No.10: University of Florida Fredric G. Levin College of Law
P.O. Box 117622
Gainesville, FL 32611-7622
(352) 273-0890
Fax: (352) 3924087
http://www.law.ufl.edu
Total graduate enrollment 1290
Hispanic graduate enrollment 122
Percent Hispanic graduate enrollment 9%
Total J.D. degrees earned 415
J.D. degrees earned by Hispanics 41
Percent of J.D. degrees earned by Hispanics 9%
Full-time Law school faculty 52
Full-time Law school Hispanic faculty 3
Percent of Law school Hispanic faculty 6%
Professors Berta Hernandez-Truyol, Juan Perea and Pedro Malavet and Assistant Professor D. Daniel Sokol make the University of Florida Levin College of Law a national leader in the number of tenured Hispanic faculty members.
In 2007, more than 10 percent of the student body was Hispanic. The school specifically recruits, supports and mentors Hispanic law students, and the retention rate for Hispanic students in 2006-07 was 100 percent. Student organizations oriented toward this special group include the Spanish American Law Students Association (SALSA), the Hispanic and Latino/a Law Student Association (HLLSA), the Caribbean Law Students Association (Carib-Law), and the International Law Society (ILS).
The college's faculty are highly accomplished scholars, educators, and practitioners. Many are authors of treatises, casebooks, or major books used by law schools and practitioners throughout the nation, as well as hundreds of articles in law reviews and specialty journals. UF's law school also is home to one of the country's largest concentrations of faculty publishing in Critical Legal Studies, an interdisciplinary approach to the law. With the creation of the Center for the Study of Race and Race Relations in the late 1990s, the UF College of Law emerged on the forefront of Critical Legal Studies and Critical Race Theory, with books by six faculty — Katheryn Russell-Brown, Berta Hernandez-Truyol, Juan Perea, Michelle Jacobs, Nancy Dowd and Pedro Malavet — included in New York University Press' celebrated Critical America Series, more than any other school. The college also draws on the University of Florida's curricular strength in other ways, such as by teaming with UF specialists on research and cross-disciplinary training, or by featuring guest presentations by UF experts. Students can take courses in other colleges or earn joint degrees, which the college offers in nearly unsurpassed numbers.
One of the nation's most comprehensive and widely respected law schools, UF Law was founded in 1909, has been a member of the Association of American Law Schools since 1920, and was approved by the American Bar Association in 1925. It is among the nation's top 20 public and top 50 overall law schools, and efforts such as the $25 million expansion and renovation project completed in 2005, and a new trial advocacy center scheduled for 2009, are steadily enhancing its already strong programs and reputation.
The law school also is known for graduating state and national legal, political, business, government, and educational leaders, and for nurturing a strong alumni network. UF Law graduates include four ABA presidents, numerous federal and state judges, partners in major national and international law firms, members of Congress and the Cabinet, governors, and state legislators. Alumni support has built the endowment into one of the largest in the country for public law schools. This, combined with the state's financial assistance, allows the college to remain affordable while its academic quality rivals many of the best-known private colleges.
The University of Florida is one of the nation's largest and most comprehensive universities, is a member of the prestigious Association of American Universities and is recognized as one of the nation's leading research universities by the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education. The campus occupies 2,000 acres, mostly within the city of Gainesville's 116,000 population urban area in North Central Florida. The area is consistently ranked among the best places to live in America, with extensive educational, cultural, and recreational offerings.
