How autonomous is your law school? Forum

[Unbelegalble]

Hello everyone,

Long-time lurker and first time poster here. I'm doing some research on how autonomous you view your law school (both socially and administratively).

Some things to consider:
How strong of an affiliation do you feel the law school has with your school's main university?
How involved is the main university's administration in your law school's affairs (i.e. does your law school handle its own administration/registration/admissions?)
Do you have interaction with non-law students?
Anything else you can think of that shows how autonomous your law school is.
Posting which law school you attend (or perhaps a general ranking) would be helpful.

Thanks in advance for your help and feedback!

[banjo]

For CLS, the only right answer is "it's complicated." Morningside Heights is a small but complex ecosystem that includes dozens of local vendors, public spaces like streets and parks, quasi-public spaces like College Walk, hospitals, the schools and libraries of Columbia University (including the Law School), other schools/colleges like Barnard, churches, subways, and other random things. So no matter what, we all have to figure out a way to live together / not kill each other.

A few examples of this in practice:

-In terms of location, the main law school building is connected to the International Affairs Building and is immediately adjacent to two undergraduate dorms (one of which contains a storage closet for Law School clubs). However, most of your classes will take place in the law school building--you're never running all over campus.

-One of the other law school buildings also houses business school classes. In fact, in the lobby of that building, there's like a fancy food section for business school students only (which law students raid anyway). And yet on the fifth floor of that same building, you'll find coffee and cookies for law students. How's that for sharing space?

-University Apartment Housing (UAH) often pairs law students with students from other graduate programs. It's totally possible that a law student lives with a PhD student and a budding poet. At the same time, the Law School does offer law school-only housing. Students have a choice about how much they want to interact with non-law students.

-Some of our classes are open to business students and students from other schools, and vice versa

-Your University ID card gets you access to many of the libraries and buildings on campus, including the gym and student center. It's totally possible to study in Lerner Hall and creep on an 18-year-old freshman sitting next to you (don't do this).

-It's common for law school events to take place in University spaces. In fact, some of the biggest events (like the law school comedy show) take place on shared campus space. When this happens, law school policies and university policies both come into play / collide and there's no Erie doctrine to resolve the discrepancies. Student Services, Public Safety, University Event Management, CU Arts, and countless other people get involved.

-Student clubs are allocated funding from Student Senate. But some funding comes from law firms and many external funding sources are available to the University at large.

-Many events are university-wide, like Night Market and the annual tree-lighting ceremony (which features hot chocolate and cookies). But there are also a TON of events that are for specific schools or sets of schools only.

-I haven't really explored this, but I imagine that many Barnard College facilities are available to CLS students too. They have their own student center and everything.

I could go on and on. I bet places like Michigan are even more weird/complex.

[star fox]

Not being in the same location as the UG campus makes it feel like a completely different entity.

[rinkrat19]

Not being in the same location as the UG campus makes it feel like a completely different entity.

Except when they (a)want more money from the law school, (b)want to enforce a stupid rule or policy that doesn't make sense for the law school, or (c)want to use the fucking atrium.

[Unbelegalble]

Thanks everyone so far for your help.

[JustHawkin]

Not being in the same location as the UG campus makes it feel like a completely different entity.

[anonamich]

Long-time lurker here, too, and made an account to say that how it is at CLS is not really how it is at Michigan at all. I mean, we're on the main campus so there's definitely plenty of people who go to football games and wear Michigan sweatshirts and no one minds having University of Michigan on their diploma, but the law school itself is pretty much completely autonomous.

The law quad is 2 classroom buildings plus the lawyers club and it's basically 99% law school activities and classes going on in those spaces. There are undergrads who study in the Reading Room (allowed) and some who sneak into the commons (not supposed to, but they do) but I don't think that there are any undergrad classes in the law school buildings or anything like that. And, with the exception of a mini-seminar at a professor's house or a clinic, there aren't law school classes outside of the law quad. We have our own admissions, registrar, financial aid, student affairs, and everything else. The only thing that I can think of that you have to do with the rest of the university is: 1) buy football tickets (but all the law students sit together) 2) workout at the gym.

There are a lot of dual degree students or law students who are just taking classes in other graduate schools (and I guess maybe some grad students who take law classes but I don't know any). Especially Public Policy and Business (which are both within a block of the law school), but also social work, Middle East studies, and political science. It's not like everyone is a dual degree, but after 1L it's not too hard to know someone in another grad program. Plus some of the law school student groups do mixers and things with Ross or the med school. On the whole, I'd say that most law students are friends with other law students, but if you want to meet grad students, it's not too hard.