For those researching for schools post-graduation, ASU has good news: The Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law has just been ranked No. 25 nationwide for law schools by the U.S. News and World Report.
Melissa Harris Thirsk, law school executive director of marketing and communications, said she thinks this will make the law school more attractive to potential applicants.
“We’re happy to see that the interest in our law school and the support from our community are all working in full speed," she said.
She said this ranking is a reflection of the quality of their students and that it’s a huge point of pride for the school.
"As you move up the ranks you got more cache and you get on the radar by prospective students,” Harris Thirsk said. “We have done research, and we know in talking with our students that many of them pay attention to the rankings.”
She said she hopes this ranking generates awareness among those who want to master legal professions other than being a lawyer.
“We have students that come from all over because of our writing program and we believe that legal writing is so critical to one’s career success,” Harris Thirsk said.
Amy Langenfeld, clinical professor of law who teaches legal writing, has been with the school for about 12 years and said it’s the best job she’s ever had.
“It means very much because it's based on peer review,” Langenfeld said. “So, our colleagues at other universities gave us this ranking, basically. We’re just thrilled.”
Harris Thirsk said programs in the law school also rank highly fairly consistently. She said she thinks it’s significant that public law schools are ranking well along with their more private counterparts.
“A lot of these private schools have been around for a lot longer than we have,” Harris Thirsk said. “It's a relatively young law school. It just goes to show that we’ve risen really far and really fast.”
The law school has also recently run a fundraising campaign, “Building the Future,” in which it raised funds for a new downtown building, known as the Arizona Center for Law and Society, as well as scholarships and programs.
Jim Van Wicklin, senior director of development at the law school, said they reached out to loyal alumni, and they raised about $50 million during the campaign.
“I have never enjoyed working for anyone more than our current dean,” Van Wicklin said. “It just makes it a whole lot easier when you have leadership like that to go out and raise the unbelievable money that we've raised in such a short amount of time.”
Langenfeld said her goals for the future of the law school are to continuing to develop programs and to continue to create a sense of community.
“The goal for going forward is making sure our students are successful, making sure the general public really understands with the law means to them,” she said.
Editor's Note: A previous version of this article misquoted a source and misstated the name of the Arizona Center for Law and Society building. The article has been updated with the correct information.
Related links:
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Reach the reporter at avcabral@asu.edu or follow @angeligagaa on Twitter.
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