BRINGING JUSTICE TO LIFE
A R I G O RO U S , P R AC TI C E- BA S E D E XP E R I E N C E
Preparing you to serve clients and communities A challenging curriculum that gets you ready to practice. More than 20,000 alumni to help guide your path to your career. Whether you take classes full time or part time, on campus or partially online, you’ll start learning the work of a lawyer by doing it. You’ll benefit from top-ranked programs in emerging specialties. Some of you will be drawn by new opportunities to use the law to make a difference in a world challenged with health, economic, and social justice crises. Others will be following through on long-held career objectives. All of you will graduate ready to make an immediate contribution in whatever field you pursue. At Mitchell Hamline School of Law, we have been educating lawyers for more than 100 years but are still innovating to respond to the changing legal world. Let us help you put your dreams to work.
MITCHELL HAMLINE
STUDENTS BECOME
ALUMNI
LEADERS
ST. PAUL, MINN.
1 Mitchell Hamline School of Law
E A R N A J. D. I N A WAY TH AT F ITS YO U R LI F E Mitchell Hamline prepares students from all walks of life to begin serving as lawyers and leaders as soon as they graduate. Our multiple enrollment options are designed to let you earn a J.D. without putting your other commitments in life on hold—or even relocating to the Twin Cities. In addition to full- and part-time on-campus schedules, we offer a blended option that brings you to campus a couple of times a semester and lets you spend the rest of the time completing your work online, with a schedule that you control entirely each week. Once you are enrolled, you can switch between options if you need more flexibility. Our faculty is comprised of experienced jurists and practitioners dedicated to teaching and invested in your success. We are an independent law school, which allows us to move quickly and innovatively in response to changing times. We were trailblazers in teaching students a deeper understanding of the law through application to real-world situations, and we continue to lead today. We have top-ranked offerings in dispute resolution, health law, clinical training, and trial advocacy.
At Mitchell Hamline, we don’t make you wait for graduation to get experience. Your immersion in experiential learning begins right away. Many 1Ls volunteer in the community through the Minnesota Justice Foundation and work as research assistants. Upper-level students can work in legal settings through externships and residencies and also represent clients—under the supervision of experienced faculty—as part of the clinical program. Getting out of the classroom allows our students to connect with an alumni network that’s the largest in the region and passionate about helping graduates succeed. We have more than 14,000 alumni in Minnesota and a growing number around the country. Our alumni are attorneys in law firms large and small, entrepreneurs and business professionals in an array of industries, and public servants on the bench, in elected office, and working in government agencies, legal aid organizations, and nonprofits. It takes more than knowing the law to be a great lawyer. It takes knowing how to put it to work to make a difference in the world.
ALUMNI CONNECTIONS
legacy + innovation
AC A D E M I C S
We give you a solid grounding in legal theory, in the context of professional practice. FLEXIBLE ENROLLMENT OPTIONS
THEORETICAL FOUNDATION
SKILLS-BASED CURRICULUM
Mitchell Hamline offers four enrollment options to meet the needs of students from all walks of life. All have the same admissions standards and lead to the same J.D., but the paths students take and the time required vary. Students can further customize their educational path by combining elements from various enrollment options.
Our classes teach theory, practical and problem-solving skills, and the professional attributes students need to be successful lawyers.
Skills-based coursework at Mitchell Hamline starts in the first year of law school with Legal Analysis, Research, and Communication (LARC), which focuses on legal research and writing.
Full-time: On-campus, 4-5 classes per semester for 3 years, classes meet M-F. Part-time evening and day: On-campus, 3-4 classes per semester for 4 years, firstyear classes meet at 6 pm M-Th. Day schedule also available. Part-time blended: On-campus and online, 3-4 classes per semester for the first four semesters, increased flexibility starting in semester 5. Eight campus visits total in the first four semesters; up to four more total in semesters 5-8 depending on course selection.
