View source for Michigan State University College of Law

{{Short description|Public law school in East Lansing, Michigan, US}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2018}}
{{Infobox law school
| name                  = Michigan State University College of Law
| image                 =Michigan State College of Law seal.png 
| image_size            = 150px
| alt                   =
| caption               =
| motto                 = 
| parent                = [[Michigan State University]]
| religious affiliation =
| established           = {{start date and age|1891}}
| type                  = [[Public university|Public]] [[law school]]
| endowment             =
| parent endowment      = $4.4 [[1000000000 (number)|billion]] (2021)<ref name=endowment>As of June 30, 2021. {{cite report |url=https://givingto.msu.edu/endowments/performance.cfm |title=MSU Common Investment fund (cif) Report and Comparative Endowment Performance |publisher=MSU Common Investment fund |date=June 30, 2020 |access-date=March 21, 2021}}</ref>
| dean                  = Michael Sant’Ambrogio
| city                  = [[East Lansing, Michigan|East Lansing]]
| state                 = Michigan
| province              =
| country               = United States
| coordinates           =
| students              = 784<ref name="ABAReport">{{cite web |title=Michigan State University Standard 509 Information Report to ABA 08-24-2019 |url=http://www.abarequireddisclosures.org/Disclosure509.aspx |website=abarequireddisclosures.org |publisher=American Bar Association |access-date=24 August 2019}}</ref>
| faculty               = 51 full time, 73 part time<ref name="ABAReport"/>
| ranking               = 115th (tie) (2025)<ref name="USNWR">{{cite news |url=https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-law-schools/michigan-state-university-03079 |title=Michigan State University Law School Overview |work=U.S. News & World Report}}</ref>
| bar pass rate         = 77.46% (2022 first-time takers)<ref name=barpass>{{cite web |title=Michigan State University - 2021 First Time Bar Passage |url=http://www.abarequireddisclosures.org/BarPassageOutcomes.aspx |website=abarequireddisclosures.com |publisher=American Bar Association |access-date=10 March 2024}}</ref>
| website               = {{URL|http://law.msu.edu}}
| aba profile           = ''[https://www.law.msu.edu/aba-req-disclosures.html Standard 509 Report]''
| logo                  = [[File:Michigan State College of Law logo.png|150px|Michigan State University College of Law Logo]]
| logo_size             = 
| logo_alt              =
}}

The '''Michigan State University College of Law''' ('''Michigan State Law''' or '''MSU Law''') is the [[law school]] of [[Michigan State University]], a [[Public university|public]] [[research university]] in [[East Lansing, Michigan]]. Established in 1891 as the '''Detroit College of Law''', it was the first law school in the [[Detroit|Detroit, Michigan]], area and the second in the state of [[Michigan]]. In October 2018, the college began a process to fully integrate into Michigan State University, changing from a private to a public law school. The integration with Michigan State University was finalized on August 17, 2020.

For the class entering in 2023, the school had a 39.37% acceptance rate, 35.37% of those accepted enrolled, and entering students had a median [[Law School Admissions Test|LSAT]] score of 159 and a median undergraduate [[Academic grading in the United States#Grade conversion|GPA]] of 3.55.<ref name=abadisc/>

For the 2023 graduating class, 69.59% of graduates obtained full-time, long-term bar-passage-required employment (''i.e.,'' employment as attorneys), and 13.92% were not employed part- or full-time in any capacity, within 10 months after graduation.<ref>{{cite web |title=EMPLOYMENT SUMMARY FOR 2023 GRADUATES |url=http://www.abarequireddisclosures.org/EmploymentOutcomes.aspx|website=abarequireddisclosures.org |publisher=[[American Bar Association]] |access-date=November 23, 2024}}</ref>

