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University of Pennsylvania Law School
University of Pennsylvania Law School
University of Pennsylvania Law School
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The University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School (also known as Penn Carey Law, Penn Law) is the law school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.[10] Penn Carey Law offers the degrees of Juris Doctor (J.D.), Master of Laws (LL.M.), Master of Comparative Laws (LL.C.M.), Master in Law (M.L.), and Doctor of the Science of Law (S.J.D.).

Key Information

The entering class typically consists of approximately 250 students.[11] Penn Carey Law's 2020 weighted first-time bar passage rate was 98.5 percent.[9] For the class of 2024, 49 percent of students were women, 40 percent identified as persons of color, and 12 percent of students enrolled with an advanced degree.[11]

History

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18th century

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Further information: James Wilson (founding father)
A 1974 portrait by Allyn Cox on display on the first floor of the U.S. House of Representatives wing of United States Capitol of the four primary framers of United States Constitution meeting in garden of Benjamin Franklin. Left to right: Alexander Hamilton, James Wilson, James Madison, and Benjamin Franklin

The University of Pennsylvania Law School traces its origins to a series of Lectures on Law delivered in 1790 through 1792 by James Wilson,[12] one of only six signers of the United States Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution. Wilson is credited with being one of the two primary authors (the other being James Madison) of the first draft of such constitution,[13] due to his membership on the Committee of Detail[14] established by the United States Constitutional Convention on July 24, 1787, to draft a text reflecting the agreements made by the Convention up to that point.[15]: page 264 

James Wilson was one of Penn's first law professors

As a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, Wilson gave these lectures on law to President George Washington and Vice President John Adams and the rest of George Washington's cabinet, including Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson.[16] Wilson was one of the original five U.S. Supreme Court associate justices nominated by George Washington and confirmed by the U.S. Senate via unanimous voice vote on September 26, 1789.[17][18] In 1792, Wilson was appointed as Penn's first full professor of law[2][3] and remained a professor at Penn through the date of his death in 1798.[19]

19th century

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In 1817, the University of Pennsylvania trustees appointed Charles Willing Hare as the second professor of law. Hare taught for one year before becoming "afflicted with loss of reason."[20]

The University of Pennsylvania began offering a full-time program in law in 1850, under the leadership of the third professor of law at the Law Department of the University of Pennsylvania, George Sharswood.[3] Sharswood was also named Dean of Penn's Law School in 1852 and served through 1867,[21] and was later appointed as chief justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania (1879–1882).

George Sharswood, the third professor of law and first dean of the Law Department of the University of Pennsylvania and later chief justice of Pennsylvania, in 1861

In 1852, the University of Pennsylvania was the first law school in the nation to publish a law journal. Then called The American Law Register, the University of Pennsylvania Law Review is the nation's oldest law review and one of the most-cited law journals in the world.[22]

In 1881, Carrie Burnham Kilgore became the first woman admitted to, and, in 1883, to graduate from, the University of Pennsylvania Law School, and subsequently became first woman admitted to practice law in Pennsylvania.[23]

In 1888, Aaron Albert Mossell became the first African-American man to earn a law degree from Penn.[24] Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander, Mossell's daughter, was awarded the Frances Sergeant Pepper fellowship in 1921 and subsequently became the first African-American to receive a PhD in economics in the United States, a degree she earned at the University of Pennsylvania.[25][26] In 1927, Alexander became the first African-American woman to graduate from Penn Law and in 1929, she became the first African-American woman to be admitted to practice law in Pennsylvania.[27]

William Draper Lewis was named dean of Penn's then-named law department in 1896

William Draper Lewis was named dean of Penn's law department in 1896 and founded the American Law Institute.[25]

20th century

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University of Pennsylvania students taking United States Navy examination for commission in McKean Hall at Penn Law in June 1918
U.S. Navy men taking examination for commission grouped in front of Penn Law School main building in August 1918

In 1900, the trustees of the University of Pennsylvania approved his and others' request to move the Law School to the core of campus and its current location at the intersection of 34th and Chestnut Streets.[28] Under Lewis' deanship, the Law School was one of the first schools to emphasize legal teaching by full-time professors instead of practitioners, a system that is still followed today.[28]

As legal education became more formalized, the school initiated a three-year curriculum and instituted stringent admissions requirements.

After 30 years with the Law School, Lewis founded the American Law Institute (ALI) in 1925, which was seated in the Law School and was chaired by Lewis himself. The ALI was later chaired by another Penn Law Dean, Herbert Funk Goodrich, and Penn Law Professors George Wharton Pepper and Geoffrey C. Hazard Jr.

In 1969, Martha Field became the first woman to join the faculty at the Law School at Penn; she is now a professor at Harvard Law School.[25] Other notable women who have been or are presently professors at Penn Carey Law include Lani Guinier, Elizabeth Warren, Anita L. Allen, and Dorothy Roberts.

From 1974 to 1978, the dean of the Law School was Louis Pollak, who later became a federal judge. Since Pollak ascended to the bench, Penn Law's deans have included James O. Freedman, former president of Dartmouth College, Colin Diver, former president of Reed College, and Michael Fitts, current president of Tulane University.

21st century

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In 2014, the University of Pennsylvania Law School established a master's degree and certificate program offering a specialized curriculum for professionals and students from diverse fields to enhance their understanding of legal principles and concepts. A tenth anniversary celebration of the master's program in 2024 involved a public interview between journalist Linda Greenhouse in and legal scholar Jeffrey Rosen, head of the National Constitution Center.[29]

In November 2019, the school was renamed the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School after it received a $128 million donation from the W.P. Carey Foundation. The school was renamed in honor of the foundation's first president, alumnus Francis J. Carey (1926–2014), the brother of William Polk Carey (1930–2012) who founded the W. P. Carey Inc real estate investment trust.[30][31] The change was met by some controversy, and a petition to quash the abbreviated Carey Law, in favor of the traditional Penn Law, was circulated and it was agreed that the official short form name for the next few years could remain Penn Law and/or Penn Carey Law.[32][33]

Osagie O. Imasogie, a 1985 graduate of Penn Law, is the current chair of the school's board of overseers, having replaced Perry Golkin on January 1, 2021. Imasogie has been a member of the board since 2006 and more recently a trustees of the University of Pennsylvania.[34] He is the first African-born chair of an American law school.[35]