Courses integrate lectures, reading, and hands-on training. They empower students with the ability to think critically, write sharply, advocate ethically, and solve problems effectively. We provide a demanding legal education so engaged with the profession that our graduates have an enduring advantage as they meet the challenges of an increasingly complex world. By the time our students earn their degree, they have the skills, knowledge, professionalism, and experience to step confidently into their career.
All Mitchell Hamline students take upperlevel classes that deepen their skills in advocacy and problem-solving as well as transactions and settlements or negotiation. Students in the advocacy course, for example, participate in a mock trial, write an appellate brief, and construct an oral argument based on that brief. Students in the transactions and settlements course negotiate deals and draft supporting documents. These are the curricular cornerstones for an approach that’s at the heart of what Mitchell Hamline offers: an experiential education that provides students with the maximum possible opportunity to do what real lawyers do while still in law school.
TOP-RANKED PROGRAMS The dispute resolution program at Mitchell Hamline, built around the Dispute Resolution Institute, has been ranked in the top 6 nationally by U.S. News & World Report for 21 consecutive years. The health law, clinical, trial advocacy, intellectual property law, and legal writing programs are all ranked highly nationally. 3 Mitchell Hamline School of Law
options + quality
A R E A S O F S T U DY
You’ll have the opportunity at Mitchell Hamline to focus on particular areas of legal theory and practice. Among the areas in which you’ll have the chance to specialize are: ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE RESOLUTION BUSINESS LAW CHILD WELFARE CIVIL LITIGATION CIVIL RIGHTS CONSTITUTIONAL LAW CRIMINAL LAW FAMILY LAW HEALTH LAW IMMIGRATION LAW INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAW NATIVE AMERICAN LAW PUBLIC INTEREST LAW TAX LAW
“The academic program at Mitchell Hamline lays a theoretical foundation for understanding the law, but it never loses sight of how lawyers use the law in practice. The professors in our specialty areas—such as health law, dispute resolution, and Native American law—are at the cutting edge of developments in their profession, which helps them see not only what the law is today, but where it is going. We are all members of the same team, working together to help our students succeed.” PROFESSOR KATE KRUSE
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theory +
E XP E R I E NTI A L LE A R N I N G
practice
At Mitchell Hamline, we’ve been doing experiential learning longer and better than anybody else. It’s fashionable these days for law schools to talk about their commitment to experiential learning. At Mitchell Hamline, it’s at the core of our approach to legal education. It is integral to our curriculum, touching all students. We don’t just teach the law, we teach how to practice law. We teach the law in context, and we pair content with skills from the beginning. For example, in the first-year required criminal law class, called Criminal Law: Statutory Interpretation, you will learn the law as well as the skill of interpreting statutes. Your level of responsibility increases as you progress through your studies. Through our partnership with the Minnesota Justice Foundation, you can do volunteer legal service in your community as early as your first year. After you’ve completed your first full year, you can participate in our top-ranked clinical program. Our students were among the first in the nation to represent real clients with real legal problems through a partnership we established with a local charity in St. Paul in 1922. The foundation of the school’s current experiential education program came in 1973, with the creation of one of the nation’s first clinical programs. That program is
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housed in the Rosalie Wahl Legal Practice Center, named for one of its co-founders and a Mitchell Hamline alumna who would go on to become the first woman on the Minnesota Supreme Court. The center, which was remodeled and refurbished in 2021, functions as a law office within the law school. Clinics give you hands-on experience representing clients under the direct supervision of faculty. Students are certified to practice law by the Minnesota Supreme Court; certified student attorneys represent a wide variety of clients including renters, prisoners, nonprofit groups, and immigrants. Students interview clients, draft pleadings, file patent applications, and argue in court. In addition to our clinical program, we have a wide variety of other experiential opportunities. Externships place you in law offices, government offices, nonprofits, and judicial chambers that are carefully selected for their educational value, and our residency program allows you a full-semester immersion in a legal practice setting. You’ll graduate with an unmatched preparation to serve clients and the community.