==History==
=== Detroit College of Law ===
[[File:DCL Etching.jpg|thumb|275px|left|Etching of Detroit College of Law, Elizabeth Street Building, Detroit 1937{{ndash}}1997]]
Detroit College of Law opened in 1891 with 69 students and was incorporated in 1893.<ref name="Hirsch">{{cite book |url=https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED540431.pdf |page=14 |series=[[Department of the Interior]] Bureau of Education Bulletin 1923 |number=7 |title=Education Work of the Young Men's Christian Association |first1=William F. |last1=Hirsch |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=Government Printing Office }}</ref><ref name="Lost">{{cite web |url=https://www.lostcolleges.com/detroit-institute-of-technology |title=Detroit Institute of Technology, Detroit, Michigan 1891-1982 |publisher=lostcolleges.com}}</ref> Among the first class of students to graduate were a future circuit judge and an ambassador.<ref name="Pursglove">{{cite news |url=http://legalnews.com/detroit/1415640 |newspaper=[[Detroit Legal News]] |title=MSU Law Dedicates College of Law Plaza |date=November 13, 2015 |first1=Sheila |last1=Pursglove}}</ref> It was the oldest continuously operating independent law school in the United States until it was assimilated by MSU in 1995.<ref name="Finnegan">{{cite journal |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/42893900 |title=JOURNAL ARTICLE: Raising and Leveling the Bar: Standards, Access, and the YMCA Evening Law Schools, 1890-1940 |first1=Dorothy E. |last1=Finnegan |journal=[[Journal of Legal Education]] |volume= 55 |number=1/2 |date=March–June 2005 |pages=208–233  |publisher=[[Association of American Law Schools]]|jstor=42893900 }}{{Subscription required}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.law.msu.edu/about-msu-law/history.html |title=History |publisher=Michigan State University College of Law |access-date=January 15, 2015}}</ref>{{failed verification|date=August 2019}}<ref name="planning">{{cite web |url=https://www.detroitmi.gov/historic/districts/detroit_law.pdf |title=Detroit College of Law Informational Site |publisher=City of Detroit Planning and Development Department |access-date=January 15, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060926185942/http://www.detroitmi.gov/historic/districts/detroit_law.pdf |archive-date=September 26, 2006 |url-status=dead }}</ref>  The college was affiliated with the Detroit [[YMCA|Young Men's Christian Association]] ([[YMCA]]).<ref name="Freedman">{{cite news |url=https://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/19960603/SUB/606030870/detroit-college-of-law-sues-ymca-in-trust-dispute |date=June 3, 1996 |title=DETROIT COLLEGE OF LAW SUES YMCA IN TRUST DISPUTE |first1=Eric |last1=Freedman |quote=The YMCA's involvement with DCL dates back to when it operated DCL, from 1915 to 1940. YMCAs also ran 10 other law schools across the country, an outgrowth of its pioneering activities in higher education.  Ties were severed in 1940 under pressure from the bar association, which was unhappy with financial interdependence between law schools and noncollege entities, which could divert law-school revenue. The bar association also conditioned DCL's accreditation on maintaining a separate operation and organization. |newspaper=[[Crain Communications|Crain's Detroit Business]]}}</ref>{{efn-ua|It was interrelated with the [[Detroit Institute of Technology]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.lostcolleges.com/detroit-institute-of-technology |title=Detroit Institute of Technology, Detroit, Michigan 1891-1982 |publisher=lostcolleges.com}}</ref>}}

