Columbus School of Law

Dear Prospective Catholic University Law Student:

Let me express my heartfelt congratulations to you on taking the first and most important steps toward your goal to become a lawyer and in your decision to apply to The Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law. A career as a lawyer will provide you with a lifetime of both professional and personal satisfaction. Your decision to attend our law school will provide you with the perfect place and opportunity to study the law and legal doctrine; to develop legal practice skills including critical legal analysis, legal writing, and advocacy; and to learn about the important role and responsibility that lawyers serve in society.

Because of our location in Washington, D.C., we are conveniently located just minutes from the United States Congress, the Supreme Court, the White House, federal government agencies and courts, numerous private law firms, corporations, non-profit organizations, as well as being very accessible to the state and local government agencies and courts of the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia. Accordingly, during your time with us, you will be able to observe and experience first-hand a wide range of types of law practice as interns and law clerks with the legal departments of these various entities.

The other equally important advantage to studying at our law school is found in our unique institutional character as the law school of The Catholic University of America. What this means for our law school is that we reflect the rich tradition of excellence and innovation throughout our academic program that is the hallmark of all programs and schools of The Catholic University of America. In addition, we embody a commitment to the Catholic tradition of service to the individual and the community, and we engage in intellectual and academic considerations of the intersection of justice and mercy, ethics and morality, faith and reason, and in the study of the law and society. Accordingly, our law school not only prepares our students to be the most competent and capable attorneys for practice, but we encourage them to become lawyers of conscience and character. This law school's across-the-board commitment to excellence manifests itself in many ways, not the least of which is our outstanding job placement rate. Upwards of 90 percent of our students find full time employment within one year of graduation, a number that has held steady.

As you read through the pages of this view book, you will get a brief introduction to our rich and broad academic program. At CUA law, students can experience a liberal legal education covering a vast range of law course topics, as well as elect to devote their studies to areas of special concentrations through our longstanding specialized institutes and programs in Comparative and International Law, Communications Law Studies, Law and Public Policy, Law and Religion, and Securities and Corporate Law. In addition to our outstanding academic program, our Clinical Legal Education Program was most recently ranked 11^th in the country by the U.S. News World Report. Our practical skills curriculum includes live-client clinical experience, where students are able to represent actual clients under the supervision of clinical faculty on a range of matters including domestic law and consumer law. We also offer an array of simulation courses in trial and appellate advocacy, negotiation, mediation and arbitration; and we have one of the most extensive externship programs in the country allowing us to place our law students in over 200 legal offices throughout the Washington metropolitan area.

This view book will also provide you with a list of the talented and devoted faculty of our law school; comments about the law school experience from our accomplished alumni; and photographs of our state-of-the-art and award winning law school facility, which alone will make your visit to our campus worthwhile. But of course, what will truly give you a sense of the wonderful legal community that you have selected, will be your visits our classes and the chance to speak with our faculty, students and staff, who look forward to welcoming you to The Catholic University of America Law School - The Center of Law and the Common Good.

With Best Wishes,

Veryl V. Miles

Dean and Professor of Law