For more than 130 years, Vanderbilt Law School has trained excellent lawyers for careers throughout the nation and the world. Situated on the Vanderbilt campus, the law school combines the advantages of a stimulating university community, a top-tier faculty, a rigorous academic program, and a small, carefully selected student body.

Founded as the "Law Department" in 1874, two years after Vanderbilt University was founded, the law school was originally located in Kirkland Hall, which now houses the university's administration. The law school moved into a dedicated law school building in 1962. With the completion of the school's second major renovation and expansion project in 2002, Vanderbilt now boasts one of the most modern, comfortable and well-designed law school buildings in the country, with wireless internet access throughout the building and in the immediate surrounding area.

The law school offers two academic degrees -- the three-year J.D. and a one-year LL.M. degree specifically designed for students who are graduates of law schools in foreign countries -- as well as several joint degree programs offered in conjunction with Vanderbilt's Owen Graduate School of Management, the Divinity School, Medical School and Graduate Schools. In Fall 2007, the law school will begin offering a Ph.D. in law and economics in conjunction with Vanderbilt's Department of Economics.

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The latest addition to the Vanderbilt Law School

Housed in the Law School cafe, this mural, above,
by local artist Bill Myers, depicts eight landmark civil rights cases.