In 1937, the school broke ground and relocated to a new building at 130 East Elizabeth Street in Detroit, where it stayed until 1997. The Building was designed by architect [[George DeWitt Mason]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://digitalcollections.detroitpubliclibrary.org/islandora/object/islandora%3A167603 |type=Photograph |title=Exterior sketch of the Y.M. C. A. College of Law. |quote=Written on photo front: "1931, Detroit Y.M.C.A. College of Law, Construction Started 11/6/36, George D. Mason & Co., Architects, 440." Written on photo back: "D/Architecture-Mason & Rice Colln. #1, Detroit College of Law." |publisher=[[Burton Historical Collection]], [[Detroit Public Library]]}}</ref>  It had been located at the former [[Detroit College of Medicine]] building on St. Antoine Street from 1892 to 1913; and the Detroit "[[YMCA]]" building from 1913 to 1924; the ground on which the building stood was under a [[99-year lease]] from the YMCA.<ref name="planning"/><ref>{{cite web |url=https://mbasic.facebook.com/MSUCollegeofLaw?v=timeline&timecutoff=1395954632&sectionLoadingID=m_timeline_loading_div_-1009814401_-1041350400_8_&timeend=-1009814401&timestart=-1041350400&tm=AQC_bIaP4lQ5ydOy |title=Detroit College of Law moves to Elizabeth Street 1937 |access-date=January 15, 2015}}</ref> The last location of the Detroit College of Law in [[Downtown Detroit]] is commemorated by a plaque at [[Comerica Park]], the home stadium of the [[Detroit Tigers]] baseball team, which now occupies the site.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.jankaulins.com/detroitcollegelaw.htm |title=Detroit College of Law Elizabeth Street Building historical picture|access-date=January 15, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |publisher=1701.org |work=Detroit, the History and Future of the Motor City|title=Detroit College of Law Historical Marker, 130 Elizabeth Street on the exterior wall of Comerica Park behind right field |url=http://detroit1701.org/Detroit%20College%20of%20Law.html |access-date=January 15, 2015}}</ref>

=== Affiliation with Michigan State University===
The college became affiliated with [[Michigan State University]] in 1995.<ref name="Tetens">{{cite news |title=The Detroit College of Law at Michigan State University: Two Institutions One Vision |first1=Kristan |last1=Tetens |url=https://www.msu.edu/unit/msuaa/magazine/f98/dcl.htm |work=MSU Alumni Magazine |date=Fall 1998 |access-date=January 17, 2014}}</ref> It relocated to East Lansing in 1997, when its [[99-year lease]] with the Detroit [[YMCA]] expired, and the original building was demolished to make way for [[Comerica Park]]. The newly located college was called "Detroit College of Law at Michigan State University".<ref name="Tetens" /> In April 2004, the school changed its name to the MSU College of Law, becoming more closely aligned academically with MSU.<ref name="Tetens" /> MSU Law is currently fully integrated as a constituent college of the university: academically, financially, and structurally.

[[Image:MSU Law School 1.jpg|thumb|275px|MSU Law building from the southeast]]
Joan Howarth began her deanship at Michigan State University College of Law on July 1, 2008 and was the first female dean in MSU Law's 117-year history. Beforehand, she was a professor at the [[William S. Boyd School of Law]] at the [[University of Nevada, Las Vegas]], since 2001.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.law.msu.edu/faculty_staff/profile.php?prof=602|title=Joan W. Howarth|publisher=MSU College of Law |date=2007|access-date=January 25, 2010}}</ref>  She retired at the end of the 2015-16 school year.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/story/news/local/2015/07/22/msu-appoints-five-deans/30487255/|title=New Deans|publisher=LSJ |date=2015|access-date=September 23, 2015}}</ref> [[Lawrence Ponoroff]] became the Dean in the fall of 2016, and he served in that role until the end of December 2019. On October 26, 2018, MSU's board of directors voted to fully integrate the College of Law into the University, thereby completing its transition from a private, independent institution to a public law school.  The full integration was undertaken in order to facilitate collaboration between the law school and other divisions of MSU.

