The University of North Dakota Law School prepares its students for the academic and practical demands of the legal field. I would say the best thing about the School is the size of its student population. In total, there are about 200 students (approx. 80 students in 1L). Personally, I feel that the small student pop. contributes to the School's collegial learning environment. Students learn and work together as colleagues and friends - a quality that will guide them throughout their legal careers.

Reputation
The law school has an excellent reputation in the region and nationwide. Keep in mind that the school only received approx. 430 applications (according to the USNews 2007 rankings). I think a lot of prospective law students overlook the University of North Dakota Law School simply because of its location (and perhaps weather ).

Facilities
The Baker Court Room, located on the upper level of the law school, routinely hosts the North Dakota Supreme Court and the Eight Circuit Court of Appeals.

The Thormodsgard Law Library (named after Olaf H. Thormodsgard, the School's Dean of Law from 1933 to 1962) is equipped to meet the needs of students, lawyers and scholars. The four-storey library houses over 312,000 volumes, in addition to a growing audio-visual and digital collection of legal materials.

Overall, the collegiate brick exterior of the UND-Law building reflects its historic academic tradition. Inside, the structure has an integrated wireless internet network. The University of North Dakota Law School has very modern classrooms that incorporate the latest technology and enhance the learning atmosphere.

Professors
The professors at UND-Law are well-respected, well-known, and care about their students. As a student here, you will meet most of the faculty at some point in your legal studies.

Jobs
Since the University of North Dakota Law School is the only law school in the state, you can land some really good jobs with the State Attorney's Office, etc. The law school has close connections to the Supreme Court of North Dakota and the Eighth Circuit. Indeed, the school will help you land a job. Overall, UND grads have a high placement rate, in and out of state.

Weather
Let's be honest, not every student dreams of moving to North Dakota! Be prepared for some very cold winters! Likewise, the summers can be quite warm -- so find an apartment that has heating and AC! Which brings me to my next point, housing.

Housing
Although the university does not have specific housing for law students, it offers a wide range of housing options. Law students can opt for graduate student housing (managed by the university, includes a meal-card, etc.) or self-contained apartments on campus. I would definitely recommend living on campus -- it's a great experience. See the housing office's website for the latest details on costs: http://www.housing.und.edu

Activities
UND is home to a $100 million hockey arena (at that price, it's a very nice arena). The Ralph Engelstad Arena is home to UND's hockey team. It's as if the university has its own 'quasi' NHL team! Other activities include mountain biking (lots of trails in the area) and hiking.

Please post a reply if you have any other questions about the University of North Dakota Law School or North Dakota itself.

UND Law School is the smallest ABA accredited law school in America. Our 1st year class (2005) only had 92 students and this class was the largest 1L class UND law has had for many years.

As for the school itself....

The professors are friendly and always available. They know their subject material and are probably as committed or more committed as any law school professors are. Because of the small size of the school, there are never T.A.'s teaching classes. This makes things more personable and gives off a much more accessible enviorment for all the students.

However, one of the problems with this school is the constant turnover in professors-there doesn't seem to be clear cut faculty at this school. Two of the of 6 professors I had this year are leaving after this year and while here I was introduced to 3 candidates from different parts of the country who were interviewing for new positions at the school (none of which seemed to me will end up staying here in any long term sort of way). It seems that UND Law school is the place where a new law professors ends up getting their 1st teaching job and after a few years here, they end up leaving. I don't blame them (I wouldn't want to stay here forever either). However, it is sort of unsettling because as a law student, I never feel that those professors are committed to the school or region and they are only using the position to get ahead somewhere else in the future.

Suprisingly enough, the main law school faculty is very liberal-much more liberal than the region. This is a good thing if you are liberal (and possibly not from the region-like myself) but none push their views in class or in their teaching.

As for the student body, it should go without saying that North Dakota in general is not the best place for a diverse student body. The school has tried hard to get minorities to come here but the weather and possibly the UND "Fighting Sioux" nickname turn a lot of minorities off from coming here. Our 1L class had at least 15% minorities, which is a huge increase from other years/classes. As a minority myself, the atomosphere is congenial and most of the "natives", i.e. the white population here, are friendly enough and not overtly racist in any way. However, as a minority, I have experienced a very subtle racism on the main campus and even at the law school itself. Some of it stems from the "Fighting Sioux" nickname, but a lot of it stems from a clear sense of entitlement the majority white population has here on a de facto basis.

As far as competition goes, the school is probably less competitive than most law schools are. There are not a lot of "activists" here as far as the student body goes. It is in my experience that most of the people here simply want to be lawyers and see this as a ABA accredited trade school to achieve this end. Because of the size of the school and the fact that most of the students come from the region and straight from undergrad, I think the school suffers from having a "high school" like atomosphere. It is very "clicky". The classes are too small for people to be anonymous but too big to have a cozy, friendly feel. The rumor mill at this school sort of disgusts me. While the class is not overly competitve or cutthroat, there are always those who are. Also, the UND law school has a number of "sports" teams so it cultivates a sort of "jock" and "cheerleader" type of high school mentality among SOME students.

The school costs are good, and the quality of education is fine. The Dean and assistant Dead are awesome as well as the law school staff. There is even a financial aid person at the school itself who is helpful and I hear excellent in helping with those who want to get jobs. The professors are not "scary" as far as "calling on" students and my overall 1st year experience has probably been better than I could have expected. For as much as a lot of people (like myself) didn't do what I suppose a "typical law student does" regarding studying the law does, it was easier to pass classes than you'd expect. (although it isn't a automatic easy standard at all and some 1L first semester people did get F's in some of their classes). I chalk this up to the quality of teaching at the school-I feel that if you only went to class and took notes there and paid attention there, and then did no outside reading or studying, and had a decent head on your shoulders, you could easily pass!

As far as Grand Forks, ND is concerned...

At any given time, the entire school has only 230 students. This means every student has their own locker. However, there are only 2 bathrooms in the school for males (with a total of 4 standing urinals and 3 sit down toliets) and 3 for females (8 sit down toliets) which can be trying at times. However, everything is in one building-the entire law school! This is good in a way-less having to move around in the freezing winter.

Parking at UND is a utter diaster. UND does little for parking and graduate students do not get any special treatment because of our status. In a place this cold, this is a serious issue and it is common to have to walk 7 city blocks from a UND parking space to the law school in 30- below weather.

The weather sucks here. It is very cold in the Fall and Winter and it there is still snow until April. But the wind is the the worse.

As a third tier school, this isn't the "finest" law school in the country. But if you just want to get a J.D., don't mind the trade off of miserable weather for a decent experience for what is usually the hellish years at law school, then UND Law is for you!

Hi,
This is Anderson.I had completed my Law in north Dakota school of law.Its a very great experience for me to study in that school.As the subject they had provided is excellent as other Law schools would not provide such a kind of detailed information on Law.So I recommend all the people who wants to study Law can join their.so that you can obtain more knowledge

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Jones2304

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UND-law, I saw UND dropped in the USNews rankings to the 4th tier recently. What sort of steps are you taking to move up in the rankings?

UND is on my list of schools that I am applying to!