For the second consecutive year, the University of Tennessee College of Law has welcomed one of its most high achieving and diverse classes of students.
The incoming class of 2020 students have a median undergraduate grade point average of 3.66, the highest of any entering class in at least 15 years, and a median LSAT score of 159.
The class is also one of the more diverse in the College of Law’s history with 21% of the students identifying as from underrepresented groups.
A majority of the students, 70%, are from Tennessee while the remainder are out-of-state students.
“It’s incredible to see such an impressive group of students pursuing an education at the College of Law,” Interim Dean Doug Blaze said. “This is certainly a challenging semester for students, faculty and staff, and we are so fortunate to have everyone coming together to provide a standard of excellence that our students deserve.
“We are committed to ensuring that all of our students have an exceptional law school experience,” Blaze said.
Health and safety concerns linked to COVID-19 have the entering class facing new course delivery methods. Most of the first-year courses are being offered in a hybrid format in which students rotate each class between attending class in-person and attending synchronously online.
Faculty worked throughout the summer to ensure a high-quality online experience for classes that involve that online component.
The UT College of Law ranks 70th among all law schools in the U.S. and 36th among public law schools, according to U.S. News and World Report.
The Legal Clinic is the oldest continuously operating legal clinic in the United States ranking 8th nationally among public law schools while the business law program ranks 14th.
The college also has launched a Master of Legal Studies degree for professionals who want to better understand the law but aren’t interested in becoming an attorney.
The program will officially launch in fall of 2021 and is intended for working professionals and graduate/Ph.D. students whose fields intersect with the law including human resource professionals, paralegals, compliance officers, higher education administrators, cybersecurity experts, forensic social workers, police officers and business professionals.