At Notre Dame Law School, we see the law as more than just a profession.

We encourage students to view the practice of law as a service to others, to explore the moral and ethical dimensions of the law, and to discover their unique roles in furthering the cause of justice.

As an eminent law school at the heart of a great Catholic university, our view of legal education is informed and inspired by our religious tradition. It's a tradition that spans the globe, embraces people of all backgrounds, and illustrates the possibilities of dialogue between reason and faith.

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JD Program

The Law School provides students with the educational backbone they will need in their future, as well as unparalleled real-world experience via internships, clinics, travel abroad, interdisciplinary courses, and pro bono opportunities. Our alumni become different kinds of lawyers because they receive a different kind of education.

Notre Dame Law School produces leaders who are prepared to live, learn, and work in a diverse, multicultural and globalized environment. We prepare our students to practice law with professional excellence and commitment to fairness, justice, compassion, and the highest ethical standards.

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Clinics

Clinics are teaching law offices where students work as lead attorneys on real cases under the close supervision of seasoned faculty members.

In Notre Dame Law School's clinics, second- and third-year students receive academic credit while providing free legal services to individuals, small businesses, and nonprofit organizations.

These experiences — which include litigation, transactional work, and mediation — complement the analytical training of the classroom by enabling law students to develop practical skills and explore potential career paths.

The clinics also provide an invaluable service to the South Bend region by representing local residents who cannot afford legal counsel.

Notre Dame Law School operates six clinics.

Applied Mediation: Provides mediation services to individuals litigating civil matters such as child custody, parenting time, landlord-tenant disputes, and contract disputes.
Community Development: Offers non-litigation services to nonprofit organizations and small businesses.
Economic Justice: Provides legal services to low-income clients in consumer law matters.
Exoneration Justice: Committed to correcting the miscarriage of justice and investigating, litigating, and overturning wrongful convictions.
Intellectual Property and Entrepreneurship: Offers counsel to businesses and entrepreneurs on IP-related issues.
Religious Liberty: Defends religious liberty through claims in trial courts and appeals, up to and including the Supreme Court

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Externships

Notre Dame Law School teaches students to think like lawyers and practice the skills that are important for success in the profession. This education includes getting out of the classroom and working on cases with real clients, lawyers, and judges.

The Law School’s broad array of externships enables students to “try out” virtually any area of law. Students may participate in externships during the academic year at nonprofit organizations, government agencies, judicial chambers, and corporate counsel offices in the South Bend area, in Chicago and Washington, D.C., and while studying abroad in London. Students can even create their own externships through the Lawyering Practice Externship.

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Study Abroad

London Law Program

The Notre Dame London Law Program, housed at Notre Dame's London Global Gateway, is open to second- and third-year law students. Students may spend a semester or full year in London, where they learn from a faculty that consists of prominent American, British, and European legal scholars. The program also offers numerous externship opportunities with British barristers, solicitors, multinational corporations, government offices, nonprofit organizations, and law firms.

The program, founded in 1968, is the oldest study-abroad program offered by a U.S. law school and the only ABA-approved, year-long overseas program offered by a U.S. law school.

Exchange Programs

Notre Dame Law students may study abroad for a semester in:

Chile at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile
China at Peking University Law School and Tsinghua University Law School
Germany at Bucerius Law School
Ireland at Trinity School of Law
Israel at Tel Aviv University
Italy at Universita Bocconi
Switzerland at the University of Lucerne

Honor Scholars Program

The Law School's Honor Scholars Program provide students with unique international opportunities for scholarly and professional development during the summer.

Dublin Honor Scholars Program
Hamburg Honor Scholars Program

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Dual Degrees

Notre Dame Law students have several opportunities to combine the study of law with another academic discipline, earning two degrees at the end of their course of study.