[[Melanie B. Jacobs]], professor of law, was then appointed as the law college's interim dean, beginning in January 2020<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-03-28 |title=The University of Louisville Names New Dean of Brandeis School of Law |url=https://www.diverseeducation.com/latest-news/article/15290218/the-university-of-louisville-names-new-dean-of-brandeis-school-of-law |access-date=2022-10-08 |website=Diverse: Issues In Higher Education |language=en-us}}</ref> and under her tenure, the integration of the College of Law into the University was completed on August 17, 2020.<ref>{{Cite web |title=History: Michigan State University College of Law |url=https://www.law.msu.edu/about-msu-law/history.html |access-date=2022-10-08 |website=www.law.msu.edu}}</ref> On June 1, 2021, Linda Sheryl Greene became Dean and MSU Foundation Professor of Law, and was the Inaugural Dean of the College of Law. Dean Greene (a leading scholar in sports law) was previously the Evjue-Bascom Professor of Law at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.<ref name="WKAR">{{cite web |url=https://www.wkar.org/post/new-msu-college-law-dean-linda-greene-wants-graduates-make-difference |title=New MSU College of Law Dean Linda Greene Wants Graduates to "Make a Difference" |last=White |first=Russ|date=June 1, 2021 |work=MSU Today with Russ White |publisher=90.5 WKAR-FM |accessdate=June 3, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210601155333/https://www.wkar.org/post/new-msu-college-law-dean-linda-greene-wants-graduates-make-difference#stream/0 |archive-date=June 1, 2021| url-status=live}}</ref> Dean Greene stepped down as dean in January 2024, since which time Michael Sant'Ambrogio has served as interim dean.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://msutoday.msu.edu/news/2023/michael-santambrogio-to-be-recommended-as-interim-dean-of-college-of-law|title=Michael Sant 'Ambrogio to be Recommended as Interim Dean|website=msutoday.msu.edu|access-date=November 23, 2024}}</ref>

==Admissions==
For the class entering in 2023, MSU Law accepted 39.37% of applicants, with 35.37% of those accepted enrolling. The average enrollee had a 159 [[Law School Admissions Test|LSAT]] score and 3.55 undergraduate [[Academic grading in the United States#Grade conversion|GPA]].<ref name=abadisc>{{cite web |title= Michigan State University Temple - 2023 Standard 509 Information Report |url=https://www.abarequireddisclosures.org/Disclosure509.aspx |website=abarequireddisclosures.org |publisher=[[American Bar Association]]|access-date= March 4, 2024}}</ref>

== Academic programs ==
[[Image:MSU Law School 2.jpg|thumb|275px|right|MSU Law building from the north]]
MSU Law also houses the Center for Law, Technology & Innovation (CLTI), formerly named the ReInvent Law Program, and LegalRnD; the Indigenous Law & Policy Center (ILPC); the Geoffrey N. Fieger Trial Practice Institute (TPI); and The Indigenous Law Program.

==Academic journals and publications==
Law journals at the law school are nationally ranked and include: 
* ''[[Michigan State Law Review]]'', the school's flagship journal, ranked 99th among American law school journals with a score of 14.55 out of 100 as ranked by Washington and Lee University School of Law in 2022.<ref name=WandL>{{cite web |title=W&L Law Journal Rankings 2022|url=https://managementtools4.wlu.edu/LawJournals/Default.aspx |access-date=16 March 2024 |website=managementtools4.wlu.edu |publisher=[[Washington and Lee University School of Law]]}}</ref>
* ''Michigan State International Law Review''<ref>{{cite journal |journal= Michigan State International Law Review |url=https://www.msuilr.org/ |title=Michigan State International Law Review |access-date=March 4, 2019}}</ref> 
* ''Animal and Natural Resource Law Review''<ref>{{cite journal |journal= Animal and Natural Resource Law Review |url=http://www.msujanrl.org/ |title=Animal and Natural Resource Law Review |access-date=March 4, 2019}}</ref>

Additionally, the school also publishes ''Spartan Lawyer'', the law college's bi-annual magazine.<ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.law.msu.edu/spartan-lawyer/index.html |title = Spartan Lawyer |access-date=March 4, 2019}}</ref> Formerly, the school published the ''[[Journal of Business & Securities Law]]''.<ref>{{cite journal |journal= Journal of Business & Securities Law |url=http://www.msujbsl.com/ |archive-url=https://archive.today/20121211084710/http://www.msujbsl.com/ |url-status=usurped |archive-date=December 11, 2012 |title=Journal of Business & Securities Law |access-date=March 4, 2019}}</ref>

==Bar examination passage==
In 2022, the overall bar examination passage rate for the law school’s first-time examination takers was 77.46%. The Ultimate Bar Pass Rate, which the ABA defines as the passage rate for graduates who sat for bar examinations within two years of graduating, was 88.26% for the class of 2020.<ref name=barpass/>

