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Institution
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The law school emphasises practical skills and integrity. The current dean, former federal judge John L. Carroll (class of '74) states that:
"The prevailing philosophy is simple: Practical skill outweighs raw knowledge, and application transcends erudition. If the goal were to produce great law students, the tenets might be exactly the opposite. Our goal is to produce exceptional lawyers. That’s why Cumberland’s curriculum emphasizes the core competencies of legal practice: research, writing and persuasion."
In the 2006 edition of the Princeton Review Cumberland ranked 6th in the top 10 list rating faculty and 9th in the top 10 list for overall quality of life.
One of Cumberland's more notable graduates, Cordell Hull, served under Franklin Delano Roosevelt as Secretary of State and won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1945. At one point in his life he stated that:
"if this historic institution (Cumberland) had been located in any other section of the country instead of having been an unpretentious school in an unpretentious locality, its wonderful work would be as widely known and recognized as that of any educational institution of like age in any part of America." Fn.1.
Langum and Walthall summarize the history of Cumberland Law School as:
"From its very local, Tennessee origins in 1847, Cumberland School of Law soon emerged as a premier law school with a national status. It excelled in faculty, teaching methodology, and numbers of students. Following the American Civil War, Cumberland rebuilt itself and ultimately succeeded on a grand scale with its single-year curriculum." Fn.1
After witnessing the Civil War, the Great Depression, two world wars, and the Civil Rights Movement, Cumberland stands on a long, proud history, but now looks "to regain the premier status it once held."
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Life at Cumberland
Cumberland students generally attend school for three years. The first year classes are preselected: Civil Procedure, Contracts, Property, Torts, Criminal Law, and Evidence. Students are divided into one of three sections, where the students remain together in their respective classes for the entire first year. First year students are also enrolled in even smaller sections for Lawyering and Legal Reasoning, a class that focuses on honing the students' ability to think and write like a lawyer.
Second and third year courses give students more choices and allow some degree of specialization. Cumberland offers a balance of traditional courses, such as Criminal Procedure, Family Law, and Basic Federal Income Tax, and practical courses, such as Basic and Advanced Trial Skills, ,Business Drafting, and Law Office Practice and Management.
Students are taught using the Socratic Method, typical of law school pedagogy.
Students must also take Professional Responsibility and the MPRE, which is an exam that is required to practice in addition to the Bar exam.
Cumberland offers numerous extra-curricular activities, in addition to the opportunities provided by Samford University. See below for a list of publications, research centers, and student organizations.
Housing for law students is not available on campus, but students typically rent apartments or buy houses in the surrounding community.
Competition for grades and rank can be aggressive but rarely personal, and there is a surprising degree of camaraderie amongst the students, which many students consider to be atypical of the environment on most law school campuses.
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Bar passage and employment rates
First time takers from the Class of 2006 had a 93.3% passage rate on the July 2006 Alabama Bar exam.
First time takers from the Class of 2005 had a 94.1% passage rate on the July 2005 Alabama Bar exam.
93.7% of the Class of 2004 is currently employed, with 68.9% in private practice, 5.91% in judicial clerkships, 4.1% in business and industry, 11.1% in government, 1.5% in public interest, .7% in academics, and 6.7% pursued advanced degrees.*
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Admissions
The Fall 2005 entering class had an average LSAT score of 156 and average undergraduate GPA of 3.23. The top quarter of the entering class had an LSAT score of 158 or higher and a GPA of 3.53 or higher. Candidates are selected based on "LSAT, undergraduate GPA, discipline of study, graduate work, undergraduate grade trends, employment, undergraduate institution, personal statement, and letters of recommendation." *
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Joint degree programs
Cumberland offers 6 joint degree programs:
JD/Master of Accountancy, JD/Master of Business Administration, in conjunction with the Samford University School of Business,
JD/Master of Science in Environmental Management, in conjunction with the graduate school of Samford University,
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Foreign programs
Programs Website
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Publications
The Cumberland Law Review * whose members are selected by write-on from the top 15% of the freshman class and,
The American Journal of Trial Advocacy * whose members are selected by write-on from the top 33% of the freshman class.
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Research centers
The Center for Law & Church;
The Alabama Center for Law and Civic Education.
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Student organizations
Alabama Defense Lawyer's Association *
Black Law Students Association *
Community Service Organization *
Cumberland Wildlife Society *
DRI – The Voice of the Defense Bar *
Environmental Law Society *
Henry Upson Sims Moot Court Board *
Jewish Law Students’ Association *
Military Justice Society *
The Sports and Entertainment Law Society *
Pro Confesso On-line Newspaper *
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History
This summary would be impossible but for a comprehensive study of the law school, which was done for the 150th anniversary of the school. It is entitled From Maverick to Mainstream. Much of this information is sourced from this excellent work (see note for citation below).
Cumberland School of Law was founded on July 29, 1847 in Lebanon, Tennessee at Cumberland University. Founder and first professor Judge Abraham Caruthers said, "I call it an adventure, I speak of it as an experiment." At the end of 1847, 15 law schools existed in the country. Prior to the founding of these first law schools, the primary means for a legal education was apprentiship. To give some perspective, establishing law schools was difficult in the early 1800s. Harvard only reestablished its law school in 1829 and Yale in 1826. So Cumberland appeared at a unique time in history and offered a unique educational option.
By 1860 only 21 university law schools existed in the country and in no documented case did the curriculum last over two years.
(WORKING)
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Former Deans
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Notable facts
Cumberland is the first law school to have been sold from one university to another.
Cumberland is well known in the Southeast for its focus on Trial Advocacy.
The school is composed of two buildings: the main classroom building, amusingly named the Memory Leake Robinson Hall, and the Lucille Stewart Beeson Law Library *.
Motto: "Where good people become exceptional lawyers."
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Internal Wikipedia Links
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Source information
DAVID J. LANGUM & HOWARD P. WALTHALL: From Maverick to Mainstream: Cumberland School of Law, 1847-1997 (University of Georgia Press 1997).
Fn. 1 - p.253 (Langum & Walthall)
Fn. 2 - p.113 (Langum & Walthall) (quoting "Hull Calls for Consectration," Lebanon (Tenn.) Democrat, May 10, 1934, p.1.
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