Prospective Law Student Viewbook 2021-22

WHERE INNOVATION
AND JUSTICE
MEET

GOLDEN GATE UNIVERSITY
SCHOOL OF LAW

SAN FRANCISCO'S LAW SCHOOL

SINCE 1901

AWARD WINNING ABA-ACCREDITED
LAW SCHOOL WITH A PRIME
LOCATION IN THE HEART OF SAN
FRANCISCO.

DIRECT ACCESS TO THE COUNTRY'S
TOP LAW FIRMS, COURTS, TECH
COMPANIES, BANKS AND NON-
PROFITS.

THE CITY'S DIVERSITY AND RICH
BLEND OF CULTURES FROM AROUND
THE WORLD, PREP OUR STUDENTS FOR
TODAY'S GLOBAL JOB MARKET.

LAW.GGU.EDU

DIVERSITY IS
OUR
STRENGTH

inclusionGGU Law has a legacy of, expanding access, and breaking

diversebarriers. Recognized as one of the most law schools in the nation,

we know that diversity is our strength.

We believe that training future lawyers of diverse backgrounds and

experiences creates a stronger, more inclusive justice system. GGU Law is

proud to be a leader in expanding access to legal education, helping to

equitypromote within the profession, and diversifying the legal community.

LAW.GGU.EDU

FACTS AT A GLANCE

FALL 2021 CLASS PROFILE

75TH: 154 | 3.42
50TH: 151 | 3.13
25TH: 149 | 2.84
55% FEMALE
19% LGBTQ
60% DIVERSITY
54% 1ST GEN COLLEGE STUDENT
87% 1ST GEN LAW SCHOOL STUDENT
6% VETERAN
25% FROM OUTSIDE OF CA
20 STATES
6 COUNTRIES REPRESENTED

LAW.GGU.EDU

FUN FACTS

1901: The YMCA establishes California's
first evening law school, which will
eventually become GGU Law.
1906: The great San Francisco
earthquake and fire level the
YMCA building. Undaunted,
students continue their
studies in tents at Golden
Gate Park.

1913: JUSTICE JESSE
CARTER GRADUATES,
LATER JOINING THE
BOARD OF GOVERNORS
OF THE STATE BAR OF
CALIFORNIA. HE IS
APPOINTED TO THE
STATE SUPREME COURT
IN 1939.

1928: Margaret Lyons
Steffan is one of the first
two women to receive a
law degree from the
newly named Golden
Gate College.

1964: The full-time day
program begins.
1973: GGU LAW
APPOINTS THE SECOND
WOMAN IN THE US TO BE
NAMED DEAN OF AN
ABA-ACCREDITED LAW
SCHOOL.

LAW.GGU.EDU

LEGAL EDUCATION REIMAGINED

INNOVATION IS OUR TRADITION

NATIONAL LEADERS

Golden Gate University School of Law has been
repeatedly recognized by preLaw Magazine and
the National Jurist as a regional and national
leader in litigation skills, practical training, and
experiential learning.

Our goal is to prepare our students to be critical
thinkers, problem solvers, and leaders with the
ability to respond to changes in the legal
profession. To that end, practical skills training, a
cornerstone of GGU Law’s program, is fully
integrated with legal theory throughout the
curriculum to provide students with a holistic
learning experience.

THEORY MEETS PRACTICE

GGU Law’s innovative curriculum integrates
practical skills training and professional
development, preparing students to become savvy
and socially responsible practitioners. Faculty
members, generous with their time and talent, are
adept at using the state of the art technology in
our newly renovated classrooms and teaching
courtrooms.

Our programs produce lawyers who possess a
keen sense of professional identity developed
through hands-on experience and client-centered
interactions. GGU Law graduates enter the
workforce well prepared for a rapidly changing
legal marketplace.

LAW.GGU.EDU

WE BELIEVE THAT LEGAL EDUCATION SHOULD BE ACCESSIBLE
AND WE’RE HERE TO HELP YOU FIND THE BEST PATHWAY TO
PURSUE YOUR LAW SCHOOL ASPIRATIONS.

