The University of South Carolina School of Law, also known as South Carolina Law or SC Law, is one of the professional schools of the University of South Carolina. South Carolina Law was founded in 1867 in Columbia, South Carolina and is the only public and non-profit law school in the state of South Carolina. The school has been accredited by the American Bar Association since 1925 and has been a member of the Association of American Law Schools since 1924. According to South Carolina's 2013 ABA-required disclosures, 68.6% of the Class of 2013 obtained full-time, long-term, JD-required employment nine months after graduation.
History
A Tour inside USC's new Law School building - Rob Wilcox, Dean of USC's School of Law, talks about the impact and features of the school's new building on Gervais Street in Columbia, SC.
The discussion of starting a law program began as early as 1810 when President Jonathan Maxcy recommended to the board of trustees of South Carolina College (as the University was then known) that the school establish a professorship of the law to lecture to the two higher classes. A resolution of the statehouse in 1823 requested the college to consider "the propriety and advantage of establishing a Professorship of Law in that institution, and to report to this house, at the next session, the manner in which such a Professorship may be established, so as to be most advantageous to the community, and least expensive to the State." The trustees replied that a professor should be hired, but that the courses should be offered only to graduates. With that, the matter ended.
When the modern University of South Carolina was formed from South Carolina College in December 1865, the act doing so also authorized the trustees to hire one or more persons to form classes to instruct on the law under such terms as the trustees should decide. In 1866, the act was amended to require the trustees to do so on the quickest possible terms.
In January 1867, the trustees offered Chancellor J.A. Inglis the position, but he declined. In 1868, the offer was next made to Col. A.C. Haskell who accepted and held the post until August 1868. The course of study included the various branches of common law and equity, commercial, international, and constitutional law. Although the program was meant to cover two years, many students completed it in one. A moot court was also overseen by the professor to train students in the details of actual practice. Four students started in the program, and two graduated in June 1868.
The program lapsed during the 1868-1869 academic year, but resumed the following term under the direction of the Hon. C.D. Melton. The program continued until it was shuttered following the death of a subsequent professor, Chief Justice Franklin J. Moses, in 1877.
The school resumed in 1884 under Col. Joseph Daniel Pope with a two-year program that again was often completed in one. Professor Pope was given a small salary and the fees generated from tuition. Special provision was made for the teaching of short courses by leading members of the bar. The school also added minimum entrance standards at that time: An applicant had to be at least nineteen years old, have a good English education, and known enough Latin to readily understand legal terms and maxims. Juniors were instructed in the following subjects: "Organization and Jurisdiction of Courts of United States (Supreme, Circuit, and District Courts) and South Carolina (Supreme, Common Pleas, Sessions, Probate, and Trial Justice Courts); Sources of Municipal Law; Domestic Relations; Personal Property, and title to same; Administration, Wills, Contracts, Bailments, Bills and Notes, Principal and Agent, Corporations; Criminal Law, and herein of Torts and nuisances; Public and Private Law, Law of Evidence." Seniors were instructed in the following: "Pleadings and Practice; Law of Real Property; Equity Jurisprudence; Law of Conveyancing; Trial of Title to Land; Maritime Law and Law of Nations; State of Law of the State on subjects not read with the text and lectures of the course; Deeds, Recording, Habeas Corpus, etc." In addition, the juniors were required to write essays, while seniors were trained in court details in a moot court.
In 1937, the South Carolina Law Review was established.
Buildings
From its opening in 1867 until 1875, the law school held classes, off and on, in what now are the South Caroliniana Library and DeSaussure College. In 891, the Law Department was moved to Legare College. From 1919 to 1950, the law school was located in Petigru College (in 1950, renamed to Currell College). From 1950 to 1974, the law school was located in the new Petigru College. From 1974 to 2017, the law school was located in the University of South Carolina Law Center at 701 Main Street.
On July 27, 2011, the law school officially announced plans for a new building, to be located on a block between Senate, Gervais, Bull and Pickens streets in downtown Columbia. The new building will have 187,500 square feet and will reportedly cost $80 million to construct. In February 2013, the University's Board of Trustees voted to pay more than half of the cost of the new building with bonds backed by students' tuition payments.
The school's law library contains about a half-million volumes.