Students Ge-Waden Dunkley (Bois Forte) and Annika Sanora ’21 worked with fellow student Alia Hawkins (Eastern Band of Cherokee) to help Professor Colette Routel edit a brief that was cited during oral arguments in the case U.S. v. Cooley, which the U.S. Supreme Court decided unanimously in June 2021. The ruling held that tribes can temporarily detain and search non-Indians believed to have committed crimes within Indian Country. “It was monumental for tribal sovereignty, and I was honored to be a small part of such a historic ruling,” said Dunkley. Learn more about the important work our students do at mitchellhamline.edu/experience.
EXTERNSHIPS
AND
RESIDENCIES:
From fall 2020 through summer 2021, students were placed in
367 35 EXTERNSHIPS
RESIDENCIES
M ITC H E LL H A M LI N E C LI N I C S As part of the clinical program, students—under the supervision of full-time professors—take the lead on representing real clients who might not otherwise have access to an attorney. We offer the following clinics: BUSINESS LAW CHILD PROTECTION CIVIL ADVOCACY EMPLOYMENT DISCRIMINATION MEDIATION REPRESENTATION HEALTH LAW HOUSING JUSTICE CHATBOT-BUILDING IMMIGRATION LAW
INDIAN LAW: TRIBAL CODE DRAFTING INNOCENCE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LEGAL ASSISTANCE TO MINNESOTA PRISONERS MEDIATION REENTRY STATE PUBLIC DEFENDER POST-CONVICTION TAX PLANNING
“The law is certainly something we’ve got to think about, but it’s also something that in the end we’ve got to do. It’s great to read the DMV’s motor safety regulations, but there’s nothing like being out on the road if what you’re trying to do is learn how to drive.” PROFESSOR PETER KNAPP
From fall 2020 through summer 2021, 225 students logged 8,187 hours serving more than 3,000 clients through the Minnesota Justice Foundation. From 2017-2021, students volunteered more than 65,000 hours. Students have volunteered through MJF at locations in Minnesota including: Children’s Law Center of Minnesota Minnesota Elder Justice Center City of St. Paul Human Rights Division Minnesota State Bar Association Council on American-Islamic Relations Public defender offices (state/federal) Dispute Resolution Center Restorative Justice Community Action Dorsey & Whitney Taft Stettinius & Hollister Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota The Historyapolis Project Minneapolis City Attorney’s Office
Volunteer service in other states: El Centro De La Raza (WA) Indiana Supreme Court Iowa Legal Aid Knox and Ross Law Group (CA) Texas Advocacy Project The Mediation Center (NE) Western New York Law Center
LRAP Minnesota supports public interest attorneys who work in Minnesota or graduated from a Minnesota law school by providing grants to help them pay their student loans so they can focus on helping clients meet their essential needs like food, shelter, and safety and secure fundamental rights like equal access to justice. LRAP-MN takes advantage of the federal loan repayment assistance programs to help Minnesota law graduates achieve full public service loan forgiveness. lrapmn.org
M ITCH E LLHAM LIN E . E D U 6
community + guidance
TH E S T U D E NT E XP E R I E N C E
A support system that surrounds you every step of your law school journey. Mitchell Hamline offers unparalleled support and care for you as a student and a person. Because we are a freestanding, independent law school, all departments here are dedicated solely to serving law students. That extends beyond academics to include emotional, social, physical, and spiritual needs. Many on our staff and leadership team are Mitchell Hamline graduates and can relate personally to the journey you’re on.
LEGAL WRITING
From your first time on campus for a tour, class visit, orientation, or preparation week to the moment you walk across the stage at graduation, we will guide you and do our part to help you shape a degree that meets your goals.
TECHNOLOGY
ACADEMIC AFFAIRS Academic Affairs oversees advising initiatives to provide students with academic direction and degree planning. The team is responsible for onboarding new students in collaboration with Academic Excellence, Admissions, Career and Professional Development, and Student Services. Academic Affairs believes in a holistic approach and offers services throughout your time in law school, through graduation and bar passage, and into your career.