Except for the period during which the law school's policy prohibited military recruiters from recruiting on the law school campus during the don't ask, don't tell policy era,[36] Penn Carey Law has actively supported the armed forces. The Harold Cramer Memorial Scholarship Program was established in June 2021 to ensure that all veterans admitted to the law school will be able to afford to attend.[37]

Academics

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Admissions and costs

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For the J.D. class entering in the fall of 2022, 9.74 percent out of 6,816 applicants were offered admission, with 246 matriculating. The class boasted 25th and 75th LSAT percentiles of 166 and 173, respectively, with a median of 172. The 25th and 75th undergraduate GPA percentiles were 3.61 and 3.96, respectively, with a median of 3.90. 13 percent of matriculating students identified as first-generation college students, and 35 percent identified as first-generation professional school students.[11]

Over 1,250 students from 70 countries applied to Penn's LLM program for the fall of 2019. The incoming class consisted of 126 students from more than 30 countries.

The entering class typically consists of approximately 250 students, and admission is highly competitive.[11] Penn Law's July 2018 weighted first-time bar passage rate was 92.09%.[9] The law school is one of the "T14" law schools, that is, schools that have consistently ranked within the top 14 law schools since U.S. News & World Report began publishing rankings.[38] In the class entering in 2018, over half of students were women, over a third identified as persons of color, and 10% of students enrolled with an advanced degree.[11]

Based on student survey responses, ABA and NALP data, 99.6 percent of the Class of 2020 obtained full-time employment after graduation. The median salary for the Class of 2019 was $190,000, as 75.2 percent of students joined law firms and 11.6 percent obtained judicial clerkships.[39] The law school was ranked #2 of all law schools nationwide by the National Law Journal, for sending the highest percentage of 2019 graduates to join the 100 largest law firms in the U.S., constituting 58.4 percent.[40]

The total cost of attendance (including tuition of $63,610, fees, living expenses, and other expenses) for J.D. students for the 2020–2021 academic year was estimated by the university to be $98,920.[41] The estimated cost of attendance increased by over 7% to $105,932 for the 2023–2024 academic year.[42]

The University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School offers several large merit scholarships, up to full tuition, such as the Levy Scholars Program, Silverman Scholars, Dean's Scholarship, and the Earl R. Franklin and Barbara Corwin Franklin Endowed Merit Scholarship.[43][44][45]

Centers and programs

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Interdisciplinary studies

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Throughout its modern history, Penn has been known for its strong focus on interdisciplinary studies, a continuation of policy promoted by the school's early 20th-century dean, William Draper Lewis.[46] Penn Carey's tight integration with the rest of Penn's schools[47] have created many interdisciplinary degree programs. More than 50 percent of courses are interdisciplinary, and Penn Carey offers more than 20 joint and dual degree programs, including a JD/MBA (Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania), a JD/PhD in communication (Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania), and a JD/MD (Perelman School of Medicine).

Further JD-concurrent certificates and degrees include those in business and public policy with the Wharton School; in cross-sector innovation with the School of Social Policy and Practice; in international business and law with the Themis Joint Certificate with the ESADE in Barcelona; and in social cognitive and affective neuroscience.[48][49] 19 percent of the Class of 2007 earned a certificate.[50]

Toll Public Interest Center

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Penn was the first national law school to establish a mandatory pro bono program, and the first law school to win the American Bar Association's Pro Bono Publico Award.[citation needed] The public interest center was founded in 1989 and was renamed the Toll Public Interest Center in 2006 in acknowledgement of a $10 million gift from Robert Toll (Executive Chairman of the Board of Toll Brothers) and Jane Toll. In 2011, the Tolls donated an additional $2.5 million. In October 2020, The Robert and Jane Toll Foundation announced that it was donating fifty million dollars ($50,000,000) to Penn Law, which is the largest gift in history to be devoted entirely to the training and support of public interest lawyers, and among the ten (10) largest gifts ever to a law school in the United States of America.[51] The gift expands the Toll Public Interest Scholars and Fellows Program by doubling the number of public interest graduates in the coming decade through a combination of full and partial tuition scholarships.[52]

Publications

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Students at the law school publish several legal journals.[53] The flagship publication is the University of Pennsylvania Law Review, the oldest law review in the United States.[54] The University of Pennsylvania Law Review started in 1852 as the American Law Register, and was renamed to its current title in 1908.[25] It is one of the most frequently cited law journals in the world,[22] and one of the four journals that are responsible for The Bluebook, along with the Harvard, Yale, and Columbia law journals. Penn Law Review articles have captured seminal historical moments in the 19th and 20th centuries, such as the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment; the lawlessness of the first and second World Wars; the rise of the civil rights movement; and the war in Vietnam.[55]

Other law journals include:

Campus

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Golkin Hall on the University of Pennsylvania school campus in West Philadelphia

The University of Pennsylvania campus covers over 269 acres (1.09 km2) in a contiguous area of West Philadelphia's University City district. All of Penn's schools, including the law school, and most of its research institutes are located on this campus. Much of Penn's architecture was designed by the architecture firm of Cope & Stewardson, whose principal architects combined the Gothic architecture of the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge with the local landscape to establish the Collegiate Gothic style.

The law school consists of four interconnecting buildings around a central courtyard. At the east end of the courtyard is Silverman Hall, built in 1900, housing the Levy Conference Center, classrooms, faculty offices, the Gittis Center for Clinical Legal Studies, and administrative and student offices. Directly opposite is Tanenbaum Hall, home to the Biddle Law Library, several law journals, administrative offices, and student spaces. The law library houses 1,053,824 volumes and volume equivalents, making it the 4th-largest law library in the country.[63] Gittis Hall sits on the north side, containing offices and classrooms. Opposite is Golkin Hall, which contains 40,000 square feet (3,700 m2) and includes a state-of-the-art courtroom, 350-seat auditorium, seminar rooms, faculty and administrative offices, a two-story entry hall, and a rooftop garden.

A small row of restaurants and shops faces the law school on Sansom Street. Nearby are the Penn Bookstore, the Pottruck Center (a 115,000-square-foot (10,700 m2) multi-purpose sports activity area), the Institute of Contemporary Art, a performing arts center, and area shops.

