Capital University

Capital University Law School is an innovator and leader of law schools. Offering daytime and evening programs for its students, the Law School is a pioneering educator of the next generation of legal professionals.

The Law School is part of Capital University, the oldest and largest independent college in Central Ohio and the largest university affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America. Founded in 1830 and incorporated in 1850, Capital University s programs include a College of Arts and Sciences, a Graduate School of Administration, a Conservatory of Music and a School of Nursing. Because of its relationship with a major university, the Law School can offer joint degree programs and access to facilities and resources at the main campus of Capital University.

Capital University Law School grew from the Columbus Law School, which was founded in 1903 as part of a national program sponsored by the YMCA that sought to make legal education practical, accessible and affordable. Since its affiliation with Capital University in 1966, the Law School has grown considerably. Its full-time faculty now stands at 31 and its Law Library holdings have increased to 250,000 volumes and microfilm equivalents. The Law School maintains three degree programs – a Juris Doctor, LL.M. and a Masters in Taxation and houses national centers and institutes, including The National Center for Adoption Law & Policy, the Center for Dispute Resolution. In addition to enrolling nearly 1,000 students, Capital Law School also serves the legal profession and business professionals through certificate programs (paralegal, legal nurse consultant and life care planner) and a variety of scholarly symposia and conferences which offer continuing legal education credit.

Located in the heart of Columbus, Ohio’s Discovery District, the Law School is ideally situated near the State Capitol among numerous government, legal, cultural, and educational institutions. Capital University Law School resides in a modern, newly renovated facility at 303 East Broad Street in downtown Columbus.

Capital University Law School offers full-time day, part-time day and part-time evening Juris Doctor programs to accommodate students’ varying and busy schedules. Specialized and innovative academic programs are an important aspect of the Law School mission. Students benefit from a wide selection of offerings, ranging from concentration certificates to joint degree programs and legal clinics.

The Law School’s curriculum offers students the opportunity to tailor their studies to a wide variety of professional interests. The Law School s concentration certificates allow students to focus their electives in specific areas of the law by combining practical classroom experience with faculty expertise. Certificates are available in these areas:

• Governmental Affairs

• Labor and Employment Law

• Dispute Resolution

• Environmental Law

• Children & Family Law

• Publicly-Held Companies

• Small Business Entities

Joint Degrees enable students to complete dual degrees with a substantial reduction in total credit hours:

• J.D./M.B.A.

• J.D./Masters of Sports Administration

• J.D./Masters of Science in Nursing

• J.D./Masters in Theology

• J.D./LL.M in Taxation

• J.D./LL.M in Business

• J.D./LL.M in Business and Taxation

Gaining practical experience while in law school allows students a framework to better understand how their classroom experiences relate to the actual day-to-day duties of an attorney. Participating in one of the three legal clinics that the law school offers is an excellent opportunity to gain this important experience.

The law school s clinics include:

• The General Litigation Clinic

• The Mediation Clinic

• The Family Advocacy Clinic

The Student Affairs office of Capital University Law School offers a host of social, cultural and intellectual programs directed at enhancing the quality of the students academic life at the Law School. In addition, the Law School offers conveniences, services, and amenities at its law facility and on the main campus in Bexley.

Innovative programs provided by organizations of all types give students a wealth of opportunities to explore various specialties within the legal profession, improve their skills and develop social relationships. Capital Law School supports associations for Black, Hispanic, Asian and Jewish students; a Fellowship of Christian Law Students; A Women s Law Society; an International Law Society; an Animal Rights Society; an Environmental Law society, to name just a few organizations that bring together students with similar interests and passions. There are organizations for those interested in law related to sports and entertainment, corporate and intellectual property, and public interest.

Students can expand their writing and editing skills through involvement with the student newspaper Res Ipsa Loquitur and the Capital University Law Review. Those wishing to hone their skills and test them in competition will want to investigate Capital s highly successful National Moot Court Team. In addition to these and other organizations, there are three legal fraternities at Capital.

The Capital University Law School Library houses more than a quarter-million volumes, periodicals and microfilms. The Law Library is equipped with today s state-of-the-art technology. Wireless access is available to the Law School network. Students may access a full array of Internet resources and online services, including the collections of most of Ohio s colleges and universities through OhioLINK. The Law Library s collection is a legal research collection for the students and faculty of the law school and is also open to alumni and legal practitioners.