FULL-TIME JD PROGRAM JD FLEX

GGU Law prepares its students to be creative, Our hybrid JD Flex program lets you earn an
savvy, and socially-conscious practitioners. Our ABA-approved law degree in less than four
full-time program gives you unparalleled skills years, even while working full time. The program
and experiences in the legal profession, all blends online coursework with eight weekend
while graduating in three years. With small class on-campus sessions per semester. Summers are
sizes and our expert faculty, you will get the online. You enjoy the same academic rigor and
individualized attention and support you student-centered support as GGU’s campus-
deserve. based JD programs, with the flexibility you need
to make law school fit into your busy life.
To graduate, you will complete 88 units, which
include approximately 30 units of electives. You Whether you’re a first-generation college
will have the opportunity to take your first student eager to make your mark, a working
elective course in the second semester of your professional ready to enhance your career, or a
1L year. First year electives, covering core veteran learning to serve your country in a new
lawyering skills, are crafted to introduce you to way, the JD Flex program is the opportunity for
the basics of legal practice through simulations your life now.
and real-world problems.

LAW.GGU.EDU

HONORS LAWYERING

PROGRAM

INTEGRATING THEORY & PRACTICE

The Honors Lawyering Program (HLP) integrates classroom learning with real-world legal
practice. Qualified students attend a 10-week, intensive summer session followed by
semester-long fall apprenticeships in law firms, courts, government agencies, and
grassroots advocacy organizations in the San Francisco Bay Area and around the world.
The combination of legal scholarship and practical training provides HLP participants with
a level of knowledge and appreciation for the practice of law that is difficult to find in a
traditional legal studies program.

HLP INTENSIVE COURSES

Each year, GGU Law selects a small number of highly qualified applicants to participate
in HLP. If you are selected, you will complete the regular first-year curriculum, followed by
a 10-week interactive summer program in which you will study two doctrinal subjects,
Evidence and Professional Responsibility. You will also study Advanced Legal Research
and Lawyering Skills, where you will learn about client relations, negotiations, interviewing
skills, and case management. After a “crash course” in direct advocacy cases, such as
landlord/tenant law, you will be assigned to work on actual cases under the supervision
of your professors and practicing attorneys.

LAW.GGU.EDU

LAW.GGU.EDU SUMMER TRIAL &

EVIDENCE

PROGRAM

Litigation comes to life in the immersive,
eight-week Summer Trial & Evidence Program

for select students who have completed their first
year of law school. Specialized coursework and
interactive exercises are designed to advance
students’ litigation and advocacy skills. 1st STEP
classes include Evidence, Trial Advocacy, and a
unique course called Evidence in the Courtroom.
1st STEP students gain a keen appreciation for
effective client representation and successful
courtroom advocacy.

OUR NATIONALLY RECOGNIZED

LITIGATION CENTER HAS

LAUNCHED THE CAREERS OF
DISTINGUISHED TRIAL ATTORNEYS
FOR DECADES.

GGU Law's Litigation Center is the locus of many
popular programs and professors, and our three
teaching courtrooms provide a 21st century
training ground for aspiring litigators. Litigation
courses are interactive, allowing students to
practice advocacy skills such as interviewing
clients, conducting cross examinations, and
delivering opening and closing arguments before
sitting judges.

GGU Law students participate in regional and
national moot court and mock trial competitions,
receiving rigorous training by expert faculty and
well-known litigators in the area. Students can
also participate in several internal competitions,
some as early as the first semester of law school.

CLINICS

ENVIRONMENTAL LAW & JUSTICE CLINIC VETERANS LEGAL ADVOCACY CENTER
Students learn about environmental law, VLAC, the first veterans' clinic on a law
policy issues, and how lawyers can school campus in Northern California, helps
effectively work to achieve justice. They also underserved veterans gain access to legal
work on real-world cases to provide critical representation that assist in getting them
legal services to underserved communities the medical care and disability benefits that
and to protect the environmental conditions they have earned by serving our country.
of where they live, work, and play.