Reception

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Clerkships

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Since 2000, Penn has had seven alumni serve as judicial clerks at the United States Supreme Court. This record gives Penn a ranking of 10th among all law schools for supplying such law clerks for the period 2000–2019.[64] Penn has placed 48 clerks at the U.S. Supreme Court in its history, ranked 11th among law schools; this group includes Curtis R. Reitz, who is the Algernon Sydney Biddle Professor of Law, emeritus at Penn.

Employment

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According to ABA and NALP data, 99.6 percent of the Class of 2020 obtained full-time employment after graduation. The median salary for the class of 2019 was $195,000 (equivalent to $239,822 in 2024), as 75.2 percent of students joined law firms and 11.6 percent obtained a judicial clerkship.[39][65] Many students pursue public interest careers with the support of fellowship grants such as the Skadden Fellowship,[66] called by The Los Angeles Times "a legal Peace Corps."[67]

About 75 percent of each graduating class enters private practice, bringing with them the ethos of pro bono service. In 2020, the school placed more than 70 percent of its graduates into the United States' top law firms, maintaining Penn's rank as the number one law school in the nation for the percentage of students securing employment at these top law firms.[68][69] It was ranked #4 of all law schools nationwide by Law.com in terms of sending the highest percentage of 2021 graduates to the largest 100 law firms in the U.S. (55 percent).

Based on student survey responses, ABA, and National Association for Law Placement data, 99.2% of the class of 2018 obtained full-time employment after graduation, with a median salary of $180,000, as 76% of students joined law firms and 11% obtained judicial clerkships.[39] The law school was ranked # 2 of all law schools nationwide by the National Law Journal in terms of sending the highest percentage of 2018 graduates to the 100 largest law firms in the United States (60%).[70]

People

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Notable alumni

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Main article: List of Penn Law School alumni

Among the school's alumni are a U.S. Supreme Court Justice, at least 76 judges of United States court system, 18 state Supreme Court Justices (with 8 serving as chief justice), 3 supreme court justices of foreign countries, at least 46 members of United States Congress as well as 9 Olympians, 5 of whom won 13 medals, several founders of law firms, university presidents and deans, business entrepreneurs, leaders in the public sector, and government officials.

Notable faculty

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Anita L. Allen, a University of Pennsylvania Law School professor of law and philosophy

The law school's faculty is selected to match its inter-disciplinary orientation. Seventy percent of the standing faculty hold advanced degrees beyond the JD, and more than a third hold secondary appointments in other departments at the university. The law school is well known for its corporate law group, with professors Jill Fisch and David Skeel being regularly included among the best corporate and securities law scholars in the country.[71] The School has also built a strong reputation for its law and economics group (professors Tom Baker, Jon Klick, and Natasha Sarin), its criminal law group (professors Stephanos Bibas, Leo Katz, Stephen J. Morse, Paul H. Robinson, and David Rudovsky) and its legal history group (professors Sally Gordon, Sophia Lee, Serena Mayeri, Karen Tani). Some notable Penn Law faculty members include:

Penn Law's faculty is complemented by renowned international visitors in the frames of the Bok Visiting International Professors Program. Past and present Bok professors include Helena Alviar (dean of Faculty of Law, University of the Andes), Armin von Bogdandy (director at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law), Radhika Coomaraswamy (under secretary general of the United Nations), Juan Guzmán Tapia (the first judge who prosecuted former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet), Indira Jaising (Additional Solicitor General of India), Maina Kiai (United Nations Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association), Akua Kuenyehia (judge of the International Criminal Court and law dean of University of Ghana), Pratap Bhanu Mehta (president of the Centre for Policy Research), and Michael Trebilcock (distinguished university professor at the University of Toronto). Some of Penn's former faculty members have continued their careers at other institutions (e.g., Bruce Ackerman (now at Yale), Lani Guinier (now at Harvard), Michael H. Schill (now at Oregon), Myron T. Steele (now at Virginia), and Elizabeth Warren (at Harvard until her election to the United States Senate)).

References

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[edit]
Revisions and contributorsEdit on WikipediaRead on Wikipedia

University of Pennsylvania Law School

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The Carey Law School is the of the University of Pennsylvania, an institution located in , . Tracing its origins to a series of law lectures delivered by Founding Father James Wilson in 1790–1792, it was formally established as a degree-granting faculty in 1852, making it one of the oldest law schools in the United States. Renamed Penn Carey Law in 2019 following a $125 million endowment from the W. P. Carey Foundation—the largest gift in its history—the school offers a (JD) program, (LLM), and various joint degrees with other Penn schools, emphasizing interdisciplinary studies in areas such as , , and . Penn Carey Law maintains elite status, ranked fifth nationally by in 2025, with graduates securing positions at leading law firms, government agencies, organizations, and corporations. The school has faced notable controversies in recent years, including sanctions imposed on tenured professor in 2024 for statements critics labeled discriminatory, prompting her lawsuit alleging racial bias in university speech policies, and the 2025 suspension of diversity-focused initiatives such as an equity office and a racial scholarship amid alumni and political backlash.

History

Founding and Early Development (1790–1899)

The origins of the University of Pennsylvania Law School trace to 1790, when James Wilson, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and Associate Justice of the U.S. , delivered the first law lectures at the College of Philadelphia, the predecessor institution to the . These lectures, held at the Fourth Street campus, covered topics including , , , and the U.S. Constitution, attracting prominent attendees such as President and Vice President . Wilson continued lecturing in 1790 and 1791 and was appointed the first professor of law in 1792, though formal instruction remained sporadic following his death in 1798. Formal development resumed in the mid-19th century amid growing demand for structured . In 1850, the University established its Law Department at Chestnut and 9th Streets, appointing George Sharswood as the first professor of law. Sharswood introduced a comprehensive two-year curriculum encompassing , , corporations, mercantile and law, and jurisprudence. By 1852, the Department of Law was officially organized with a faculty of three professors, and Sharswood assumed the deanship, a position he held until 1868; that year, the school awarded LL.B. degrees to 30 students and launched the American Law Register, which evolved into the University of Pennsylvania Law Review. Subsequent decades saw incremental expansions in faculty, curriculum, and infrastructure. In 1874, under Dean E. Coppee Mitchell, the school introduced daytime classes and grew its faculty to five members. The program extended to three years in 1888, coinciding with the adoption of the case method by Professor Algernon Sidney Biddle and the graduation of Aaron Albert Mossell as the first African American alumnus. Carrie Burnham Kilgore became the first woman admitted in 1881. By 1896, William Draper Lewis's deanship initiated a shift toward a full-time faculty, including the hiring of William Ephraim Mikell as the first full-time professor in 1897, while construction began in 1898 on a dedicated Law School building in West Philadelphia. The George Biddle Memorial Library, established in 1887 with over 5,000 volumes, supported these advancements.

