AALS has launched a series that will highlight a different member school and focus on a recent program or accomplishment in order to showcase the rich variety of approaches to legal education that makes up the American legal academy. A list of past highlights is available below.

Loyola Law School, Los Angeles

Location: Los Angeles, CA
Founded: 1920
Joined AALS: 1937
Dean: Michael Waterstone

Loyola Law School is a private law school institution that was founded in 1920 and an AALS member school since 1937. They are recognized for creating lawyers with the training and skills needed to succeed on their first day on the job and pride themselves on giving students the tools they need to be their best selves, to be lawyers with the ability to effect positive change. Their method of creating positive changes is through education.

Loyola Law School students learn the value of giving back through our pro bono requirement. They benefit from the critical work our clinics undertake in Los Angeles communities to help those without access to justice. And their students thrive with the careful and practical training that shows how law and business function together in a fast-moving and entrepreneurial world.

Loyola Law School is known for our long-standing tradition of graduating lawyers adept in philosophical, analytical, and professional skills. Students can participate in clinics, practica, concentrations, and externship programs on campus and in the community. They learn from professors who are leaders in their field. The dynamic city of Los Angeles is truly our classroom. It is this experience that shapes how their students become lawyers. After all, a good legal education is an important foundation, but understanding who you serve and why being a lawyer is so important is indispensable. Such thoughtful lawyers are needed now more than ever.

Students immersed in one of the Loyola Social Justice Law Clinics

LMU Loyola Law School’s unparalleled commitment to social justice is reflected in the variety and richness of its 21+ live-client legal clinics, whose students have dedicated more than 30,000 pro bono hours per year to help, 1996, over 74,000 clients. Known collectively as the Loyola Social Justice Law Clinic, these clinics share a 23,000-square-foot facility that simulates the experience of a law practice with several specialties, thereby giving students practical experience working in a law firm setting. “Our students come from 27 states, three foreign countries, and from over 100 undergraduate institutions, with the highest concentrations being from UCLA, USC, Cal, and UC Irvine. Their backgrounds are extraordinary. They have graduate degrees in the liberal arts, including music and creative writing, philosophy, and business. They have interned with Congress, judges, and state senators, and have experience with companies like Deloitte, Sony, Netflix, and Yelp. We have Emmy winners, NCAA Division I athletes, military veterans, teachers, and coaches. Our students have served at countless clinics and nonprofits throughout the US and abroad, and here at Loyola Law School” says Dean Michael Waterstone.