It is no secret that one of the cornerstones of the Mercer Law School’s award-winning curriculum is its nationally-recognized Legal Writing Program. With the release Friday (April 1) of law school rankings by U.S. News & World Report, those who know legal writing programs best – other faculty in the field – ranked Mercer number one in the country. Mercer and the Seattle University Law School tied for the top spot for legal writing among the nation’s 179 accredited law schools.
At Mercer, required writing and research courses span the first three semesters and total the equivalent of nine credits – far more than at most law schools. Research courses are taught by nationally-recruited legal research faculty. Core writing courses are taught by nationally-recruited tenured and tenure-track legal writing faculty. The program offers popular upper division electives and the nation’s only Certificate in Advanced Legal Writing, Research, and Drafting.
The Legal Writing Institute chose to move its headquarters to Mercer. With nearly 1,800 members, LWI is the world’s largest organization dedicated to the improvement of legal writing. In selecting Mercer, LWI considered the quality of the Legal Writing Program, the national reputation of Mercer’s faculty and the consistency of Mercer’s dedication to advancing the field of legal writing.
In the rankings released Friday, the Mercer Law School is once again ranked among the nation’s top 100 accredited law schools.
The Mercer Law School has received several noteworthy accomplishments this academic year. In the fall, Mercer learned it led all of the state’s law schools among graduates passing the July 2004 Bar Exam on their first attempt. The Mercer Law faculty was ranked seventh in the nation by The Princeton Review on its top 10 list titled, “Faculty Rocks (Legally Speaking).” And, in its January edition, the National Jurist magazine ranked the Mercer Law School 11th on its Technology Honor Roll for its use of technology.