Expansion and Institutionalization (1900–1999)

In 1900, the Law School dedicated its new building on 34th Street between Chestnut and Sansom Streets, designed by Cope & Stewardson and initially known as Lewis Hall (later renamed Silverman Hall), marking the institution's relocation from downtown to the university's core campus and accommodating growing enrollment and operations. Under Dean William Draper Lewis, who served from 1896 to 1914, the school underwent significant , establishing a full-time faculty model; faculty numbers expanded from 11 to 26 members by 1914, with full-time professors rising to five. Lewis also pioneered selective admissions requiring a college degree, a policy that positioned Penn Law among early leaders like Yale in elevating entry standards beyond mere bar preparation. Subsequent deans continued institutional consolidation amid national shifts in . William Ephraim Mikell (1914–1929) and Herbert Funk Goodrich (1929–1940), the latter who later served on the U.S. Court of Appeals, maintained focus on rigorous doctrinal training during the . During , the school supported wartime efforts, hosting U.S. Navy commissioning examinations in McKean Hall and integrating military personnel into its facilities, reflecting broader institutional adaptation to national demands. Postwar leadership under Owen J. Roberts (1948–1951), a former U.S. Justice, emphasized amid rising federal influence, followed by acting Dean (1951–1952). The mid-century era under Jefferson Barnes Fordham (1952–1970) drove major expansion, with substantial growth in faculty size and the physical plant, including the construction of Gittis Hall in the 1960s to house additional classrooms and offices. Fordham reformed the curriculum by incorporating behavioral sciences and expanding offerings, broadening beyond traditional subjects to reflect interdisciplinary trends in legal scholarship. Later deans, including Bernard Wolfman (1970–1975), Louis H. Pollak (1975–1978), James O. Freedman (1979–1982), Robert Mundheim (1982–1989), and Colin S. Diver (1989–1999), further institutionalized the school through endowment drives for scholarships and research, attracting renowned in legal theory, , and business law while adding facilities like Tannenbaum Hall in 1994. These developments solidified Penn Law's national stature, with the —founded by Lewis in 1923 and headquartered at the school until 1948—exemplifying its enduring role in codifying uniform legal principles.

Contemporary Era and Reforms (2000–Present)

Michael A. Fitts served as dean from 2000 until 2023, overseeing a period of substantial growth in interdisciplinary , with the establishment of over 30 joint degree and certificate programs combining law with disciplines including , , and . Under his leadership, the school's endowment quadrupled, the faculty expanded by more than 40 percent through targeted of over 20 scholars, and available financial aid doubled to support student access. In November 2019, the W. P. Carey Foundation donated $125 million—the largest gift ever to a U.S. law school—prompting the renaming to University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School in honor of the donor family. Funds were allocated to bolster need-based financial aid (with emphasis on underrepresented students), expand pro bono opportunities, recruit top faculty for innovative research, enhance interdisciplinary and entrepreneurial curricula, and initiate the Future of the Profession program for alumni career support amid evolving legal practice demands. The renaming drew student and alumni backlash over dilution of the "Penn Law" brand, evidenced by a petition exceeding 3,000 signatures urging retention of the traditional name, though implementation proceeded with "Penn Carey Law" as the operational shorthand by the 2022 academic year. Sophia Z. Lee, a legal historian specializing in , took office as dean in July 2023. Her tenure has coincided with administrative restructuring in response to internal controversies, including a prolonged disciplinary process against tenured professor . Initiated in 2022 over statements on cultural and racial differences in academic performance and societal outcomes—such as her 2017 op-ed arguing for emulating bourgeois norms and invitations to speakers like Charles Murray—Wax faced university sanctions in September 2024, including a one-year suspension at , removal from her named , and public reprimand for "flagrant unprofessional conduct." Critics, including the , contended the penalties targeted protected academic speech rather than misconduct, highlighting tensions between institutional norms and faculty expression. In August 2025, the school shuttered its Office of Equal Opportunity and Engagement—tasked with diversity initiatives—integrating its duties into wider operations, while pausing scholarships tied to identity-based criteria, such as one honoring the first graduate. These moves aligned with university-wide reductions in programming following the 2023 ruling against race-based admissions. One month later, in September 2025, enhanced need-based aid commitments were announced to address and stakeholder concerns over access amid the shifts.

Academics

Curriculum and Degree Offerings

The University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School offers five primary degree programs: the (JD), Master in Law (ML), Master of Laws (LLM), Master of Comparative Law (LLCM), and Doctor of Juridical Science (SJD). These programs emphasize a cross-disciplinary approach integrating legal theory, analytical skills, and practical training in areas such as , , , and , with opportunities for through clinics and externships. The JD program, the school's flagship offering, requires completion of 86 semester hours over six semesters of full-time residency. First-year students follow a mandatory comprising core courses in , , Contracts, , and Torts, supplemented by a year-long Legal Practice Skills course and two elective courses in the spring semester. Upper-level requirements include one course in , six semester hours of (such as clinics or externships), a senior writing project involving scholarly research, and at least 70 hours of service. Students may pursue joint degrees or certificates with other schools, enhancing interdisciplinary focus, though these extend the time to degree completion. The ML degree targets professionals without a prior , requiring eight courses: four foundational ML courses grounding students in U.S. and four upper-level JD electives (excluding first-year requirements). The LLM program serves foreign-trained lawyers, offering a general track or concentrations in and Technology or Energy, Security, and , with access to a Wharton and Certificate; it begins with a pre-term orientation and includes clinical opportunities and options. The LLCM provides advanced training for international practitioners. The SJD, the terminal research degree, demands a dissertation and one year of residency, typically following an LLM or equivalent, with admission based on a detailed and prior academic record.

