Salmon P. Chase College of Law, Highland Heights, Kentucky
by Akbar Ali
Salmon P. Chase College of Law prides itself on not only providing its students with a quality law education but also giving them the opportunity to engage in a developing urban cultural environment.
Comprising the benefits of both urban and suburban communities in Highland Heights, Kentucky, Salmon P. Chase College of Law encompasses a wide array of students from diverse academic backgrounds pursuing traditional Juris Doctor degrees. An alternative J.D./M.B.A. program is available for students who wish to work in the increasing number of professional environments where law and business overlap.
Students have the option of attending law school full-time or part-time. The full-time program includes six semesters of courses taken over three years, beginning in August of the first year and ending in May of the third year. The typical course load is between 12 and 16 credit hours per semester, with classes meeting five days a week during the first year. Students enrolled full-time are strongly encouraged not to work, though they may elect to spend a maximum of 20 hours per week working outside of law school.
Part-time students take an additional year to complete their degrees, enrolling in at least two summer semesters in addition to four regular semesters over four years. The course load for part-time students averages to between eight and 11 credits per semester, with three to six credits taken during the summer sessions. Evening classes are also available, with classes during the first two years scheduled on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday evenings from 6:30 p.m. to 9:15 p.m.
The school adheres to a long-standing list of course requirements. For full-time J.D. candidates, the first year's fall semester encompasses the following courses and corresponding credit hours: Introduction to Legal Studies (1), Basic Legal Skills I (2), Civil Procedure I (3), Contracts I (3), Property I (3), and Torts I (3). The spring semester includes Basic Legal Skills II (3), Civil Procedure II (3), Contracts II (3), Property II (3), and Torts II (3).
The second year's fall semester features Constitutional Law I (3), Criminal Law (3), and core and elective courses. The spring semester entails Constitutional Law II (3) and core and elective courses. The third year is made up entirely of core and elective courses.
Comprising the benefits of both urban and suburban communities in Highland Heights, Kentucky, Salmon P. Chase College of Law encompasses a wide array of students from diverse academic backgrounds.
Part-time class schedules are similar, with fewer classes per semester and additional core and elective courses offered in the first two summer sessions. The third and fourth years are dedicated to core and elective courses. Both full- and part-time students must also successfully complete the following courses: Criminal Procedure (3), Evidence (4), and Professional Responsibility (3).
The J.D./M.B.A. program is set up so that the number of hours necessary to complete both degrees simultaneously is less than the number of hours required to complete both degrees separately. The dual degree program consists of a total of 108 semester hours, 30 allocated for business and 78 for law. Students in this program are advised to begin with business classes, completing law classes during the remaining three years.
The school also offers two specialty programs for students with specific career goals, the Employment and Labor Law Concentration Program and the Intellectual Property Program. Students in the Intellectual Property Law Program frequently go on to become patent prosecution attorneys, copyright and trademark attorneys, and intellectual property litigators.
The school also offers the following internships, externships, and seminars for students to earn credits and learn the intricacies of various law specialties: the Tax Externship, Local Government Law Center Internship, Kentucky Innocence Project Externship, NKU Chase Federal Trail Practice Seminar, Constitutional Law Clinic Externship, and Children's Law Center Externship.
Current enrollment at Chase College of Law totals 524, with a student-faculty ratio of 15:1. The average LSAT score and GPA for the 2006-2007 entering class were 155 and 3.36 respectively. Out of the total 991 applications received, 204 students were enrolled. The school's first-time bar exam passage rate is 74%, with 92% of graduates finding employment within six months of earning their degrees. The reported average starting salary is $54,463.
Tuition rates vary quite a bit depending on where the student comes from: out-of-state tuition runs to $13,272 per full-time semester and $1,106 per credit hour for part-time students, while Kentucky residents pay $6,084 per full-time semester and $507 per part-time credit hour. The school also applies "metro rates" to students from neighboring counties in Ohio and Indiana. Metro rates run to $10,020 per semester for full-time students and $835 per credit hour for part-time students. In order for students to qualify for the metro rates, they must be permanent residents of one of the following Ohio and Indiana counties: Adams, Brown, Butler, Clermont, Clinton, Fayette, Hamilton, Highland, and Warren (Ohio) and Dearborn, Franklin, Jefferson, Ohio, Ripley, and Switzerland (Indiana).
Every year the law school sponsors a number of speaker series open to both students and the public, including the Entrepreneurship Speaker Series, the Military History Lecture Series, and the NKU Alumni Lecture Series. Past speakers have included former Republican presidential nominee and Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole and former Democratic presidential nominee and U.S. Senator George McGovern (2004), former democratic vice presidential nominee John Edwards and President and CEO of Forbes Inc. Steve Forbes (2005), and current Minnesota senatorial candidate Al Franken and conservative political pundit Tucker Carlson (2006).
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