Most of our legal writing instruction is by full-time faculty members. The two required first-year Legal Analysis, Research, and Communication courses teach skills foundational to understanding the law and representing clients effectively and responsibly. Faculty provide frequent oral and written feedback and multiple opportunities for individual and team conferences.
With a large in-house staff in Information Technology Services, Mitchell Hamline leads the way in instructional design, academic technology and support, and systems and infrastructure. Our goal is to train students in the technologies they will use in the practice of law, and we are continually innovating to best support students and their learning. ACADEMIC SUPPORT AND BAR PREPARATION Our Academic Excellence team works with you to ensure a smooth transition to law school and teach you the skills you need to perform well in your classes and pass the bar exam. All incoming students take the Legal Methods course and are assigned to Learning Communities, both of which are designed to help you navigate the academic
and non-academic challenges of the first year of law school. Beyond the first year, the professors in Academic Excellence teach two upper-level bar preparation courses, provide individualized tutoring, and deliver high-impact workshops on how to do well in law school and on the bar exam. PERSONAL WELLNESS AND IDENTITY We understand that success in law school starts with a feeling of belonging. You’ll find multiple offerings here, including shortterm counseling and educational services, a separate office specifically dedicated to serving students with disabilities, and a diversity center. There are numerous affinity groups, programs, services, and staff members dedicated to creating an environment where students feel comfortable expressing their racial, ethnic, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, religion, and all other dimensions of their social and cultural identity. Additionally, there is a prayer/reflection room, walking desks in the library, weekly yoga classes, and other wellness programming offered throughout the year.
Celebration of diversity
7 Mitchell Hamline School of Law
AN ENGAGED FACULTY Mitchell Hamline has more than 50 full-time faculty as of the fall of 2021, with a variety of professional backgrounds, academic interests, and teaching styles. Six new faculty were hired in fall 2021, five of them persons of color, and the school plans to hire five new tenure/tenure-track faculty to start in fall 2022. Mitchell Hamline faculty form connections with students in and out of the classroom in various ways, including working with them on court filings and helping them persevere through life challenges. They share their academic expertise not just in the classroom but with the media and community. During the trial of Derek Chauvin in the spring of 2021 for the murder of George Floyd, several faculty members produced articles, led panel discussions, and commented frequently in the media to provide legal context and clarity for an event that drew the attention of the world. Indigenous Peoples Day, 2019
They are committed to making meaningful change in their communities. The leader of the Native American Law and Sovereignty Institute was recently named to the Sisseton-Wahpeton Supreme Court of Appeals. The director of the Health Law Institute is a former assistant commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Health who currently serves as vice chair of the Minnesota Racing Commission. Leaders of the Institute to Transform Child Protection helped pass state laws in 2021 related to representation for indigent parents and foster care licensing standards. In February 2021, Mitchell Hamline’s faculty voted to commit the school to work toward becoming an antiracist institution. Leaders of the Dispute Resolution Institute are involved in efforts to collect stories from those who have encountered disparate treatment in the justice system in Minnesota, and the Public Health Law Center is helping create policies that declare racism a public health crisis. In April 2021, President and Dean Anthony Niedwiecki took a notable step toward expanding access to legal education by administering the LSAT to two inmates in Minnesota—believed to be a first for a U.S. prison.
y, Commencement 2021 M ITCH E LLHAM LIN E . E D U 8
HANDS-ON EXPERIENCE TO GIVE YOU A LEG UP. Lauren Durand ’18 • Was in the Blended learning program
• Clerkship with District Judge Sophia Vuelo ’98 in 2018 * Member of the Black Law Students Association at MH EXPERIENCES THAT SHAPE YOUR CAREER Born in Minneapolis and raised in Los Angeles, Jeremiah Allison ’20 knew he wanted to go to law school since the age of 10. A graduate of Washington State University, where he was a standout linebacker on the football team, Allison first came to Mitchell Hamline to attend a CLEO Pre-Law Summer Institute—a program meant to give students from historically underrepresented groups a rigorous preview of law school. He later enrolled. As a law student, Allison participated on the McGee National Civil Rights Moot Court team his 2L and 3L years. He spent one year at the Ramsey County Attorney’s office before transitioning to Medtronic as their only legal intern in 2019. He worked as a legal intern throughout his 2L and 3L years and became a legal fellow upon graduating in 2020, working on Medtronic’s mergers and acquisitions team. Allison passed the bar exam in the spring of 2021, becoming the first person in his immediate family to become a lawyer. He now serves as legal counsel at Medtronic. When Allison is not lawyering, he works in the community through the Allison H.O.P.E. Foundation, which he was inspired to create by his late mother’s example of serving others.
