Lead On! Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law
2026-27
Connected & Prepared for Practice
Memphis Law excels at ensuring our students are prepared to practice successfully in the real world after law school. Hands-on experience via our variety of in-house legal clinics and robust externship program, combined with our Career Services Office, Bar Preparation Program and Services, and Pro Bono criteria, all help to prepare you to hit the ground running in your legal career.
In-House Clinics Our Clinical Training and Experiential Learning Programs provide you with the opportunity to step outside of the traditional classroom and conduct meaningful, real-world legal work in a variety of unique settings, while making a tangible impact on the lives of Memphians and their communities. • • • • •
Neighborhood Preservation Clinic Medical-Legal Partnership (MLP) Clinic Mediation Clinic Disability Rights Law Clinic Expungement and Restoration of Rights Clinic
“
The most valuable thing I learned during my time in the MLP Clinic was the just getting the one-on-one experience with these clients. These are real-world people we’re dealing with and it is so refreshing to get out of the classroom and meet them face-to-face and learn about their lives and how to help them.” - Hunter Watson Medical-Legal Partnership Clinic student-attorney
Externship Program
Career Services Office
Externships allow our students to learn by doing and observing, enabling them to gain legal experience, academic credit, enhanced research and writing skills, and problem-solving techniques in real-world environments across a variety of fields and industries. Recent externship placements include:
Our Career Services Office helps our students find the career that best suits them. The office offers a wide range of career development assistance and opportunities for students, such as:
• United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit • United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee • Tennessee Supreme Court • Tennessee Court of Appeals • FedEx Express • Memphis City Attorney’s Office • Memphis Area Legal Services • Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare • St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital • United States Office of the Federal Public Defender for the Western District of TN
92%
• Individual Counseling Sessions • Mock Interview Training • Practice-Area Seminars • Networking Events • Job Postings • Career Fairs • On-Campus Recruitment Interviews and Events
The Career Services Office helps to arrange mentorship opportunities for our students and features a shadowing program that allows our students interested in an attorney’s practice area to shadow them for important events such as a motion hearing, oral argument, or real estate closing.
Bar Exam Preparation
Top 40 Ranked
Memphis Law offers an expansive bar preparation program to help prepare you for success in the next stage of your legal career. This bar prep program offers workshops and programming designed to help you assess and practice the skills necessary to pass the bar. Additionally, our curriculum includes a required upper-level bar preparation course for graduation to help our students review how to navigate multiple-choice, essay, multi-state performance test questions, and is being adopted for the NextGen Bar Exam.
SCAN to learn more about experiential learning.
BARBRI Partnership Program Memphis Law now offers a dedicated program through BARBRI to provide our students with the support, resources, and bar review they need to be prepared for the bar exam and tailored to where they are in their academic legal journey.
Employment Rate for Recent Grads (Class of 2025)
Among Public Universities Clinical Training and Experiential Learning Programs
Inspired Inside the Classroom Degree Programs Juris Doctor (JD) Degree Memphis Law operates on the semester system and requires 90 semester hours for the JD degree. Our students typically enroll in 15-16 credit hours each semester. Students have the ability to specialize their degree through one of the following certificate programs: • • • •
Advocacy Business Law Health Law Public Interest Law
Dual Degree Programs: • • • •
JD/MBA (joint degree) JD/MA in Political Science JD/MPH Fast Track MPH
3+3 Programs at UofM • Communication Studies • Legal Studies • Philosophy
Supporting You – the Student Memphis Law makes the support and well-being of our students a top priority. In addition to mental and educational support, our students have access to all of the recreational and wellness programs run by the larger University of Memphis, including: • Counseling Center • Disability Resources • Psychological Services Center
• R. Brad Martin Student Wellness Center • Sports Complex
Faculty Our faculty is composed of committed scholars and experts in a vast range of legal areas. These professors are mentors and teachers who use their expertise and networks to help our students succeed, both during law school and in their career search. Our faculty have argued before the U.S. Supreme Court, written leading law textbooks, taught and practiced internationally, and served as leaders of their respective fields’ national organizations.
10:1
Student-to-Faculty Ratio
59
Full-Time and Adjunct Faculty
3+3 Programs with Partner Universities • Austin Peay University, select majors • Arkansas State University, Dept. of Government, Law & Policy • University of Tennessee at Martin, select majors
SCAN to learn more about our full curriculum and degree programs
25+
Articles, Scholarship, or Academic Works Published by Faculty in the Last Year
50+
Presentations, Panels, Programs, or Podcasts Featuring our Faculty Members in the Last Year
SCAN to learn more about your future professors
Academic Success Program Our Academic Success program helps students get off to a strong start with a required class that teaches foundational skills and offers a variety of resources that are essential to success in their first year of law school. Upper-Level students are also able to take advantage of this program through the guidance of several faculty members, as well as any of our “Dean’s Fellows,” who are some of our most engaged and successful students.
First-Year Curriculum Our students receive an accessible, intellectually rigorous, and practice-oriented legal education throughout their time at Memphis Law. First-year classes teach students the basics of the law and the legal system; while giving them early practical training they will need as competent attorneys. Our award-winning Legal Methods program for 1Ls also gives students intensive writing, research, and analysis experience while working closely with our full-time, dedicated Legal Methods faculty and in our dedicated Legal Writing Center.
