ACADEMICS

UW College of Law        

Preparing Leaders for Wyoming ... and the World

• An excellent faculty of approximately 16 full-time professors and several lecturers instructs a student body of about 225 carefully selected students.  The limited size of the student body and the favorable student-faculty ratio create an atmosphere of friendliness and informality.  Students enjoy a degree of access to faculty that students would rarely find at a larger institution.  Small classes, more personalized instruction, and a diverse curriculum are strong traditions.  Our alumni include not only leading private practitioners, but many state and federal judges, business executives, former governors, state and federal legislators, and a former United States Ambassador to Ireland.
• Mission Statement:  The primary mission of the College of Law is to provide a high quality legal education to its students.  We also work to serve the legal profession and the public, and to enhance our own professional competence and development, through the production of high-quality legal scholarship.  We also provide law-related educational and other services to the Bar, the University community and the general public. 
• The University of Wyoming College of Law has been an American Bar Association (ABA) approved law school since 1923.  The Standards for Approval of Law Schools of the American Bar Association are founded primarily on the fact that law schools are the gateway to the legal profession.  They are minimum requirements designed, developed, and implemented for the purpose of advancing the basic goal of providing a sound program of legal education.  The graduates of approved law schools can become members of the bar in all United States jurisdictions, representing all members of the public in important interests.  Therefore, an approved law school must provide an opportunity for its students to study in a diverse educational environment, and in order to protect the interests of the public, law students, and the profession, it must provide an educational program that ensures that its graduates:

   

  1.  Understand their ethical responsibilities as representatives of clients, officers of the courts, and public citizens responsible for the quality and availability of justice.

   

  2.  Receive basic education through a curriculum that develops:

  (i) understanding of the theory, philosophy, role, and ramifications of the law and its institutions;

  (ii) skills of legal analysis, reasoning, and problem solving; oral and written communication; legal research; and other fundamental skills necessary to participate effectively in the legal profession;

  (iii) understanding of the basic principles of public and private law; and

  3.  Understand the law as a public profession calling for performance of pro bono legal services.