Admissions, Costs, and Demographics

The University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School employs a holistic admissions for its J.D. program, evaluating applicants based on undergraduate GPA, LSAT or GRE scores, personal statements, letters of recommendation, resumes, and extracurricular or professional experience. For the Class of 2028 (entering fall 2024), the school received 8,074 applications and enrolled 266 students, yielding an acceptance rate of approximately 10 percent. Median LSAT score stood at 173 (25th-75th percentile: 167-174), and median undergraduate GPA was 3.95 (25th-75th percentile: 3.77-4.00). Tuition and required fees for the 2025-2026 academic year total $84,494 for full-time J.D. students, regardless of course load. The full estimated cost of attendance, including living expenses, books, and other costs for an eight-month period, exceeds $110,000, though exact figures vary by individual circumstances such as housing choices. The school offers need-based financial aid, merit scholarships, and loan repayment assistance; approximately 80 percent of students receive some form of aid, with recent expansions in full-tuition scholarships for high-need incoming students following scrutiny over prior diversity-related practices.
CategoryFirst-Year Class (Recent Data)Total J.D. Enrollment
Men102 (40.6%)330 (43.5%)
Women126 (50.2%)396 (52.2%)
Other/Prefer Not to Report23 (9.2%)33 (4.3%)
Total251759
Demographics for the most recent first-year class show a student body predominantly identifying as White (52.6 percent) and Asian (25.1 percent), followed by Hispanic or Latino (8.4 percent), Black or African American (8.0 percent), two or more races (2.8 percent), unknown (2.0 percent), Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander (1.2 percent), and Native American (0 percent). Overall J.D. enrollment reflects a similar composition, with White students at 49.3 percent, Asian at 22.0 percent, Hispanic at 10.9 percent, and Black at 8.8 percent. The entering class draws from 110 undergraduate institutions across 31 states, the District of Columbia, and international locations, with an average age of 24 and a significant portion (89 percent) having one to two years of post-undergraduate experience.

Research Centers, Clinics, and Programs

The Gittis Legal Clinics at Penn Carey Law School function as the school's teaching law firm, consisting of nine in-house that enable students to provide legal services to over 300 clients annually while accumulating more than 14,000 hours of legal work each year. These emphasize practical lawyering skills, , and service to underserved communities, continuing a 48-year tradition of clinical established to bridge classroom theory with real-world application. Key clinics include the Entrepreneurship Legal Clinic, which advises startups and emerging companies on business formation, , and financing; the Civil Practice Clinic, focusing on litigation and advocacy for low-income clients in housing, family, and consumer disputes; and the Legislative Clinic, combining congressional fieldwork with seminars on policy drafting and legislative strategy. Additional offerings encompass the Justice Lab Clinic, which develops interdisciplinary solutions to systemic legal challenges; the Advocacy for Racial and Civil Justice Clinic, engaging in civil rights litigation and policy work in the area; and the Transnational Legal Clinic, addressing lawyering and U.S. immigration system navigation. Externships supplement in-house clinics by placing students in supervised field placements at government agencies, nonprofits, and private firms, allowing application of doctrinal knowledge to diverse practice settings without direct faculty supervision in a classroom. Research centers and institutes at the school promote interdisciplinary scholarship and policy analysis. The Center for Technology, Innovation & Competition advances legal research on emerging technologies and competitive markets. The Penn Program on Regulation analyzes regulatory frameworks and their economic and social effects. The Institute for Law & Economics applies economic methodologies to legal institutions and decision-making. The Quattrone Center for the Fair Administration of Justice conducts empirical studies to enhance accuracy and equity in criminal justice processes, including wrongful convictions and bail reform. Other centers include the Center for Ethics and the Rule of Law, which examines ethical dilemmas in and ; the Institute for Law & , probing foundational questions in jurisprudence; and the Center for Tax Law & Policy, evaluating design and implementation. Specialized groups such as the Criminal Law Research Group and Legal History Consortium support targeted investigations into evolution and historical legal developments. The Toll Public Interest Center coordinates public interest initiatives, enforcing a requirement for all JD students to complete 70 hours of service prior to graduation to foster commitment to and community impact. It also administers fellowships, hosts events like Week and the Edward V. Sparer Symposium, and collaborates on career advising for nonprofit and government roles.

Publications and Extracurricular Activities

The University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School supports eight student-edited scholarly journals, each focused on specific areas of and , providing participants with opportunities to engage in substantive editing, peer review, and publication processes. The flagship publication, the University of Pennsylvania Law Review, established in 1852 as the American Law Register, is the oldest continuously published in the United States and remains among the most cited legal periodicals, emphasizing original scholarship for the bench, bar, and . Other journals include the University of Pennsylvania Journal of Constitutional Law, dedicated to interdisciplinary constitutional ; the University of Pennsylvania Journal of International Law, recognized as a leading topical publication on global legal issues; the University of Pennsylvania Journal of Business Law; the University of Pennsylvania Journal of Law and Innovation; the University of Pennsylvania Journal of Law & Public Affairs; the University of Pennsylvania Journal of Law & Social Change; and the University of Pennsylvania Asian Law Review. Student involvement in these journals typically begins through competitive selection processes, such as writing competitions held in the first year, followed by roles in citation checking, editing, and author collaboration, fostering skills in and critical evaluation. The journals collectively publish articles, notes, and comments on contemporary legal developments, with national recognition for their scholarly rigor and contributions to professional discourse. Extracurricular activities at the school encompass a broad array of student organizations and competitive programs, spanning professional development, advocacy, identity-based groups, and recreational pursuits. Professional organizations include the Criminal Law Association at Penn, which promotes criminal practice through events and research showcases, and the Black Law Students Association, focused on support and networking for Black students. International-focused groups, such as those under the global engagement umbrella, facilitate discussions on cross-border legal topics. Recreational clubs feature the Penn Carey Law Ultimate Frisbee Club, established in 2022 to build community through sports, and the Aerial Arts Club, which offers training in acrobatics at local facilities. Advocacy competitions form a core extracurricular component, with the annual Edwin R. Keedy Cup serving as the primary intramural event; it invites second-year students to submit briefs and argue before faculty and judges, culminating in finals typically held in . Students also compete externally in national and international tournaments, including the Philip C. Jessup Competition, honing appellate advocacy skills through simulated proceedings. programs and other advocacy teams further emphasize and trial techniques, with participation open to upper-year students selected via tryouts or applications. These activities integrate with the Council of Student Representatives, which coordinates funding and events to enhance the overall student experience.

