University of Mississippi School of Law

The University of Mississippi School of Law, also known as Ole Miss Law, is an ABA-accredited law school located on the campus of the University of Mississippi in Oxford, Mississippi. The School of Law opened in 1854 and is the fourth-oldest state-supported law school in the country. In 2009, National Jurist Magazine rated the University of Mississippi School of Law among the top five "best value law schools" in the United States.^[1] Richard Gershon is the current dean.^[2] The law school is home to five auxiliary law programs: the National Center for Remote Sensing, Air, and Space Law, the National Center for Justice and the Rule of Law, the Mississippi Innocence Project, the Mississippi Law Research Institute, and the Mississippi Judicial College. In Fall 2010, the University of Mississippi School of Law enrolled an entering class of 199 students from an applicant pool of 1,150. The median LSAT score for the entering class was 156 and the median GPA was 3.51. Ethnically, 16% of the entering students were minorities. The first-year class consisted of 107 men and 92 women. The School of Law has a faculty of 34 full-time and adjunct professors with expertise in various areas of practice. The student-faculty ratio is 18.2:1.^[3] The School of Law moved into a newly constructed building (the Robert C. Khayat Law Center) in January 2011.^[4][5]

The School of Law offers the only dedicated aerospace law curriculum in the nation from an ABA-accredited school. Michael Dodge became the first person to receive a certificate in Remote Sensing, Air, and Space Law from the University of Mississippi School of Law in 2008.^[6]

History

The University of Mississippi School of Law was founded in 1854 by the state legislature after recognizing a need for formal law instruction in the state of Mississippi. The "Department of Law," as it was then referred to, consisted of seven students and one professor. The School of Law has had seven homes over the course of its history. Classes were originally held in the Lyceum, the oldest building on the University of Mississippi campus. Shortly before the Civil War, the then-Department of Law was relocated to a building close to Oxford Square. The University agreed to lease the building in order to prevent the owner from filing from bankruptcy. This agreement lasted until the start of the Civil War in 1861 when most of the law school's students volunteered to serve in the Confederate military. When the school reopened in 1866, it was again relocated to a building that occupied the current site of Peabody Hall. The law school closed a second time in 1876, as there were no law students during the latter years of Reconstruction. In 1911, classes were moved to Ventress Hall, which was then known as Lamar Hall, named after famed Mississippian L.Q.C. Lamar. The "Department of Law" officially became the "School of Law" in 1921. Ten years later, the law school moved to the building now known as Farley Hall. It remained here until 1978 when it was moved to Lamar Law Center. In January 2011, the School of Law moved a sixth time to the newly constructed Robert C. Khayat Law Center.^[7]

Degree and certificate programs

• J.D.
• Dual-Degree Programs
  • J.D./MBA
  • J.D./M.S. (Tax.)
  • J.D./M.S. (Accy.)
• Certificate Programs
  • Criminal Law Certificate
  • Remote Sensing, Air, and Space Law Certificate

Publications

• Mississippi Law Journal
• Journal of Space Law

Notable alumni

• Author John Grisham (JD '81)^[8]
• U.S. Senator for Mississippi Thad Cochran (JD '65)^[9]
• U.S. Senator for Mississippi Roger Wicker (JD '75)^[10]
• Former U.S. Senator for Mississippi Trent Lott (JD '67)^[11]
• Former U.S. Senator for Mississippi James O. Eastland (JD '25)^[7]
• U.S. Representative for Mississippi Gregg Harper (JD '81)^[12]
• Former U.S. Representative for Missouri Kenny Hulshof (JD '83)^[13]
• Former Governor of Mississippi Haley Barbour (JD '73)^[14]
• Former Governor of Mississippi Ronnie Musgrove (JD '81)^[15]
• Former Governor of Mississippi William A. Allain (LLB '50)^[16]
• Former Governor of Mississippi William Winter (LLB '49)^[17]
• Former Governor of Mississippi Cliff Finch (LLB '58)^[18]
• Former Governor of Mississippi William Waller (LLB '50)^[19]
• Former Governor of Mississippi Paul B. Johnson, Jr. (LLB '40)^[20]
• Former Lieutenant Governor of Mississippi Evelyn Gandy (LLB '43)^[21]
• Former Mississippi Speaker of the House Tim Ford (JD '77)^[22]
• United States Federal Judge Michael P. Mills (JD '80)^[23]
• United States Federal Judge Keith Starrett (JD '74)^[24]
• United States Federal Court of Appeals Judge E. Grady Jolly (LL.B '62)^[25]
• United States Federal Court of Appeals Judge Rhesa Hawkins Barksdale (JD '72)^[26]
• Chief Justice of the Mississippi Supreme Court William L. Waller, Jr. (JD '77)^[27]
• Presiding Justice of the Mississippi Supreme Court George C. Carlson, Jr. (JD '72)^[28]
• Associate Justice of the Mississippi Supreme Court Jess H. Dickinson (JD '82)^[29]
• Associate Justice of the Mississippi Supreme Court Michael K. Randolph(JD '74)^[30]
• Associate Justice of the Mississippi Supreme Court Ann Hannaford Lamar (JD '82)^[31]
• Associate Justice of the Mississippi Supreme Court James W. Kitchens (JD '67)^[32]
• First female Mississippi Supreme Court Justice Lenore Prather (JD '55)^[33]
• First African-American Mississippi Supreme Court Justice and former Mississippi Bar President Reuben Anderson (JD '67)^[34]
• State's Attorney for Baltimore City Patricia Jessamy (JD '74)^[35]
• Famed trial lawyer Richard Scruggs (JD '76)
• Attorney, talk radio host, and Mississippi Senator Christopher McDaniel (JD '97)^[36]
• American war veteran, attorney, politician, and actor Boyce Holleman (JD '50)^[37]
• Republican gubernatorial nominee in 1963 and 1967 and attorney Rubel Phillips^[38]

References