For the third year in a row, PreLaw Magazine, a National Jurist publication, awarded Case Western Reserve School of Law an “A” ranking in business law, placing it in elite company with law schools such as Cornell, Duke and Georgetown.
The ranking was based on the strength of the program in several categories, including curricular offerings, concentrations, certificates, clinics and externships.
The business law program begins with “LLEAP 3,” a required course for second-year students that provides the opportunity for a deep dive into either litigation or the world of business transactions through an intensive simulation-based curriculum. Case Western Reserve is the only law school with this type of required skills course.
In the second or third year, law students can participate in the Fusion program, an interdisciplinary certificate program that teams law students with business and engineering students across campus.
The law school has two clinics where third-year students sit "first chair" in representing business clients. In the Community Development Clinic, students represent local business and nonprofit entities in the formation of their businesses, obtaining tax-exempt status and serving as general counsel. In the IP Venture Clinic, students represent entrepreneurs to launch an early-stage venture and protect their intellectual property.
Among the law school's numerous business law-related courses is a novel Business Law Colloquium, co-taught by Professor Juliet Kostritsky, director of the Center for Business Law, together with corporate counsels and business leaders. The course includes sessions focused on financial management, business development, communication skills and intercultural business and law practices.
The law school has expanded its international business law offerings in recent years, with courses ranging from International Commercial Arbitration to International Business Transactions and International Tax— each taught by leading experts in the field. The strength of the curriculum has a direct effect on our students. Last year, the law school's International Commercial Arbitration Moot Court team won the first place speaker award at the national pre-moot and came in first at the competition in Athens, Greece.
Students can earn an MBA from the Weatherhead School of Management and a JD from the law school simultaneously under our Dual Degree Program. The law school also offers concurrent degree programs in international business law with partner schools in England, France and Spain, enabling students to earn a JD and LLM degree in international business law in just three years for the same price as the JD degree.
Outside the classroom, students at Case Western Reserve University are exposed to a variety of lectures and conferences sponsored by the Center for Business Law. The law school also hosts the Financial Integrity Institute, directed by Professor Richard Gordon, which serves as a think tank for developing best practices in countering business corruption.
CWRU School of Law has summer and semester-long externships in a variety of business placements, ranging from NBC Studios to the Cleveland Browns’ front office.
The strength of our business law program translates into placements for our graduates at prestigious law firms in Cleveland and around the country. Last fall, BakerHostetler, the 39th largest firm in the country, hired six CWRU law students as summer associates. A total of 56 BakerHostetler attorneys are CWRU alumni.
Jones Day, the fifth-largest U.S. law firm, hired five CWRU law students last year as summer associates. Forty Jones Day attorneys in Cleveland, New York and Washington, D.C. are CWRU alumni.
Meanwhile, 28 law school alumni are attorneys at Squire Patton Boggs, the 16th largest law firm in the U.S. In the past year, Squire hired a third-year student and two recent graduates as associates in the firm’s top-ranked international arbitration practice group.
Other large firms in Cleveland with a significant number of alumni include Tucker Ellis (41), Benesch Friedlander (40), Ulmer & Berne (33), Calfee Halter (30), Thompson Hine (27), Reminger Co., LPA (27), Vorys (25), McDonald Hopkins (22) and Hahn Loeser (18).