Since the very beginning, the foundation of our legal education programs has rested on our exceptional faculty members. At the Law School, teaching is first and foremost. Our law professors are recognized for their skill in integrating theory with practice in the classroom. As a result, Capital University Law School graduates are known for their mastery of legal skills and their ability to hit the ground running.

The leadership of our distinguished faculty members goes beyond the classroom. They are nationally recognized for their knowledge and scholarship in disciplines as diverse as election law, constitutional law, business law and sexual orientation law. Our faculty has published authoritative books and teaching materials, much of which is used as course materials in other law schools. They regularly publish in law journals across the country and are cited by courts at all levels, including the U.S. Supreme Court. It is not uncommon to see our faculty members quoted as authorities in The New York Times and other newspapers.

Students in the full-time program of study comprise two-thirds of the total Law School enrollment. Each year, an entering class of approximately 160 full-time students are admitted and divided into two sections. The typical full-time student graduates in three years. The full-time study of law is a time-consuming and intensive undertaking. Classes for full-time students are usually scheduled between 9:00 am and 5:30 pm each day, Monday through Friday. Students attend class for three to four hours each day. For each hour in class, students average three hours of reading, briefing and outlining course materials outside of class.

The Law School strongly discourages part-time employment for full-time students during the first year and recommends that students devote their time and energy to legal studies. Upperclass students may not work more than 20 hours per week.

For nearly a century, Capital has been committed to making legal education available to those who might otherwise not have access. In keeping with that mission, Capital University Law School offers two part time programs.

Capital s Evening Division is designed to accommodate students who have daytime commitments and must attend classes after 6:00 pm. Part-time students should not work more than 40 hours per week. All required courses for the Evening Division are offered between the hours of 6:00 pm and 10:00 pm, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Elective courses are held weekday evenings and occasionally on Saturday mornings.

Part-time evening students are required to take nine or 10 hours of class each week during the first two years, with the first summer required. In order to graduate in four years, evening students must take five or six hours of class during each of two summers and nine hours of class each of the four regular semesters after the first two years.

The Part-Time Day Division is designed for individuals who work evenings or nights, those who might be stay-at-home parents, or others who might have been away from the classroom environment for a while and want to ease back into the educational experience. Students in this program will take approximately nine hours per semester with required class scheduled between 9:00 am and 3:30 pm, Monday through Friday.

The program will take students four to five years to complete, depending upon whether they take summer courses. While required courses and many of the elective courses tested on the bar exam will fall between the hours of 9:00 am and 3:30 pm, some upper-level elective courses might fall outside of this time block.

Capital was one of the first law schools in the country to establish a legal clinic for indigent clients. Today, the clinic is the setting for a variety of programs--including general, civil, criminal, appellate advocacy, and family law. Capital s Clinical Program enables advanced students to experience, before graduating, the true-to-life excitement and challenge of legal practice. Students may enroll, for credit, in the Legal Clinic or the Mediation Clinic.

Capital University Law School’s Legal Clinic provides no-cost legal services to a variety of individuals who would otherwise be unable to afford legal representation. The Clinic also provides students with the opportunity to develop and enhance their client counseling skills and professional ethics by representing indigent clients under the careful supervision of law professors and staff attorneys.

In addition to providing a valuable service to the community, students experience directly the excitement of legal practice. There is no more exhilarating feeling than standing up in court before a judge to advocate for your client. The comprehensive nature of the clinic immerses each student in the human drama inherent in actual client representation.

Intent on fostering an appreciation of the vital intersection of law and complex human problems, Capital University Law School’s Legal Clinic gives students the experience, tools, and outlook they need to construct and implement creative, practical solutions to tomorrow’s legal questions. In a supportive, supervised environment that provides a unique opportunity for hands-on learning, students perform as attorneys representing actual clients in a wide variety of legal proceedings. Through various cases, they develop essential lawyering skills such as interviewing, negotiation, client counseling, fact investigation, conducting legal research, drafting legal documents, conducting direct and cross-examination, oral advocacy, case management, and theory and strategy development. Recently, two students drafted briefs and successfully argued cases before the Tenth District Court of Appeals on an environmental case and a misdemeanor traffic case.

The real-world backdrop of the clinical program not only fosters the development of lawyering skills, it also promotes a fuller understanding of substantive areas of law. By tackling the multiple issues raised in each case, Interns learn that the boundaries that compartmentalize law courses fade in actual practice.