Campus and Facilities

Physical Infrastructure

The University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School occupies a compact urban campus in the University City neighborhood of , spanning approximately one bounded by 34th and 36th Streets and Chestnut and Sansom Streets. This central location integrates the into the broader campus, facilitating interdisciplinary access while maintaining a self-contained complex of interconnected buildings arranged around a central . The design emphasizes historical preservation alongside modern functionality, with facilities managed by a dedicated department handling building operations from 7:30 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. on weekdays. Silverman Hall, the law school's flagship structure completed in 1900 and designed by the architectural firm Cope & Stewardson in a neo-Georgian style, originally housed the entire institution, including classrooms, library, and administrative spaces. Located at 3501 Sansom Street, it features ornate interiors such as the used for events and the Levy Conference Center, with recent renovations in 2021 restoring original grandeur through improved acoustics, lighting, heating, and classroom configurations derived from former reading rooms. Adjacent buildings include Gittis Hall, renovated to modernize lecture spaces with horseshoe seating arrangements, enhanced audiovisual technology, and dedicated teaching walls. Golkin Hall, dedicated in 2012 as the primary entrance, is a four-story steel-framed addition that completes the enclosure, incorporating faculty offices, research centers, administrative suites, and student organization spaces alongside facade upgrades, , and interior reconfigurations for energy efficiency. These structures collectively support advanced pedagogical needs, including high-technology classrooms, seminar rooms, a modern moot courtroom, a large , and communal areas.

Library and Resources

The Biddle Law Library, the primary research facility for the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School, is housed in Tanenbaum Hall at 3501 Sansom Street in . Named after George W. Biddle, a prominent and early donor whose death in prompted its establishment as the Biddle Memorial Library, it has evolved into a comprehensive repository supporting legal and . The library maintains approximately one million volumes, with two-thirds focused on American legal materials, alongside extensive electronic resources and databases for primary and secondary U.S. legal sources. Its collections emphasize scholarly output from Penn Carey Law and , including rare books, manuscripts, and historical strengths in 19th- and early 20th-century sources in English, French, German, Roman, Eastern European, and . Special collections feature the (ALI) Archives, spanning over 800 cubic feet of materials documenting and other projects since the Institute's founding, as well as the National Bankruptcy Archives with records on legislation like the 1978 Bankruptcy Act. Additional holdings include and papers, from the Penn Carey Law Legal Project (conducted 1999–2006), and digitized institutional records accessible via the library's digital platform. Resources for students and faculty include and course guides curated by librarians, free online access to study aids packages, past exams, and course reserves available both digitally and in print. An A-Z database list provides tools for , with off-campus access supported via institutional accounts. The offers services through chat, , and in-person consultations during operating hours, alongside reservable study spaces limited to 20 hours per week per student in blocks up to four hours. Visitor access is available, though prioritized for the community.

Reputation and Outcomes

Rankings and Academic Prestige

The University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School consistently ranks among the top law schools in the United States, reflecting its academic prestige through metrics emphasizing peer assessments, employment outcomes, and scholarly impact. In the 2025 Best Law Schools rankings, it placed #5 overall out of 195 accredited programs, a position supported by strong performance in peer scores (4.3 from academics) and assessments from lawyers and judges (4.5). This elite standing aligns with historical trends, where Penn Law has maintained top-10 placement in U.S. News rankings for over a decade, including #4 in some years prior to 2025 and #6 in 2022. Its prestige is further evidenced by high placement rates into top law firms—over 70% of graduates in 2020—and specialized strengths, such as #6 in contracts/ and #9 in per 2025 U.S. News specialty rankings. Alternative rankings like Above the Law's 2025 edition, which prioritize recent ABA employment data over peer surveys, underscore Penn's outcomes-driven reputation, though specific ordinal positions vary with methodological emphasis on bar passage and job security rather than subjective prestige. Peer-driven prestige metrics, while influential, can incorporate institutional biases; studies indicate that ideological leanings in academia may skew scores away from empirical outputs like or placement success. Nonetheless, Penn's sustained T14 status—encompassing the top 14 schools by most metrics—affirms its role as a feeder for federal clerkships, advocacy, and leadership in corporate and , independent of ranking fluctuations.

Employment Statistics and Salary Data

For the Class of 2023, the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School reported 248 total graduates, with 222 (89.5%) securing full-time, long-term positions requiring bar passage as of March 15, 2024. This outcome reflects the school's strong placement in competitive legal markets, with only 1 graduate (0.4%) unemployed and seeking work. An additional 11 graduates (4.4%) obtained full-time J.D.-advantage roles, while 2 enrolled in further graduate studies.
Employer TypeNumber of Graduates
Law Firms179
Federal Clerkships23
Public Interest23
Business & Industry10
State/Local Clerkships4
Government5
Education1
Law firm placements dominated, with 160 graduates (71.2% of full-time bar-required positions) entering firms of 501 or more attorneys, indicative of Big Law outcomes. Clerkships, particularly federal ones, represented another key pathway, offering entry to judiciary roles. Public interest and government positions, though smaller in volume, underscore targeted placements for graduates pursuing non-private sector careers. Salary data, derived from National Association for Law Placement (NALP) surveys, shows bimodal distribution driven by firm size. For Class of 2023 graduates in firms exceeding 500 attorneys—the primary destination for Penn Law's hires—median starting base salaries reached $215,000, aligning with the prevailing market scale for elite associates. Smaller firms and roles yielded lower s, ranging from $75,000 in solo/small practices to approximately $60,000–$80,000 for federal clerkships and fellowships, though prestige and future earning potential vary. Overall s for large-firm-heavy classes like Penn's exceed national figures, with NALP reporting a $215,000 benchmark for such placements amid 2023's competitive raises. These outcomes position Penn Law graduates favorably, though actual take-home pay incorporates bonuses, location differentials, and billable hour demands not captured in base figures.

