Cumberland School of Law

Cumberland School of Law is an ABA accredited law school and the 11th oldest law school in the U.S. It was founded on July 29, 1847 in Lebanon, Tennessee at Cumberland University. Since 1961, the school has been located at Samford University in Homewood.

The school has the distinction of having trained two United States Supreme Court Justices, placing it just behind Harvard, Yale, Columbia and Michigan in that respect. The school also has the distinction of having trained Nobel Peace Prize recipient Cordell Hull, the father of the United Nations, over forty-five U.S. Representatives, and numerous Senators, governors, and judges.

Cumberland is well known for its emphasis on Trial Advocacy. In 2008, a Cumberland team won the American Association for Justice National Student Trial Advocacy Competition in Fort Lauderdale. 256 teams competed in in this competition, which is generally considered the most prestigious trial advocacy competition in the country. Also in 2008, Cumberland made the finals of the ABA National Appellate Advocacy competition. It was 1 of 4 from 30 teams in its region that went to the national finals in Chicago. Cumberland won 3rd best brief in the region and the team finished ahead of Florida, Loyola of Los Angeles, LSU, Denver, Cincinnati, Arizona, Texas Tech, Florida A & M, Baylor, Case Western, Seattle, Southwestern and Chicago-Kent. In 2007, student teams from Cumberland won both the Criminal Justice Trial Competition held in Hamden, Connecticut and the Lone Star Classic Mock Trial Competition in San Antonio, Texas.

The 2007 Princeton Review features Cumberland in its 2007 edition of "Best 170 Law Schools." Of the 11 ranking lists, Cumberland ranked 6th in the country for faculty performance and accessibility and 7th in the country for overall quality of life. The 2006 Princeton Review ranked the school 6th in its "Professors Rock (Legally Speaking)" category and 7th in its "Best Quality of Life" category.

The school offers two degree programs: the 90 hour Juris Doctor (J.D.), and the Master of Comparative Law (M.C.L.), which is designed to instruct foreign lawyers on the basic legal principles of the United States. The school also offers six dual-degree programs.

Current Facts

The Fall 2007 entering class consisted of 159 students selected from an applicant pool of over 1200. The class has an average LSAT of 157 and average GPA of 3.27. The top 75th percentile of the class has an LSAT of 159 and 3.52 GPA. The incoming class also has the distinction of having highest percentage of women (48%) in school's 160 year history history.

Cumberland has two publications: the Cumberland Law Review and the American Journal of Trial Advocacy.

The law library is a 42,500 net square foot building with over 300,000 volumes and microform volume equivalents.

The school also has four research centers.

Cumberland's Center for Biotechnology, Law and Ethics studies the ethical implications of biotechnology and has attracted speakers such as atmospheric scientist John Christy, medical ethicist Gregory Pence, and U.S. Representative Artur Davis. The Center's location is convenient because of the proximity of the pioneering UAB medical center. Birmingham is also one of the major emerging biotechnology markets with more than 90 biotech-related businesses in Alabama alone.

History

Cumberland School of Law was founded on July 29, 1847 in Lebanon, Tennessee at Cumberland University. For a complete history of the school while in Tennessee, see the article at Wikipedia, link below in the references section.

In 1961 the school was sold from Cumberland University to Samford. It is only one of two law schools in the United States to have been sold from one University to another (the other being the sale of the law school from the University of Puget Sound to Seattle University).

Long range plan of 2005

In December 2005 Cumberland adopted a long term plan for the school. One call of the plan is to gradually downsize the number of students who attend in order to provide smaller classes and closer individual attention to students. In 1995 the entering class was 212 and in 2007 that number was reduced to 159.

Present

In 2007, student teams from Cumberland won both the Criminal Justice Trial Competition held in Hamden, Connecticut and the Lone Star Classic Mock Trial Competition in San Antonio, Texas.

In 2008, a Cumberland team won the American Association for Justice National Student Trial Advocacy Competition in Fort Lauderdale. 256 teams competed in in this competition, which is generally considered the most prestigious trial advocacy competition in the country.

Also in 2008, Cumberland made the finals of the ABA National Appellate Advocacy competition. It was 1 of 4 from 30 teams in its region that went to the national finals in Chicago. Cumberland won 3rd best brief in the region and the team finished ahead of Florida, Loyola of Los Angeles, LSU, Denver, Cincinnati, Arizona, Texas Tech, Florida A & M, Baylor, Case Western, Seattle, Southwestern and Chicago-Kent.

Institution

The law school emphasizes practical skills and integrity. The current dean, former federal judge John L. Carroll states that:

"The prevailing philosophy is simple: Practical skill outweighs raw knowledge, and application transcends erudition. If the goal were to produce great law students, the tenets might be exactly the opposite. Our goal is to produce exceptional lawyers. That’s why Cumberland’s curriculum emphasizes the core competencies of legal practice: research, writing and persuasion."

As of 2006, the law school had 495 enrolled students.

References

• Cumberland School of Law. (2008, August 16). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 18:03, August 29, 2008 [1]