Students are assigned cases in the following areas:

Criminal Defense: Students are assigned cases in which they represent indigent clients accused of a variety of criminal offenses. By working on behalf of clients on misdemeanor charges brought in the Franklin County Municipal Court, students get a firsthand look at the court system. Complex strategy and client counseling issues are among the challenges encountered. From the initial appearance at arraignments through final case disposition, Students speak in court on behalf of clients charged with misdemeanors, as well as probation violations.

Criminal Prosecution: Students may choose to prosecute misdemeanor cases in mayors’ courts. This involves appearing in mayor’s court and working with the city prosecutor or village solicitor in resolving various complaints. This entails plea negotiations as well as trials.

Domestic Relations: Students are assigned to represent clients in both divorce and dissolution actions. Typically a student is able to work on a domestic case from the initial interview to the final hearing before a judge in the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas, Division of Domestic Relations.

Tenant Rights & Issues: Students provide representation to people facing eviction, needing assistance to assert their right to habitable housing, assistance in recovering their security deposit or defending damage suits. They have the primary responsibility for negotiating with either the opposing party or their counsel and representing their client in the eviction hearing.

Wills and Related Documents: Students are assigned cases dealing with simple estate planning. In this area, students interview clients and based upon the information obtained, and the wishes of the clients, prepare Wills, Living Wills, Durable Powers of Attorney for Health Care, and General Durable Powers of Attorney.

General Civil Matters: Students are assigned to represent clients in civil matters including foreclosures, consumer complaints, defense of personal injury suits and various other civil matters. In these cases, Interns will represent the client in both Municipal Court as well as the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas.

Family Advocacy: Students work with victims of domestic violence who are seeking Civil Protection Orders, or with contested custody cases.

The Legal Clinic is a course offered to third-year day and fourth-year evening students.

Legal Clinic can be taken in the fall and spring semesters for three (3) credit hours each semester. Clinic students should expect to be assigned a case in each of the practice areas, i.e. criminal, domestic, landlord tenant, wills and civil matters. Students are given access to the Legal Clinic 24 hours a day and are permitted to work on their cases in the Clinic or at home.

Rule II of the Supreme Court Rules for the Government of the Bar of Ohio allows law students, who are in good standing and have completed two-thirds of their required hours to graduate (58 hours) to obtain a Legal Intern’s license for the limited practice of law. With a Legal Intern’s license, students are permitted to represent clients in civil matters and criminal misdemeanor cases, all under the supervision of a licensed attorney.

To apply for an Intern’s License, Students can pick up an application from the Registrar’s Office or from the Legal Clinic. Send the completed application to the Ohio Supreme Court along with a bank check or money order for $25.00. An Intern’s License will be issued by the Court and sent to the Legal Clinic.

In today s world, diversity plays a central role in the legal educational process. Exposure to diverse ideas and viewpoints forces students to think critically about their own beliefs — to question and challenge them. Capital University Law School creates a diverse and supportive environment where the exchange of ideas is free-flowing and valued.

Capital’s students come from every walk of life: from small towns to large metropolitan cities, from small private colleges to large state universities. Students come to Capital with diverse educational, cultural and professional backgrounds. The student body includes individuals whose undergraduate majors were music, art, drama, dance, engineering, mathematics, history, philosophy, English, marketing and business, to name just a few. They are doctors, nurses, police officers, business persons, teachers, bankers, and pastors. As young as 21 years old to 65 years of age, Capital’s students bring valid and valuable life experiences to the classroom from which each student is subsequently enriched.

apital University Law School is committed to racial and cultural diversity. The Law School actively recruits African American, Asian, Hispanic and Native American students.

In partnership with the Columbus Bar Association, clerkships and mentoring opportunities are available. The Law School s commitment to cultural diversity among its student body is supported by a Director of Student and Minority Affairs and with financial and academic support.

Capital’s active student organizations reflect the diversity of interest which co-exists among the student body. Foreign students and distinguished international visiting faculty from places such as Brazil, Israel, Lebanon, Venezuela, Japan, Nigeria and the People s Republic of China add to the richness of the Capital University Law School educational experience.

School name: Capital UniversityLaw School

Address: 303 East Broad Street

Zip & city: OH 43215-3200 Ohio

Phone: 614-236-6500