Bar Passage, Clerkships, and Professional Placements

The University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School reports first-time bar passage rates exceeding 96% for recent graduating classes, outperforming state and national averages. For the Class of 2023, the school's first-time bar passage rate was 96.7%, based on ABA data aggregated from uniform bar exam administrations. In the July 2024 Pennsylvania bar exam, 64 Penn Carey Law graduates achieved a pass rate of approximately 95%, surpassing the overall state rate of 72%. These outcomes reflect rigorous preparation programs, including dedicated bar support resources, though ultimate success depends on individual performance and jurisdiction-specific exam difficulty. Clerkship placements remain a hallmark of Penn Carey Law outcomes, with graduates securing positions at federal, state, and specialized courts at rates among the highest nationally. For the Class of 2024, 8.2% of graduates (25 out of 304) obtained federal clerkships, including opportunities with U.S. Courts of Appeals and courts. Overall clerkship attainment has reached record levels; between 2015 and 2020, students and alumni secured 386 clerkships across all judicial levels, while the 2021-2022 cycle yielded 102 placements for 93 individuals, encompassing , appellate, and trial courts. These figures underscore the school's emphasis on clerkship preparation through faculty networks, programs, and targeted advising, facilitating access to prestigious positions that enhance long-term trajectories. Professional placements for Penn Carey Law graduates predominantly feature large national law firms, government roles, and public interest positions, with over 95% employment in full-time, long-term legal jobs ten months post-graduation. In the Class of 2024 ABA employment summary, 68.4% entered national law firms, 15.1% pursued including and organizations, 3.3% joined regional firms, and smaller cohorts took or academic paths. Judicial clerkships accounted for the aforementioned 8.2%, with minimal at 5.9%. These distributions align with the school's strategy office data, emphasizing high-value placements in competitive markets like New York and Washington, D.C., supported by on-campus interviews and alumni networks.
CategoryClass of 2024 Placement (%)
National Law Firms68.4
Public Service/Government15.1
Federal Clerkships8.2
Regional/Small Firms3.6
Other (Business, Academia, etc.)4.7

Notable Individuals

Faculty Contributions and Profiles

The faculty of the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School includes prominent legal scholars whose work spans antitrust, privacy, criminal justice, and social policy, influencing both academic discourse and practical law. In a 2024 assessment of top-cited legal scholars based on publications from 2019 to 2023, seven Penn Carey Law professors ranked among the top 100 globally, with Herbert Hovenkamp at 5th, Jill Fisch at 12th, and Sandra Mayson at 18th for their high-impact articles in fields like and . Anita L. Allen serves as the Henry R. Silverman Professor of Law and professor of philosophy, specializing in privacy, bioethics, and legal philosophy. Her scholarship examines the ethical dimensions of data protection and medical decision-making, with key works including the book Privacy (2010) and contributions to privacy law frameworks. Allen received the 2022 Hastings Center Bioethics Founders Award for advancing law and philosophy in medicine, science, and public policy, as well as the 2021 Philip L. Quinn Prize from the American Philosophical Association for distinguished service to philosophy. She also earned a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Electronic Privacy Information Center in 2014 for her foundational role in privacy advocacy. Amy Wax, the Robert A. Gorman Professor of Law, focuses on social welfare policy, family structure, and immigration's economic impacts. Her publications address , including requirements for work in aid programs, and critiques of federal economics. In "Disparate Impact Realism" (2011), Wax advocated replacing rigid disparate impact rules in with flexible, evidence-based thresholds tied to actual group differences. Herbert Hovenkamp, the James G. Becker Professor of Law, is a preeminent antitrust authority, authoring or co-authoring treatises like IP and Antitrust (3rd ed., 2023) that guide judicial and regulatory interpretations of . His empirical analyses of market power and innovation have shaped guidelines and precedents on . Jill Fisch, the Nicholas F. Gallicchio Professor of Finance and professor of law, researches securities regulation and , with influential papers on and ESG disclosure mandates cited over 1,000 times. Her work critiques regulatory overreach in financial markets while proposing data-driven reforms to enhance investor protections. Tom Baker, the William A. Schnader of Law and deputy dean, leads in and risk regulation, authoring The Medical Malpractice Myth (2005), which used empirical data to debunk crisis narratives in debates and influenced policy on .

Alumni Achievements and Influence

Alumni of the Carey Law School have achieved prominence in the judiciary, exerting influence through landmark rulings and judicial leadership. , a graduate, served as a on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of from 1964 to 1977 and then on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit until 1991, authoring influential opinions on civil rights and race discrimination cases while also contributing scholarly works on . Phyllis W. Beck, another alumna, became the first woman appointed to the in 1981, serving until 1996 and advocating for reforms in and judicial administration. In and , graduates have shaped national and state governance. Gigi B. Sohn (L'86) advanced telecommunications as a senior fellow at the Benton Institute for Broadband & and was nominated by President Biden in 2021 to serve on the , where she championed and affordable broadband access before withdrawing her nomination amid partisan opposition. More recently, three alumni hold senior roles in Governor Josh Shapiro's administration as of 2024, including Mira Baylson (L'08) as Executive Deputy , contributing to state legal strategy and executive operations. In private practice and business, alumni lead major law firms and intersect with public roles. Randy M. Mastro, co-chair of & Crutcher's litigation practice, earned the Penn Carey Law Society's Award of Merit in 2023 for his work in high-stakes civil and criminal cases, and was appointed First of by Mayor on March 20, 2025, overseeing legal and policy matters. During the 2023-2024 academic year, four secured clerkships with U.S. justices, underscoring the school's pipeline to elite judicial influence.

