University of Arkansas School of Law

infobox University


name=The University of Arkansas School of Law
|established=1924
type=Public
dean = Cyndi Nance
faculty = 33
students = 445
campus = college town
city=flagicon|USA Fayetteville
state= Arkansas
country= USA
website= http://law.uark.eduThe University of Arkansas School of Law was established in 1924 at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, Arkansas. The founder and first dean was Julian S. Waterman, alumnus of the University of Chicago Law School. [ [http://law.uark.edu/prospective_students/ U of A Law school site for Prospective Students.] ] The School of Law is public and offers Juris Doctorate degrees, as well as Master of Law (L.L.M) degrees, including the only national LLM program for agricultural law.

Presently, the law school has approximately 445 students.

History

Founded in 1924, by Julian Waterman, who remained dean until his death in 1943, the law school met initially in the bottom floor of Old Main, and was approved by the American Bar Association two years later, in 1926. In 1927, the first class, consisting of ten students, graduated. [ [http://law.uark.edu/pdfs/download.php/07-08%20Law%20School%20Catalog%20FINAL%20shrunk3.pdf?asset_id=847&revision= U of A Law School Catalog] ]

Over the next several decades, as the law school grew in size, it moved to larger accommodations. The 1930's saw a move to the Chemistry Building just to the southeast of Old Main, and then into Waterman Hall, the first law school dedicated construction project, in the 1950's. The latter half of the Twentieth Century saw additions added to Waterman Hall to form the Robert A. Leflar Law Center. [ [http://law.uark.edu/about_us/leflar_law_center/ U of A Leflar Law Center site.] ]

In 2007, a sixty-four thousand square-foot addition to the Leflar Law Center was completed, expanding on the Young Law Library, as well as adding a coffee shop, four classrooms, a technologically equipped courtroom, and a formal entrance hall. [ [http://law.uark.edu/pdfs/download.php/07-08%20Law%20School%20Catalog%20FINAL%20shrunk3.pdf?asset_id=847&revision= U of A Law School Catalog] ]

Silas Hunt and the Six Pioneers

On February 2, 1948, the University of Arkansas School of Law became the first Southern white university to accept an African-American student since Reconstruction. His name was Silas H. Hunt. Hunt was a veteran of the Second World War and had been wounded in the Battle of the Bulge. Following the conclusion of the war, Hunt completed an undergraduate degree in English at Arkansas Agricultural, Mechanical & Normal (AM&N) College. In 1947, he applied to multiple law schools, but chose to seek entry at the Arkansas School of Law to challenge the system of racial segregation established in Arkansas at the time. [ [http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=1676 Encyclopedia of the Ozarks entry on Silas Hunt] .]

Accompanied by his attorney, Howard Flowers, Hunt met with the dean of the law school, Robert A. Leflar, who reviewed Hunt's application. Leflar was impressed and accepted Hunt's application to the law school. For a semester, Hunt attended the law school until succumbing to illness, and dying in a veteran's hospital on April 22, 1949, in Springfield, Missouri. [ [http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=1676 Encyclopedia of the Ozarks entry on Silas Hunt] .]

Silas H. Hunt Hall, located adjacent to the Robert A. Leflar Law Center, honors Silas Hunt, in addition, to a historical marker in front of the law school.

Following Hunt's successful entry into the law school, five more African-American students applied and were accepted into the law school. Collectively, including Hunt, they are known as the Six Pioneers. They are George Haley, who went on to become an American ambassador to Gambia; Wiley Branton, who served as dean at the Law School of Howard University; Jackie L. Shropshire; Chris Mercer; and George Howard Jr., who was appointed a United States District Court judge. [ [http://www.uark.edu/admin/urelinfo/SilasHunt/history.html University of Arkansas site on African-American history at the school.] ]

Facilities

The University of Arkansas School of Law is self contained within the Robert A. Leflar Law Center on the campus of the University of Arkansas. The law center is a square facility with four wings that encompass a courtyard. It consists of approximately 64,000 square feet, a courtroom, classrooms, and the Young Law Library. Within the Young Law Library are located a coffee shop, computer lab, and lounge area, in addition to legal library resources.

