Dear Friend,

Now, more than ever, the world needs well-educated lawyers to resolve problems and address injustices. At Oregon Law, we equip our students so that they can meet those needs.

What's special about our program?

Oregon students learn.

Oregon Law is part of a major research university and offers a rigorous, comprehensive legal education. Our students can take classes in a number of disciplines and apply those credits to their law degrees. Yet because we are a small school, our students get to know their teachers, working and studying with them from their very first day of law school.

We are one of just a handful of law schools in the entire country (and the only one in the Pacific Northwest) that can boast of having three programs ranked in the "top ten" by U.S. News and World Report. According to that ranking, our Legal Research and Writing (LRW) program is the sixth best in the country. Our Appropriate Dispute Resolution (ADR) program is lauded as the seventh best nationwide; and our Environmental and Natural Resources (ENR) program is ranked tenth.

And Oregon Law's "reputational" ranking -- that is, how we are viewed by legal professionals nationwide -- has always been in the top 50.

Our faculty members are great teachers, and many of them had years of experience with major law firms, corporations, and government agencies. As scholars, they are known nationally for their work. For example,

• Professor Steven Bender, who is also Director of Oregon Law's Green Business and Portland Programs, recently published One Night in America: Robert Kennedy, Cesar Chavez, and the Dream of Dignity, for which he won a 2008 Oregon Book Award.
• Associate Professor Tom Lininger, Director of Oregon Law's Public Interest Public Service Program, is working on a book about the United States Supreme Court's recent interpretation of the Confrontation Clause.
• Professor Mary Christina Wood continues to garner national and international attention for her sovereign trust approach to global climate policy. Professor Wood currently is working on a book, Nature's Trust: A Legal Paradigm for Protecting Land and Natural Resources for Future Generations, in which she defines leadership of a new world based on a clear sense of government obligation that is inherent to sovereignty, not a matter of political choice.

Oregon students thrive.

Our warm and collegial approach brings out the best in our students. Learning together in a beautiful and supportive environment, they develop life-long friendships and make achievement a way of life. Oregon is well known for having a public-minded spirit, and our students and graduates have established a tradition of leadership in the public interest:

• For eight years running, Oregon Law students have won the Oregon State Bar's pro bono challenge, donating a larger number of hours to public service than any law school in the state.
• Seventy-five percent of the members of the Class of 2011 have worked or volunteered in public interest positions.
• Oregon Law students created an online journal, theLegality.com, dedicated to providing accessible legal opinion on current events. Although it has been in existence for little more than a year, theLegality.com has attracted acclaim and a critical mass of readers.

Regular academic conferences feed our students' minds and introduce them to accomplished thinkers and practitioners from within, and outside of, our community.

• Last April, Oregon Law hosted a conference titled "Putting the Puzzle Together: Cooperation, Conflict and Collaboration Among Juvenile Courts and Child Welfare Agencies," organized by Professor Leslie Harris and the Oregon Child Advocacy Project. Speakers included judges and lawyers who regularly deal with child welfare issues.
• This year, Oregon Law hosted its first Sports Business and the Law Conference, featuring guest panelists from the Portland Trail Blazers, Professional Bowlers Association, Nike, adidas, and Columbia Sportswear, among others.
• Our recent Sustainable Business Symposium welcomed keynote speaker and prominent clean tech venture capitalist Nancy Floyd, the founder and managing director of Nth Power, who addressed the nation at the Democratic National Convention regarding renewable energy.

After graduation, Oregon Law students spread out across the nation to work in a wide variety of fields. Backed by the strength of our programs and reputation, they enjoy excellent placement success. For example, based on a survey to which 98 percent of the Class of 2008 responded, nearly 90 percent of them are employed. Approximately 47 percent are in private practice; an amazing 16 percent serve as judicial clerks; 14 percent are otherwise employed by the government; and 10 percent are in public interest or non-profit work. Fifty-five percent of the Class of 2008 has remained in Oregon. The next biggest destinations for our graduates are Washington, California, Colorado, Washington, D.C., and Nevada.

Oregon students do.

Prelaw Magazine named Oregon Law one of the "Best in Practical Training" law schools in the country due to the availability of clinical opportunities for its students. Moreover, Oregon Law's centers and programs provide students with interdisciplinary and practical opportunities that get them out of the classroom and into real-world challenges:

• Our ADR program puts dispute resolution theory into practice, educating students in negotiation, mediation, and arbitration. Students can participate in a mediation clinic, take a hands-on class in negotiation, or earn an interdisciplinary master's degree in conflict resolution concurrently with their law degrees.
• Our ENR program pioneered the nation's first public interest environmental law clinic, where students work on cutting edge litigation. Students also produce the annual Public Interest Environmental Law Conference -- the oldest and largest of its kind. Externships and fellowships get students working on legal issues with faculty and with government and non-profit organizations.
• Students participate in our Small Business Clinic, helping start-up businesses organize and flourish. They also can take advantage of our "transactional lab" program to train with lawyers in major Portland law firms. Through our Portland Program, they can extern at some of Oregon's most innovative companies -- Nike and Mentor Graphics among them. And, in the Technology and Entrepreneurship Program, they develop new products and businesses based on emerging technologies.

Legal research and writing skills are critical to any lawyer's arsenal. Our LRW program offers every first-year student the opportunity to do the hard work of writing -- and, after intensive feedback, rewriting. Advanced courses give second- and third-year students a chance to draft contracts, wills, pleadings, and other legal documents. Our students become renowned writers: this year three of them garnered high recognition in national writing competitions. Our students also enjoyed great success this year in advocacy competitions. In January and February, three teams won regional rounds and went on to represent us at national competitions.

In short, our program is special, and that's why we can brag about how well our students learn, thrive, and do.

Come and visit us in Eugene. You'll love it here.