When UC Hastings was established in 1878 as the original law department of the University of California, it was decided that the College should prepare lawyers for the practice of law within proximity to the courts, in the heart of the booming city of San Francisco.
Fast-forward to today – our location continues to provide access to every level of the judiciary. UC Hastings continues to redefine legal education, integrating rigorous academics with hands-on practice to prepare our graduates to leverage the 21st century's opportunities. And San Francisco continues to boom, providing our students with access to the most innovative companies and people on the planet.
We are unique. No other law school in the United States exists at the epicenter of law firms local, state, and federal courts, tech and biotech companies, and social justice-oriented non-profits — all in the heart of a progressive, global metropolis. Our students leave prepared to transform themselves and the world, without losing sight of real issues affecting real people living real lives.
We are proud to have one of the most extensive and innovative experiential learning and judicial externship programs in the country. Our graduates possess an array of critical skills for practice, which most lawyers do not develop until completing several years on the job.
Our prestigious faculty are eminent scholars and professional leaders from a wide range of disciplines. They embody our school's ethos by turning knowledge into action and helping students do the same from international human rights attorneys to litigators, to patent prosecutors, and beyond, our accomplished alumni practice in all fifty states and global hotspots including Shanghai, Seoul, Dubai, and London. We invite you to explore what makes UC Hastings one of the top law schools in the nation.
The California Scholars Program supports a pipeline to enroll and financially support students from the Historically Black Colleges and Universities of Morehouse College, Spelman College, Hampton University, and the American University in Armenia. The Program offers full-tuition scholarships and $20,000 in living expenses, per year, for all three years at UC Hastings. UC Hastings also guarantees its California Scholars on-campus student housing in the McAllister Tower.
UC Hastings was founded on the belief that a top-tier legal education should be financially accessible to everyone. We are deeply committed to helping students achieve their educational goals—and our financial aid programs underscore this core value.
UC Hastings graduates are legal professionals with a clear sense of the social, economic, business, and cultural contexts in which the law is applied. That sense, along with their passion for both the theory and the law's practice, makes them unparalleled advocates for their clients, regardless of whether those clients are entrepreneurs or immigrants, inventors or entertainers, the high and mighty or the average citizen.
A UC Hastings education starts with a firm grounding in the fundamentals — tort law, criminal law, civil procedure — and builds on that foundation with a choice of nine interdisciplinary concentrations, where you can gain career-specific experience in areas like the health sciences, social justice, and international law.
With such a diverse, "living" legal education, it is no surprise that UC Hastings graduates not only thrive in traditional legal careers but find crossover success as health care policymakers, bioethics experts, international human rights advocates, digital media entrepreneurs, and much more.
Our curriculum cultivates an enthralling and thought-provoking intellectual environment, inspiring great minds worldwide to share their knowledge and expertise through guest lecture series for our students and faculty.
Throughout its history, UC Hastings has pursued the single-minded purpose that excellence in the law results from excellence in legal education. Our research centers are intertwined with programs, curriculum, and the legal profession to create and sustain an educational atmosphere that is continuously stimulating, enriching, and productive. We are just a law school, so you will not find any undergrads here. You also will not find acres of grassy space. We are different, and we embrace it because where we are helping shape who we become. Surround yourself with the movers and shakers in tech, or be at the forefront of the social justice fight. Innovation begins when the city is your playground. Our quad is the Ninth Circuit. Our stadium is City Hall.
Our mission in Student Services is to advocate for and guide all students' holistic development through the intentional creation of an inclusive and collaborative community that fosters a sense of belonging. We do this by creating and providing student-centered programs and services supporting our students' academic and personal growth, promoting their mental health and physical wellbeing, and encouraging their development into inspired leaders and empowered legal professionals.
Navigating through law school can be a challenge. That is why UC Hastings' Student Services Office is here to help. Academic Advisors provide guidance and support to students on their journey to achieving their personal and academic goals through numerous services.
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