Two programs at The John Marshall Law School continue to earn high marks in the legal specialty law school rankings of 2015 U.S. News & World Report’s Best Graduate Schools.
The Legal Writing Program is ranked No. 2 in the nation, and the Intellectual Property Law Program is ranked 12th.
“We are extremely proud that our programs continue to be ranked the best in the country,” Dean John E. Corkery said. “Law students continually list our specializations among the chief reasons they choose John Marshall. Those specialties make our students more employable when they walk out of our doors with sharp writing skills and ready to practice.”
At John Marshall, the Lawyering Skills Program (commonly called legal writing) is one of the most rigorous research/writing programs in the country, designed to immerse students in the art of legal writing and research over multiple semesters.
Associate Dean Anthony Niedwiecki, director of the Lawyering Skills Program, called his program’s high ranking evidence that John Marshall employs accomplished leaders in the legal writing community who work meticulously with students.
“The honor of our ranking shows that we have some of the nation’s most respected legal writing faculty and programs,” Niedwiecki said. “We have been ahead of other law schools in assessing what employers want and how to prepare our students to meet those evolving needs.”
John Marshall boasts the largest in-house writing resource center in the U.S., employing legal writing specialists who work one-on-one with students to sharpen their skills. The legal writing program is integrated into John Marshall’s structured experiential learning curriculum. The school requires all law students to complete three credits – a minimum of 168 hours – of an externship or clinical experience by the time they graduate.
John Marshall’s Intellectual Property (IP) Program is ranked 12th in the country. This year marks the 75th year John Marshall has offered its world-renowned IP courses and programs. With more than 30 specialized IP courses, the program draws students from around the U.S. and across the globe. It has partnered with IP lawyers in the People’s Republic of China for 20 years.
“I am honored by the continued recognition by my IP colleagues of the outstanding program we offer here at John Marshall,” said Professor Doris Estelle Long, director of the Center for Intellectual Property Law. “We pride ourselves on being innovators in the field. Our latest innovation is to create a new Center for Intellectual Property, Information Technology and Privacy Law.
“Issues surrounding intellectual property law are evolving, and this ranking proves we continue to be at the forefront of the evolution,” Long said. “From expanding online courses to hosting national conferences, we continue to innovate and adapt as the IP legal world buzzes and becomes more complex.”