First-Year Required Courses (Fall) • Contracts I • Torts I • Legal Methods I
• Civil Procedure I • Property I • Academic Success I
First-Year Required Courses (Spring) • • • •
Contracts II Torts II Legal Methods II Civil Procedure II
• Property II • Criminal Law • Academic Success II
Second-Year Required Courses • Constitutional Law • Evidence
Second OR Third Year Required Courses • • • •
Business Organizations Criminal Procedure I Professional Responsibility Sales
Third Year • Bar Exam Preparation • Upper-Level Legal Writing • Experiential Learning
Empowered Outside the Classroom Your involvement in programs and activities outside the traditional classroom setting allows you to pursue your interests, develop what you are passionate about, expand your networks, and refine your skills, helping you grow not only as a law student but future leader.
Organizations & Clubs There are more than 30 student organizations at Memphis Law that give students the opportunity to forge relationships, and delve deeper into specific causes or organizations they are interested in.
SCAN to learn more about our student organizations
Our students also have several in-school opportunities to hone their advocacy skills in. • Advanced Moot Court Competition • Memphis Law Mock Trial Competition • First-Year Moot Court Competition
“
Participating in the in-school Mock Trial competition completely changed my view on litigation and built my confidence with public speaking. Preparing for rounds and competing in the competition were the best parts of my day.” - Alexis Adams BLSA President, Notes Editor, Vol. 56 University of Memphis Law Review
SCAN to learn more about our advocacy program
Advocacy Program Memphis Law has a strong history of award-winning advocacy teams and competition programs.
Law Review
The law school has a number of advocacy competition teams that help students learn and compete through real-world, courtroom experience.
The University of Memphis Law Review is the preeminent legal publication at the University of Memphis School of Law. It is a student-run organization whose primary purpose is to publish a journal of legal scholarship. It publishes four issues per year, with articles by leading national and international scholars, practitioners, faculty, judges, and students.
• New York Bar Association National Moot Court Competition Team • Wagner Labor Law Moot Court Competition Team • ABA National Appellate Advocacy Competition Team • ABA Mediation Competition Team • Duberstein Bankruptcy Law Moot Court Competition Team • Thurgood Marshall Moot Court Competition Team • National Mock Trial Competition Team • Constance Baker Motley Mock Trial Competition Team
SCAN to learn more about Law Review
Memphis Law Alumni The individuals that have walked the halls of Memphis Law over the years include an extraordinary number of successful people. In fact, one of the law school’s most valuable resources, for current and past students alike, is our network of more than 7,000 alumni who are doing meaningful and impressive things around the country. Here are just a few of the many outstanding people who have graduated Memphis Law.
6500+ Alumni across 50 states 4300+ in Tennessee 2500+ in Memphis
Sam Blair (JD ’83) Shareholder and General Counsel, Baker Donelson
Rep. Steve Cohen (JD ’73) U.S. Congressman, Tennessee’s 9th Congressional District
The Honorable Bernice Donald (JD ’79) | U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit (Retired)
Gregory Duckett (JD ’85) Senior Vice President and Corporate Counsel, Baptist Memorial Healthcare Tannera Gibson (JD ’08) Chief Legal Officer – City of Memphis; Partner – Burch, Porter, & Johnson PLLC; Past President – Memphis Bar Association
The Honorable Holly M. Kirby (JD ’82) | Former Chief Justice, Tennessee Supreme Court (Retired)
Rep. David Kustoff (JD ’92) Congressman, Tennessee’s 8th Congressional District
The Honorable Andre Mathis (JD ’07) U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
David McKinney (JD ’07) Vice President, Human Resources and Public Affairs – AutoZone
The Honorable Mary Wagner (JD ’09) Justice, Tennessee Supreme Court
From Mayor to Dean One of the most recognizable political figures in recent Memphis history currently leads the law school. Dean Jim Strickland is a two-time Mayor of Memphis and former Memphis City Council member and under his vision and leadership, the law school is forging ahead with new opportunities, partnerships, and educational initiatives for the next generation of attorneys. All of this under the leadership of one of the most connected and well-liked Memphians, who also happens to be an alumni of our law school himself.
Rooted in Networking Opportunities
Memphis – The City The city we call home is a special place, with a character, texture, and feel that doesn’t exist in the same way in any other city. Memphis has a vibrant history, diverse cultures, world-renowned medical facilities, and a history of entrepreneurial spirit and musical innovation that have quite literally changed the world. It’s a city where the entire Mid-South legal community comes together in a wide variety of ways. With the majority of every level of the judicial system being located within steps of the law school, as well as an abundance of law firms both big and small, Memphis is where attorneys, judges, practitioners and alumni come to take care of business.
Proximity Map CECIL C. HUMPHREYS SCHOOL OF LAW
SCAN to see what Memphis is all about
Memphis Bar Association 0.3 mi
Memphis City Hall 0.4 mi
Proximity to Experience
Memphis Area Legal Services 0.4 mi U.S. District Court 0.6 mi
Shelby County Courthouse 0.4 mi Memphis Housing Authority 1.2 mi
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital
Being a student at Memphis Law means you’ll be located in the middle of the Memphis legal community. You’ll be within walking distance of state and federal courts, an array of law firms, as well as the majority of government offices. Our location also affords us the ability to form unique partnerships with many nearby entities, such as the City of Memphis, the Memphis Bar Association, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital, the Memphis Grizzlies, and more.
1.0 mi Shelby County Health Department
Memphis City Court
1.5 mi
0.6 mi
@memphis_law Methodist Le Bonheur 1.5 mi
Juvenile Court 1.0 mi
university-of-memphis-school-of-law
Contact Us: memphis.edu/law lawadmissions@memphis.edu 901.678.5403 2627-LAW-066