to make UDSL affordable and build a well-rounded class, according to statistics disseminated by Law School Transparency, the average net tuition our students pay (after scholarship aid) makes the University of Dayton one of the best values in the country. And, if you qualify for our Leadership Honors Program, you can even study with us tuition free.

• Dayton Law is diverse: With one-third of our first year class coming from diverse backgrounds according to ABA statistics, we continue to have the most diverse JD composition in the state of Ohio.

• Dayton Law is vibrant: With vibrant concentrations in business law, dispute resolution, criminal law, human and civil rights, technology, family law and environmental law, Dayton allows you to specialize in your area of interest. In addition, with our three-year-old international online LLM program, now with close 100 students, and new partnerships with over one dozen law schools from around the world, Dayton has become a truly cosmopolitan place to start your legal career.

Andrew Strauss is dean of the University of Dayton Law School.

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

Some opted not to participate.