Controversies and Criticisms

Amy Wax Case and Academic Freedom Disputes

Amy Wax, a tenured professor at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School since 2001, has faced sanctions for extramural statements and classroom conduct deemed to violate university behavioral policies. In August 2017, Wax co-authored an op-ed in The Philadelphia Inquirer asserting that "bourgeois values"—such as marriage, industriousness, and church attendance—underlie individual and national success, and that no society adopting opposite norms has prospered; she cited empirical data on family structure, crime rates, and educational outcomes across groups to support claims of cultural disparities. She invited black law students to a dinner to discuss these values, prompting accusations of racism from some students and faculty. Wax defended her views as grounded in observable behavioral patterns and first-principles analysis of incentives and norms, rejecting equal cultural validity as empirically unsubstantiated. Further controversies arose from Wax's 2019 speech at the , where she criticized mass immigration from non-Western cultures as incompatible with American assimilation, arguing that elite immigrants from and often prioritize group interests over civic integration; Dean Theodore Ruger publicly labeled these remarks "bigoted" and reflective of "white cultural supremacy." In 2021, Wax stated on a that she had "never seen a black student graduate in the top quarter" of her classes and questioned the contributions of non-Western immigrants, citing aggregate data on patent rates and civic participation by . These prompted student petitions and a January 2022 formal complaint by Dean Ruger, initiating a faculty senate investigation into alleged violations of Penn's policies on professional conduct, , and creating a hostile environment. A Faculty Hearing Board, after hearings in 2023, found Wax violated university expectations by fostering a "hostile educational environment" through repeated extramural comments on race and culture, but cleared her of direct discrimination against students; it recommended major sanctions including removal from her named chair, a one-year suspension at half pay, denial of summer teaching pay indefinitely, and a public reprimand. Penn's Senate Committee on Academic Freedom and Responsibility upheld these in May 2024, emphasizing that while speech is protected, "professional norms" require restraint from statements undermining collegiality. On September 24, 2024, Interim President J. Larry Jameson imposed the sanctions, with suspension set for the 2025-2026 academic year; Wax retains tenure but lost her Robert Mundheim Professorship. The case has ignited debates on , with organizations like the , , and the condemning the sanctions as punitive for unpopular opinions, arguing they erode tenure's purpose of shielding heterodox inquiry into causal factors like culture and behavior—especially given academia's documented left-leaning ideological skew, which surveys show suppresses conservative or empirical realist views on group differences. Proponents of the sanctions, including Penn officials, maintain that Wax's exceeded protected speech by targeting protected classes and eroding trust, though no specific instances of grading bias or exclusion were proven. Wax filed a in 2023 alleging , which a federal judge dismissed on August 28, 2025, ruling her claims did not sufficiently demonstrate retaliation for protected speech. Critics, including legal scholars, warn the precedent prioritizes subjective "norms" over evidence-based discourse, potentially chilling research on politically sensitive topics like disparate impacts.

Ideological Bias and Viewpoint Suppression

The at the Carey Law School demonstrate pronounced ideological uniformity, with political donation records from 2017 to early 2023 showing 28 members contributing a total of $85,283 exclusively to Democratic candidates and political committees, and zero donations to Republicans. This pattern reflects broader disparities in legal academia, where conservative professors constitute only about 15% of compared to 35% of practicing lawyers, with higher-ranked schools like Penn exhibiting even greater left-leaning homogeneity, evidenced by an average ideological score (CFscore) of -0.87 among Penn Law affiliates. Such uniformity raises concerns about viewpoint diversity, as empirical studies indicate that ideological imbalance in academia correlates with reduced exposure to heterodox perspectives and potential among minority viewpoints. Instances of viewpoint suppression at Penn Law have included student-led disruptions targeting events featuring non-left-leaning speakers. On November 28, 2023, approximately 80 students protested outside a during a guest lecture hosted by a faculty member, objecting to the invitation of , identified as a white nationalist, as an infringement on campus norms despite the event proceeding as scheduled. Critics, including legal scholars, have characterized such protests as embracing a "," where vocal opposition prioritizes ideological over open discourse, potentially deterring future invitations of dissenting voices. Administrative actions have also contributed to perceptions of suppression. In October 2020, the removed a public statement commemorating Justice after it included a from a conservative-leaning , citing backlash over her prior public statements on and culture. This incident, alongside broader faculty donation imbalances at the university level—where 99.7% of contributions from Penn faculty between 2021 and 2022 went to Democrats—underscores systemic pressures that may marginalize conservative or contrarian scholarship, fostering an environment where empirical challenges to prevailing orthodoxies face heightened scrutiny. The University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School maintained an Office of Equal Opportunity and Engagement (EO&E), which oversaw (DEI) initiatives, including anti-bias training for students preparing for legal practice and resources for addressing identity-based biases in professional settings. The office supported programs such as the Sadie T.M. Alexander Racial Justice Scholarship, a full-tuition award established for students pursuing research or advocacy in racial justice, honoring the school's first female graduate from 1927. Broader university policies prohibited discrimination on bases including race, color, , , , and , while the law school committed post-2023 rulings to compliance with race-neutral admissions standards alongside efforts for an inclusive community. Legal challenges to the law school's DEI practices were limited and indirect, with no major lawsuits targeting its specific programs identified; however, these initiatives faced broader pressures from federal scrutiny and executive actions. The 2023 Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard Supreme Court decision, which invalidated race-conscious admissions, prompted national reevaluations of DEI frameworks, including at Penn Law, where administrators affirmed legal adherence but noted ongoing commitments to diversity. Subsequent 2025 executive orders under President Trump targeted DEI in federal funding and contracting, influencing institutional rollbacks amid conservative advocacy against perceived viewpoint discrimination in higher education. Pennsylvania lawmakers criticized Penn's responses as overly compliant, convening meetings in February 2025 to protest DEI website scrubs as "cowardice" in yielding to political directives. In response to these developments, Penn Carey Law implemented significant adjustments starting in early 2025. On February 21, 2025, the school's Equity & Inclusion webpage was removed and redirected to a neutral Equal Opportunity page, part of a university-wide purge of DEI terminology across 12 graduate schools. By August 7, 2025, the EO&E office was slated for closure at summer's end, discontinuing associated trainings and programs. The Sadie T.M. Alexander scholarship was paused indefinitely, citing compliance needs, though in September 2025, the school announced a replacement post-graduate fellowship in her name focused on broader public interest work, alongside enhanced need-based financial aid to support diverse enrollment without race-based criteria. These shifts drew internal backlash for eroding support structures but aligned with empirical pressures from funding risks and legal precedents favoring merit-based processes over identity-focused interventions.

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