WOMEN'S EMPLOYMENT RIGHTS CLINIC PRO BONO TAX CLINIC
The Women's Employment Rights Clinic The Pro Bono Tax Clinic provides students
(WERC) advocates for the rights of low- the opportunity to gain real-life experience
wage and immigrant workers through direct representing clients with the help and direct
service, impact litigation, and public policy supervision of experienced California Board
work on a variety of employment-related of Equalization (BOE) attorneys.
matters.


LAW.GGU.EDU

EXTERNSHIPS

EXTERNSHIPS- CIVIL & CRIMINAL LITIGATION JUDICIAL EXTERNSHIPS
GGU Law students practice civil litigation or Our students gain the experience needed to
transactional work at private or nonprofit law understand the inner workings of the
offices, government agencies, or in the legal judiciary, allowing them to build their
departments of businesses. The overarching professional skills while enhancing their
goal is to help students become accomplished critical perspective of the issues confronting
and reflective practitioners of law, through lawyers and legal institutions in modern
hands-on experience. society.

IMMIGRATION CLINIC CANNABIS LAW CLINIC
The Immigration Clinic includes classroom GGU students engage in a clinical
and field work components. In class, students experience with attorney supervision, as
learn the intricacies of immigration law they advise clients on how to obtain
practice. In the field, students engage in a cannabis operator licenses through the
clinical experience with attorney supervision Equity Program. Students also will advise
as they work with clients who are seeking clients on all aspects of the cannabis
relief in the form of asylum, U-visas, and industry, including regulatory, tax, contract,
other types of humanitarian relief. and intellectual property issues.

LAW.GGU.EDU

STUDENT PROGRAMS & SERVICES

THEMIS BAR PREP PARTNERSHIP CENTER FOR STUDENT SUCCESS

GGU Law has developed a first-of-its-kind At Golden Gate University School of Law, we
partnership with Themis Bar Review. This believe that many of the core skills needed to
groundbreaking and innovative partnership is be successful in law school and in the practice
designed to fully support student success from of law are the same skills essential for passing
orientation through the bar exam. It is one of the bar. That’s why our Center for Student
the most comprehensive bar preparation and Success (CSS) combines our Academic
academic achievement programs in the Achievement Program and our Bar Exam
country. You will also gain practical skills and Services. Your success is about more than just
training to pass the bar through structured grades and tests. Your success is achieved with
learning as well as on-campus access to the the skills you master to flourish in school, on the
GGU Bar Services Team and an on-campus bar exam, and in your career. The CSS is
Themis representative. This support continues staffed with a team of experts with deep
after graduation when every student receives experience in helping students succeed. This
the Themis Bar Review Course for free! In team you and your classmates with extensive
addition, GGU offers wellness resources to support which in integrated across the
help our students optimize their well-being and curriculum that focuses heavily on
academic performance as they work toward demonstration, practice, and feedback.
personal and career goals.

LAW.GGU.EDU

LAW.GGU.EDU THE CITY IS YOUR
CAMPUS

Our downtown San Francisco location offers a rich
array of real-world opportunities. Our urban campus
is a step away from courts, law firms, advocacy
organizations, government agencies, and the
booming technology and business community.
Located near thousands of potential employers, GGU
Law students are afforded unique opportunities to
engage in pro bono and other hands-on legal work
under the supervision of practicing lawyers and the
guidance of experienced professors.

The biggest tech companies in the industry – Google,
Facebook, LinkedIn, Salesforce, and many more –
surround our campus, giving our students Location
unparalleled access to the ever-expanding tech
industry and an unbeatable edge as they begin their
legal career. Our campus is also surrounded by easy
access to public transportation, including the city’s
new Transbay Terminal, which is the transportation
hub of the Bay Area. Students have easy access to
commute or even just explore this exciting city and
its beautiful surrounding region.

San Francisco has long been at the heart of the
culture of innovation and social justice. The city’s
incredible diversity and rich blend of cultures from
around the world prepare students for today’s truly
global market. San Francisco has always been on the
forefront of change, and GGU Law has been there
every step of the way.

CONNECT WITH GGU LAW TODAY

STILL HAVE
QUESTIONS?

We invite you to make an
appointment to meet with a
GGU Law Admissions team
member!

[email protected]

536 MISSION STREET
SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94105



415-442-6630
800-GGU-4YOU

LAW.GGU.EDU