==Employment==
For the 2023 graduating class, 69.59% of graduates obtained full-time, long-term bar-passage-required employment (i.e., employment as attorneys), and 8.76% were employed in full-time JD advantage positions, within 10 months after graduation. Attorney positions were in various size law firms, most being in 1-10 attorney firms, 5.15% of graduates obtained local or state judicial clerkships, 1.55% obtained a federal clerkship, 27.84% of members of the class were otherwise employed in public interest, government, higher education, or business, and 13.92% were not employed part- or full-time in any capacity, within 10 months after graduation.<ref>{{cite web |title=EMPLOYMENT SUMMARY FOR 2023 GRADUATES |url=http://www.abarequireddisclosures.org/EmploymentOutcomes.aspx|website=abarequireddisclosures.org |publisher=[[American Bar Association]] |access-date=November 23, 2024}}</ref>

== Notable faculty ==
=== Current ===
* [[Rosemarie Aquilina]], adjunct professor, circuit court judge in Michigan who sentenced Larry Nassar in the [[USA Gymnastics sex abuse scandal]] involving Michigan State.
* [[Brian C. Kalt]], legal scholar and writer who is known for his research of the constitution, the presidency, and juries.
* [[Jim Chen]], one of four Asian-Americans who has been a dean at an American law school ([[University of Louisville School of Law]]).
* [[Robert P. Young Jr.]], adjunct professor, former Justice of the [[Michigan Supreme Court]].

=== Former ===
* [[Elizabeth Price Foley]], legal theorist and current Professor of Law at [[Florida International University College of Law]].
* [[Donald Laverdure]], former director of the American Indian Law Program at MSU Law and oversaw the [[Bureau of Indian Affairs]] and [[Bureau of Indian Education]] under the [[presidency of Barack Obama]].
* [[David McKeague]], Senior United States Circuit Judge of the [[United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit]].
* [[Richard D. McLellan]],  Chairman of the Michigan Law Revision Commission and private practice attorney.
* [[Stacy Erwin Oakes]], member of the [[Michigan House of Representatives]] and Minority Whip representing [[Michigan's 95th State House District|Michigan's 95th District]].
* [[Lawrence Ponoroff]], former Dean of [[James E. Rogers College of Law]], [[Tulane Law School]], and MSU Law.
* [[Mark Totten]], former [[United States attorney]] for the [[Western District of Michigan]].
* Bradford Stone, commercial law maven and theorist, [[Stetson University College of Law]] Charles A. Dana Professor of Law Emeritus,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.stetson.edu/law/faculty/home/emeriti.php  |publisher=Stetson University College of Law |title=Professors Emeriti |accessdate=May 31, 2019}}</ref> author of several editions of ''Uniform Commercial Code in a Nutshell'' and  coauthor of ''Commercial Transactions Under the [[Uniform Commercial Code]]''.<ref>[https://cap-press.com/authors/2483/Bradford-Stone Bradford Stone.]</ref>  The college’s Bradford Stone Faculty chair is named in his honor.<ref>[https://www.law.msu.edu/faculty_staff/daniel.barnhizer.pdf Daniel D. Barnhizer, Bradord Stone Faculty Scholar] Michigan State University College of Law.</ref>
* [[Melissa L. Tatum]], research professor and former director of the Indigenous Peoples Law and Policy Program at [[James E. Rogers College of Law]].

== Notable alumni ==
{{Missing information | section|the kind of degree and date granted usually supplied for law school alumni|date=March 2024}}

