The College of Law, founded in 1908, is celebrating one hundred years of service to the Commonwealth of Kentucky. We are proud to have provided legal education to many of Kentucky’s leaders and outstanding lawyers, and we believe that our current students will join the ranks of those who have helped to better this state.

Our faculty engages in leading edge research, which strengthens and supports their outstanding classroom performance. We boast nationally recognized scholars in a number of areas, including business, gender discrimination, housing, criminal law, intellectual property, and tort law. At the same time, we have a faculty whose accessibility is remarkable. They genuinely enjoy teaching and students and work closely with student groups to enhance the learning experience of law school. In the tradition of a land grant university, they are also committed to public service and engagement. Our faculty has provided consultation on prison reform in Kentucky, advice on compliance with environmental and housing regulations, guidance in the development of federal criminal rules, and a wide variety of advice to legislative and other governmental bodies.

Our students work hard in the classroom, but they also find time for a wide variety of experiences that help them develop professionally. Our Trial Advocacy teams have garnered national attention, winning a number of regional and national contests. In 2008 we were ranked as one of the top twenty-eight trial programs by the American College of Trial Lawyers. Our Thurgood Marshall National Mock Trial team was first at the Midwest Regional competition and finished fifth nationally. We begin our trial competitions in the spring of our students’ first year, so that students get the flavor of courtroom work from the very beginning of their legal career. Our Moot Court program, which focuses on appellate cases, has a robust tradition and fields teams for national competitions, including those in the First Amendment and Bankruptcy. Our two law journals, the Kentucky Law Journal and the Kentucky Journal for Equine, Agricultural, and Natural Resources Law publish important articles that contribute to the intellectual development of the law. Our Student Public Interest Forum funds students who do outstanding but unpaid work during the summer, while our Innocence Project allows students to work on a variety of cases involving claims of past mistakes in the administration of justice. We are proud to have a chapter of BALSA, and new chapters of the National Latino/a Law Student Association and the Asian Pacific American Law Students Association.

Our graduates include past and current governors, members of the House and Senate, Kentucky’s Secretary of State, legislators, both state and federal judges and the leaders of major law firms and corporations across the country. We are justly proud of their work and their connection to our institution.

We believe that this is a special place and I know that our faculty and students are special people. If you have any questions about the College of Law that are not answered on our web site, please feel free to contact us.

David A. Brennen
Dean