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• Passed the Bar • Ramsey County Assistant Public Defender
n
C A R E E R A N D P RO F E S S I O N A L D E VE LO P M E NT
An extensive alumni network, and opportunities to gain key legal work experience, give you the advantage in building a meaningful career. CUSTOMIZED CAREER PLANNING AND PROFESSIONAL FORMATION We provide resources to assist you with every aspect of your professional formation and development. Our J.D.-credentialed career advisers help you identify your strengths, focus your career interests, explore your professional identity as a lawyer, and develop customized strategies for gaining valuable legal experience and pursuing a career that is meaningful to you.
At the start of law school, you will be paired with a J.D. career adviser who will work with you throughout your law school journey to identify professional contacts and employers in your geographic and professional areas of interest and support you in developing those professional connections. In our semester-long Foundations of Practice class, every student is also matched one on one with an alumni mentor who will help you explore areas of interest and learn more about your professional formation as a lawyer.
FOUNDATIONS OF PRACTICE Through our Foundations of Practice curriculum, faculty will help you explore the professional competencies and characteristics that lead to a satisfying career. You will gain an understanding of the continually changing nature of the legal profession and the importance of the attorney’s role in serving clients and justice. With guidance from faculty, alumni, and practitioners, you will identify the skills, experiences, and values that you individually will bring to the profession. PROFESSIONAL CONNECTIONS AND MENTORSHIP Seeking mentorship and building professional relationships is a key component of your career success, and we offer a range of opportunities throughout your law school career.
EXTERNSHIPS AND RESIDENCIES Last year, we placed students in 367 externships and 35 residencies with some of the most prestigious organizations around the country, allowing them to earn law school credit while working with practicing attorneys in the community. Students work across a range of practice areas and experience a variety of legal settings. They work with public defenders to preserve the rights of the accused; with prosecutors to achieve just results in criminal cases; with state and county agencies to shape public policy and protect society’s most vulnerable; with federal, state, and tribal judges to ensure the judicial system is just; and with numerous other partners. Students in externships and residencies are supervised both by Mitchell Hamline faculty and by attorneys or judges in the field.
89.3% employment rate for the class of 2020 support + success
Includes alums who graduated between 9/1/19 and 8/31/20 and who were seeking and found work in all bar-passage required, J.D.-advantage, or professional positions, or who were pursuing an advanced degree full-time within 10 months of their graduation.
MENTOR “I didn’t get here alone. I had a community of attorneys who supported me through the process. That is why I choose to give back.” MAGGIE KLUVER ’20 KLUVER LAW
MENTORS TO HELP SHOW YOU THE WAY With an alumni network more than 20,000 strong, Mitchell Hamline is uniquely positioned to support you as you seek to build professional connections in the legal field in your home community and beyond. As part of our Foundations of Practice curriculum, all first-year students are paired one to one with a practitioner. Selom Aboni was matched with Maggie Kluver ’20 in the spring of 2021, and Kluver subsequently hired Aboni to work during the summer as an extern with her and her husband at their law firm, Kluver Law, in Montevideo, Minnesota. “Maggie really opened my eyes to the possibility of running a solo firm and not being afraid to start something on my own,” said Aboni. “Working with the firm in the summer gave me the opportunity to learn more about running a solo/small firm, to put my legal research and writing skills into practice, and to explore a new area of law.” “I have been lucky enough to be in a position where I can graduate from law school and become a licensed attorney,” said Kluver. “I didn’t get here alone. I had a community of attorneys who supported me through the process. That is why I choose to give back, so that law students can feel that same support from which I benefited.”