=== Judges ===
* [[Dennis Archer]], former Justice of the [[Michigan Supreme Court]] and former mayor of [[Detroit, Michigan]]
* [[Elizabeth T. Clement]], Justice of the [[Michigan Supreme Court]] since 2017, and current chief justice
* [[George Crockett III]], Judge of the [[Recorder's Court (Detroit)]] (renamed the Wayne County Circuit Court) from 1977 to 2003
* Former Justice [[Alton Davis|Alton Thomas Davis]], Michigan Supreme Court, 2010 appointed by [[Jennifer M. Granholm]]<ref>[https://www.micourthistory.org/justices/alton-davis/ Alton Davis]</ref>
* [[George Clifton Edwards Jr.]] (deceased), former Judge of the [[United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit]]
* [[Bernard A. Friedman]], [[Senior status]] Judge of the [[United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan]]
* [[Diane Marie Hathaway]], former Justice of the [[Michigan Supreme Court]]
* [[Ira W. Jayne]] (deceased), former chief judge, [[Wayne County, Michigan|Wayne County]] [[Circuit Court]] for 27 years<ref name="Biographical">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Rz4XAQAAMAAJ |page=266|title=The Book of Detroiters: A Biographical Dictionary of Leading Living Men of the City of Detroit|series= Google Books|date=1914 |publisher=[[Marquis Who's Who|A.N. Marquis]] |location=Chicago |edition=2nd |language=English |last1=Marquis |first1=Albert Nelson}}</ref>
* [[Richard Fred Suhrheinrich]], [[Senior status]] Judge of the [[United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit]]

=== Politicians ===
* [[Mike Bishop (Michigan politician)|Mike Bishop]], [[Michigan Senate]] majority leader from 2002 to 2010 and U.S. Representative for [[Michigan's 8th congressional district]] from 2015 to 2018
* [[Christopher D. Dingell]], [[Michigan State Senate|state senator]] and judge
* [[Geoffrey Fieger]], attorney and former Michigan gubernatorial candidate
* [[Orville L. Hubbard]], former mayor of [[Dearborn, Michigan]]
* [[Kwame Kilpatrick]], former mayor of Detroit, Michigan
* [[Mark Meadows (Michigan politician)|Mark Meadows]], former mayor of East Lansing a former member of the Michigan House of Representatives
* [[Steve Pestka]], former member of the Michigan House of Representatives, judge, and a [[Kent County, Michigan]] commissioner
* [[Brian Sims]], Democratic representative for the [[Pennsylvania House of Representatives, District 182|Pennsylvania House of Representatives, 182nd District]]
* [[Gretchen Whitmer]], 49th [[Governor of Michigan]]

=== Public figures ===
* [[Ivan Boesky]], former American stock trader infamous for his prominent role in an insider trading scandal that occurred in the United States during the mid-1980s resulting in his conviction including a record $100 million fine.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/meet-ivan-boesky-the-infamous-wall-streeter-who-inspired-gordon-gecko-2012-7 |title=Meet Ivan Boesky, The Infamous Wall Streeter Who Inspired Gordon Gekko |first1=Myles |last1=Meserve |work=[[Business Insider]] |date=July 26, 2012 |access-date=September 15, 2019}}</ref>
* [[Ella Bully-Cummings]], chief of police of Detroit, Michigan, from 2003 to 2008
* [[John Z. DeLorean]], automobile engineer and executive; attended, but did not graduate
* [[Lowell W. Perry]], former government official, businessman, broadcaster, and the first African-American assistant coach in the [[National Football League]]
* [[W. Clement Stone]], businessman, philanthropist and [[New Thought]] self-help book author; did not graduate

== Notes ==
{{Reflist|group=upper-alpha}}

== References ==
{{reflist}}

===Further reading===
*{{cite book |first1=Donna J |last1=Guiffre |date=December 31, 2011 |title=A Centennial History of the Detroit College of Law}}

==External links==
* [http://www.law.msu.edu/ Official website]
* [http://www.abarequireddisclosures.org/MainHome.aspx ABA Disclosures]

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{{Michigan State University}}
{{Law Schools of the Midwest}}
{{Lansing-East Lansing}}

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[[Category:Michigan State University]]
[[Category:Michigan State University campus]]
[[Category:Law schools in Michigan]]
[[Category:Education in Lansing, Michigan]]
[[Category:Universities and colleges established in 1891]]
[[Category:1891 establishments in Michigan]]
[[Category:Universities and colleges in Ingham County, Michigan]]