The University of the District of Columbia David A. Clarke School of Law (UDC Law) is the law school of the University of the District of Columbia, a public historically black land-grant university in Washington, D.C. It is named after David A. Clarke and was established in 1986 when, in response to a local grassroots campaign, the Council of the District of Columbia decided to take over the Antioch School of Law, whose parent institution Antioch University had decided to close it in the face of increasing financial problems. The school was formally merged into the University of the District of Columbia in 1996.
History
UDC Law was established as the District of Columbia School of Law after Antioch University decided to close its law school. The Antioch School of Law was a Washington, D.C. school established as part of Antioch College's Antioch Network in 1972 by Jean Camper Cahn and Edgar S. Cahn, a married interracial couple dedicated to improving legal services for poor people.
Eager to retain the Antioch School of Law's mission, curriculum, clinical programs, and personnel for the benefit of the city, in 1986 Antioch School of Law students, alumni and local legal and civic leaders mounted a successful grassroots campaign to persuade the Council of the District of Columbia to pass legislation that re-established the school as the District of Columbia School of Law (DCSL). The Council of the District of Columbia later passed legislation merging the School of Law with the University of the District of Columbia in 1996. In 1998 President Clinton signed legislation renaming the School after former D.C. Council Chair David A. Clarke, a civil rights leader and long-time advocate for the law school and its mission.
The District of Columbia School of Law was awarded provisional accreditation by the American Bar Association in 1991, while the David A. Clarke School of Law was awarded provisional accreditation shortly after its renaming in 1998. It was awarded full accreditation by a unanimous vote of the ABA House of Delegates on August 8, 2005.
On May 15, 2020, the council of the American Bar Association's Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar met remotely and determined this school and nine others had significant noncompliance with Standard 316. This Standard was revised in 2019 to provide that at least 75% of an accredited law school's graduates who took a bar exam must pass one within two years of graduation. The school had been asked to submit a report by Feb. 1, 2021; and, if the council did not find the report demonstrated compliance, the school would be asked to appear before the council at its May, 2021 meeting. By August 2020, the School of Law was able to demonstrate compliance, asserting the class of 2018 had a two-year bar passage rate of 75.3%, and its class of 2019 was showing progress toward a 75% pass rate. The August council also specifically found that the school was in compliance with Standards 501(b) and Interpretation 501–1, which deal with admissions policies and practices. However, in late 2022, the school was again found out of compliance for having an actual 67.24% pass rate for the class of 2019. The school indicated the 2019 results were an anomaly.The ABA determined the school was back in compliance by March of 2023.
Academics
Curriculum
UDC Law requires more hands-on work in a clinical setting – on real cases on behalf of low-income people and the public interest – than any other U.S. law school. The school requires full-time first year students to take courses on Civil Procedure, Contracts, Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure, Law & Justice, Lawyering Process, and Torts. Upper-division full-time students are required to take clinical courses and courses on Constitutional Law, Evidence, Moot Court, Professional Responsibility, and Property.
Degrees offered
UDC Law students can earn their J.D. in three years as full-time students or in four years as part-time students. The school also offers a two-year LL.M. program with concentrations in Clinical Education, Social Justice, and Systems Change.
Faculty
The school had 28 full-time faculty and three part-time/visiting faculty, including Antioch founder Edgar S. Cahn, as of Spring 2018.