M ITCH E LLHAM LIN E . E D U 10
LI F E AT M ITC H E LL H A M LI N E
ORIE NTATIO N W E E K THE CAMPUS EXPERIENCE Mitchell Hamline is housed in four connected buildings on six acres of traditional Dakota land in the capital city of St. Paul, Minnesota. Behind us is a residential neighborhood. Out our front door is Summit Avenue, which features the longest stretch of preserved Victorian architecture in the country— perfect for strolling or biking. It’s been ranked as one of the best places in the state to view fall foliage. One street past Summit is Grand Avenue, a destination for dining, shopping, and living. Students can participate in dozens of academic and cultural activities and groups. They form relationships and a deep feeling of community with their fellow students, regardless of which enrollment option they’re in. They can write for the law review as well as journals devoted to public policy and intellectual property law. And they can take part in dozens of moot court and other competitions. Recent competition successes for our students include first place in the 2021 International Negotiation Competition and first place brief in the Hispanic National Bar Association’s 25th Annual Uvaldo Herrera National Moot Court Competition in 2020.
2020 ABA Mediation Representation Team
Law Review Banquet
law + life 11 Mitchell Hamline School of Law
LIVING IN THE TWIN CITIES Mitchell Hamline is just minutes by car or light rail from the downtowns of Minneapolis and St. Paul, which are home to state and federal government offices, top law firms, and Fortune 500 companies—all of which employ Mitchell Hamline graduates in leadership positions. Roughly 3.5 million people call the Twin Cities home, drawn to world-class attractions including professional teams in football, baseball, basketball, hockey, and soccer; an extensive network of parks, lakes, and trails; thriving nightlife; a burgeoning craft beer community; and plentiful theater offerings. There is a strong activist community that has been recognized in national media for its tireless work and dedication to societal systems that are just for all.
MINNE A P O L IS
S T. PAUL
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A D M I S S I O N S I N F O R M ATI O N
W H Y M ITC H E LL H A M LI N E I S R I G HT F O R YO U An unmatched commitment to access that allows you to earn a law degree in a way that fits your life. Rigorous training focused on preparing you to practice law or to use your legal training in the profession of your choice. A comfortable, welcoming campus in the heart of a vibrant metropolitan area. The region’s largest network of alumni, made up of more than 20,000 graduates ready to advise, connect, and inspire you on your path to a career.
A P P LI C ATI O N C H EC KLI S T
At Mitchell Hamline, you’ll benefit from the experience we’ve gained over more than a century of educating students to be knowledgeable, skilled, confident lawyers. And you’ll grow with us as we develop new ways to teach the law in a changing world. You’ll get an education that’s great in theory, even better in practice.
ALL APPLICANTS
Take the Law School Admission Test (LSAT) Register with the Credential Assembly Service (CAS) Send official copies of all your college transcripts to CAS
PERSONALLY CONNECT WITH US
JOIN US AT AN INFORMATION SESSION
Send letters of recommendation to CAS
Meet students, professors, alumni, and Admissions representatives. Talk with an Admissions counselor, current student, or faculty member by phone, video conference, or email to learn more about the application process and all that Mitchell Hamline has to offer. Envision yourself as a law student here.
We host several information sessions throughout the year with students, professors, and other special guests. Join us to learn more about how Mitchell Hamline can help you reach your goals.
NOTE: We prefer letters be less than two years old.
Complete an application for admission
Attach a personal statement
Attach a résumé Provide additional statements or addendums (as needed)
Go to mitchellhamline.edu/visit for details about opportunities to connect in person and online.
LEARN MORE ABOUT MITCHELL HAMLINE
For additional information about transfer, visiting, and international applications visit mitchellhamline.edu/admission/applying
P : 651-290-6476 E : admissions@mitchellhamline.edu 875 S U M M IT AV E N U E , SA I NT PAU L , M N 5 5105 M ITC H E LLH A M LI N E . E D U
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