University of North Carolina--Chapel Hill

Law School Overview

U.S. News Rankings

Ranking score and category

Rank Category Name #31 Best Law Schools

Specialties Locked in Environmental Law

Law School Overview

The School of Law at University of North Carolina--Chapel Hill has an application deadline of March 1. The full-time program application fee at the School of Law at University of North Carolina--Chapel Hill is $75. Its tuition is full-time: $21,556 per year (in-state) and full-time: $37,066 per year (out-of-state). The student-faculty ratio is 13.0:1. The School of Law at University of North Carolina--Chapel Hill has 82 full- and part-time faculty on staff.

At the University of North Carolina—Chapel Hill School of Law, students take a required courseload in their first year and choose most of their own courses in their second and third years. Law students can also take courses not offered at UNC at either the Duke University Law School or North Carolina Central University School of Law. The UNC Law School offers dual degrees including a J.D./M.A. in Sports Administration through the university’s Department of Exercise and Sport Science; a J.D./M.B.A. through the Kenan-Flagler Business School; and J.D./Master of Public Policy through the Duke University Sanford School of Public Policy.

Students can get hands-on training helping clients at the School of Law’s clinics, which include the Juvenile Justice Clinic and the Community Development Law Clinics. The UNC School of Law also offers a semester externship program that places students with lawyers and judges around the community and a Pro Bono Program that coordinates student service projects. There are more than 45 student organizations to join at Carolina Law, as well as several legal journals including the North Carolina Law Review, the First Amendment Law Review, and the North Carolina Banking Institute Journal. About 70 percent of law students are North Carolina residents, and students are encouraged to live on the university’s campus in Chapel Hill.

Notable alumni of the UNC School of Law include Henry Frye, the first black chief justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court, and Marion Cowell, Jr., former executive vice president, secretary, and general counsel of banking giant First Union Corp. (now Wachovia Corp.).

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Year founded	1843
Public/private	Public
Law school designation	National

Admissions

Application deadline	March 1
Full-time program application fee	$75
Part-time program application fee	N/A
Admissions Phone	(919) 962-5109
Admissions E-mail	law_admission@unc.edu
Web site	http://www.law.unc.edu

Academics

Full- and part-time faculty	82
Student-faculty ratio	13.0:1
Total faculty	99

Student Body

Enrollment (full-time)	741
Gender distribution (full-time)
J.D. candidates graduating in 2011-2012	256

Cost

Tuition and fees
Full-time: $21,556 per year (in-state) Full-time: $37,066 per year (out-of-state)
Room and board	$15,364

Careers

Employed at graduation 2	46.6%
Median private sector starting salary	$117,500
Median public service starting salary	$50,980

Library

Total volumes and volume equivalents

549,658

* Law School Overview details based on 2012 data