Legal Clinic

The legal clinic of the law school has been in operation for more than thirty years, offering free legal services to charities, government agencies, and individuals unable to afford legal representation. The goal of the Legal Clinic, which offers the services of student attorneys, is to one, to train competently students in specific areas of legal practice encountered in every day law practice; and two, offers students a chance to refine basic lawyering skills, such as counseling, interviewing, and persuasive legal writing. [ [http://law.uark.edu/legal_clinic/ U of Ark law page on Legal Clinic.] ]

Clinics

*Advanced Mediation Clinic
*Criminal Defense Clinic
*Criminal Prosecution Clinic
*Civil Clinic
*Federal Clinic
*General Practice Clinic
*Habitat For Humanity Wills Project
*Innocence Project
*Transactional Clinic
*Pro Bono Program
*Immigration Clinic

Agricultural Law

The School of Law is home to the federal funded National Agricultural Law Center. A research and information facility, unique in its independent, international, and national scope, it was established by Act of Congress in 1987. Directly connected to the national agricultural information network, the center's mission is to be the "... leading national and international resource for agricultural and food law research and information." [ [http://nationalaglawcenter.org/about/ National Agricultural Law Center About Page.] ]

The center works in tandem with the School of Law by employing law students enrolled in the graduate L.L.M. program in Agricultural law. In addition, the School of Law was the first school in the country to publish a student-edited legal journal devoted to the study of food law and its impact on society, the "Journal of Food Law & Policy". [ [http://law.uark.edu/publications/journal_of_food_law_and_policy/ Journal of Food Law and Policy site.] ]

Law school publications

The School of Law publishes four legal journals. The "Arkansas Law Notes", published annually, features written articles and research performed by the faculty of the school. [ [http://law.uark.edu/publications/arkansas_law_notes Arkansas Law Notes site.] ] The "Arkansas Law Review" is student edited and published on a quarterly basis and distributed state wide to members of the Arkansas Bar, as well as legal libraries throughout the nation. [ [http://law.uark.edu/publications/arkansas_law_review/ Arkansas Law Review site.] ] The "Journal of Food Law & Policy" is the first student edited legal journal dedicated to food law in the nation and is published twice a year. [ [http://law.uark.edu/publications/journal_of_food_law_and_policy/ Journal of Food Law & Policy site.] ] The "Journal of Islamic Law & Culture" is published semi-annually and contains not just articles and reviews on Islamic law, but also presents "an emphasis on the significance in law of the intersection of Western and Muslim legal culture." [ [http://law.uark.edu/publications/journal_of_islamic_law_and_culture Journal of Islamic Law & Culture.] ]

Famous faculty members

Former United States President Bill Clinton and former First Lady of the United States and New York Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, served as faculty at the law school during the 1970s. Well known Internationalist, Senator J. William Fulbright, also served as a faculty member at the school. [ [http://law.uark.edu/prospective_students/ U of A Law school site for Prospective Students.] ] For decades, Robert A. Leflar, legal scholar and judge, taught at the school and served as dean.

Location

The law school is located on the tree covered campus of the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Fayetteville is geographically located in Northwest Arkansas in Washington County at the edge of the rolling hills of the Ozarks. It is approximately two and a half hours away from Little Rock, two hours east of Tulsa, and an hour south of the state line of Missouri. It is forty-five minutes south of Bentonville, Arkansas, location of the Wal-Mart home office.

External links

* [http://law.uark.edu/ Official homepage of the School of Law]
* [http://law.uark.edu/young_law_library/ Young Law Library page]
* [http://law.uark.edu/national_agricultural_law_center National Agricultural Law Center]

Notes