Ranking and recognition
The 2011 edition of U.S. News & World Report's Best Law Schools saw South Carolina Law fall to the unranked third tier of schools. In response to the drop in rankings it was announced that Dean Walter "Jack" Pratt would step down following the 2010-2011 academic year. The 2010 edition of U.S. News & World Report's Best Law Schools ranked South Carolina Law was ranked 87th. South Carolina Law was also ranked #54 overall according to the 2010 ranking by the AALS. The ILRG ranked South Carolina Law #68 overall in its 2009 ranking of law schools. The ILRG also has numerous other categories and ranks South Carolina law as the #75 most selective law school, #94 for job placement before graduation, #95 for job placement after 9 months, #27 for best bar passer rates among first time takers, and #44 when ranking the school versus the state average for bar passage rates. Law & Politics' 2010 ranking of law schools ranked South Carolina Law #38 overall. TLS' ranking of most desirable law schools lists South Carolina as the #10 most desirable law school in the country. Law.com ranks South Carolina law as #94 overall for best job placement and employment trends into "BigLaw". In 2010, The Hylton Rankings place South Carolina Law #90 overall among all law schools. Leiter's ranks South Carolina Law's Professor David G. Owen as #7 among most cited law professors in the field of Tort Law. Most recently, South Carolina Law ranked in the 2018 edition of U.S. News & World Report's "Best Law Schools" at #88.
Notable alumni
- Lindsey Graham - United States Senator for South Carolina.
- Trey Gowdy - U.S. Representative for South Carolina's 4th congressional district.
- Henry McMaster - Governor of South Carolina
- David Beasley - Former Governor of South Carolina
- Jim Hodges - Former Governor of South Carolina
- Edgar L. McGowan - Former Commissioner of Labor of South Carolina
- William Byrd Traxler Jr. - Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
- Dennis Shedd - Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
- Henry Franklin Floyd - Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
- Terry L. Wooten - Chief District Judge for the U.S. District Court of South Carolina
- David C. Norton - District Judge for the U.S. District Court of South Carolina
- Robert Bryan Harwell - District Judge for the U.S. District Court of South Carolina
- Timothy M. Cain - District Judge for the U.S. District Court of South Carolina
- Bruce Howe Hendricks - District Judge for the U.S. District Court of South Carolina
- Mary Geiger Lewis - District Judge for the U.S. District Court of South Carolina
- J. Michelle Childs - District Judge for the U.S. District Court of South Carolina
- Joseph Fletcher Anderson Jr. - Senior District Judge for the U.S. District Court of South Carolina
- Charles Weston Houck - Senior District Judge for the U.S. District Court of South Carolina
- Henry Michael Herlong, Jr. - Senior District Judge for the U.S. District Court of South Carolina
- Patrick Michael Duffy - Senior District Judge for the U.S. District Court of South Carolina
- Donald W. Beatty - Chief Justice of the South Carolina Supreme Court
- John W. Kittredge - Justice of the South Carolina Supreme Court
- Kaye Gorenflo Hearn - Justice of the South Carolina Supreme Court
- John Few - Justice of the South Carolina Supreme Court
- George C. James - Justice of the South Carolina Supreme Court
- David Bruck - Noted capital defense attorney and Supreme Court advocate
- Judy Clarke - Noted criminal defense attorney for Ted Kaczynski, Zacarias Moussaoui, Susan Smith, Eric Rudolph, Jared Lee Loughner, and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev
Admissions
Employment
According to South Carolina's 2013 ABA-required disclosures, 68.6% of the Class of 2013 obtained full-time, long-term, JD-required employment nine months after graduation. South Carolina's Law School Transparency under-employment score is 17.5%, indicating the percentage of the Class of 2013 unemployed, pursuing an additional degree, or working in a non-professional, short-term, or part-time job nine months after graduation.
Costs
The total cost of attendance (indicating the cost of tuition, fees, and living expenses) at South Carolina for the 2013-2014 academic year for a non-resident is $62,440, and for a resident is $40,048. The Law School Transparency estimated debt-financed cost of attendance for three years for a non-resident is $240,274, and for a resident is $151,733 .
South Carolina bar exam passage
In South Carolina, the bar exam is administered twice a yearâ€"in July and February. July is the primary testing date for those who graduate in May. A much smaller group, generally out-of-state applicants, repeat takers, and December graduates, take the February exam. The South Carolina Supreme Court did not release the pass rate for specific schools' alumni until the July 2007 exam when the court separately listed the pass rate for the University of South Carolina and the Charleston School of Law.
* The July 2007 results were revised upwards after the South Carolina Supreme Court threw out a section of the exam because of an error by a bar examiner.
References
Sources
- Edwin L. Green, A History of the University of South Carolina 236-40 (1916) (on the history of the law school).
External links
- The University South Carolina School of Law