Dual-degree programs:

Three-year J.D./MBA
Four-year J.D./MBA
J.D./M.S. in Engineering, Science & Technology Entrepreneurship (ESTEEM)
J.D./M.A. in English
J.D./Master of Engineering
J.D./Master of Global Affairs
J.D./Ph.D. in Political Science
Other dual degrees

Enrollment in these programs requires the student to apply to and be admitted by both the Law School and the particular graduate program. Students who wish to pursue a dual-degree program not listed on this page may do so with the permission of the Law School and the appropriate graduate program.

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Student Life

Learn Here

Earning a law degree is a challenge, and students at any law school are going to spend a lot of time studying as they prepare for the demands of the profession. Notre Dame Law School provides a rigorous legal education, but one of the ways the Law School is different is that it's also a community. The warmth of the Notre Dame community comes through inside and outside the classroom as students compete together on moot court, cheer for the Fighting Irish sports teams, travel in Europe while participating in the London Law Program, or meet with faculty members over lunch in the Law School's living room, Eck Commons.

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Live Here

Notre Dame is a common reason that people have heard of South Bend, Indiana, but the city and the greater region have much more to offer. South Bend is big enough to provide everything you need without the traffic and high costs of a major metropolitan area. In fact, because of South Bend's relatively low cost of living, Notre Dame Law students are able to enjoy a very nice quality of life during their years here. And, when students do need a taste of a bigger city, Chicago is an easy destination for a day trip.

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Grow Here

Notre Dame is both Catholic and catholic. When capitalized, the word refers to the Catholic Church and the faith that drives Notre Dame's mission to be a force for good in the world. The lowercase word means universal and refers to the recognition that, to be a great university, Notre Dame must embrace and include people of all backgrounds, faiths, and viewpoints. To sum it up, Notre Dame is a Catholic university — committed to and inspired by its foundation in the Church — and a catholic university that encourages people of all faiths to grow spiritually during their time on campus.

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Career Placement and Bar Passage

Every student brings a unique mix of experiences and passions to law school, and every aspiring lawyer has a unique vision of professional success.

Notre Dame Law School is devoted to preparing all students to succeed on their individual career paths. Notre Dame Lawyers are leaders in big law firms and corporate headquarters as well as government agencies and nonprofit organizations across the United States and abroad.

Notre Dame Law School is truly a national law school. In fact, recent employment data from the American Bar Association suggest that our alumni are more widely dispersed than those from any other law school. The top three states where Notre Dame Law graduates are employed – Illinois, California, and New York – extend from coast to coast. This geographic diversity benefits students as they connect with an alumni network and opportunities that stretch across the map.

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Tuition and Aid

Law school is a major investment in your future. A Notre Dame legal education will provide training from premier academic faculty, opportunities experiential learning, a dedicated Career Development Office, and membership in one of the strongest alumni networks in the country.

We want to help you maximize your investment with while minimizing debt through careful financial planning. Notre Dame’s financial aid program provides a wide variety of opportunities – including scholarships, loans, repayment programs -- to help our students manage the cost of attending law school and make Notre Dame an affordable option.

The process starts with a sound financial plan and an understanding of the financial commitment it takes to obtain a law degree. Click the link for essential tools and information needed to make educated choices about funding your law school education.

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Admission Decisions: Beyond the Numbers

The Admissions Committee seeks to enroll a highly qualified and diverse class that will help the Law School achieve its mission of educating lawyers who will serve the good of the human family.

To that end, the Admissions Committee evaluates candidates in a holistic manner and considers an array of factors including, but not limited to, the following: academic achievement and potential; undergraduate and graduate coursework; demonstrated leadership skills; community involvement; overcoming adversity; work and life experiences; and a specific interest in the study and practice of law. When completing the application, students are encouraged to consider how they may address the factors listed above. While it is not necessary to address each item in the application, many of our most competitive applicants highlight the factors they believe are the strongest, address a specific interest in the study and practice of law, and indicate how NDLS will assist them in achieving their personal and professional goals.

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