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More about Mitchell Hamline

• History

  Mitchell Hamline School of Law was born out of a 2015 combination of the William Mitchell College of Law and Hamline University School of Law, and its history and legacy are profound.

  One historical stream of Mitchell Hamline School of Law goes back to the 1900 founding of a night law school for working people who needed an alternative to daytime law school. Five notable St. Paul lawyers worked tirelessly to form the Saint Paul College of Law. The College received ABA approval in 1938. Former Justice William Mitchell of the Minnesota Supreme Court was its first dean. In 1958, Saint Paul College of Law merged with the Minneapolis-Minnesota College of Law to become the William Mitchell College of Law School. William Mitchell became known for its pioneering work in practical legal education, including highly ranked clinical programs and centers in Native American law, children and the law, intellectual property, and law and business.

  The second historical stream that became Mitchell Hamline began when Hamline University started offering a program in legal education soon after its founding in 1854. The initial program was short-lived, as when the Civil War broke out in 1861, most of Hamline’s students joined the Union Army. Hamline’s second venture into legal education began in August 1974, when it became home to a new law school organized by about three dozen law students attending the proprietary Metropolitan School of Law in Minneapolis. Fearing that their law school was not advancing toward ABA approval, the students met at the Normandy Inn in Minneapolis in December 1972 to found a new law school built from the ground up. The Metropolitan students recruited judges and lawyers to assist in establishing the new Midwestern School of Law. In 1975, the school became an official part of Hamline University, and the ABA provisionally approved it the same year. Hamline University School of Law inaugurated one of the country’s first weekend part-time J.D. programs. It became primarily known for its public service focus in areas like children’s legal issues and its highly ranked Dispute Resolution Institute and Health Law Institute.

  In 2015, the two law schools combined to form Mitchell Hamline School of Law—and the commitment to experiential learning, innovation, and accessibility became a hallmark of the curriculum. Standing on the shoulders of its predecessors, Mitchell Hamline School of Law leverages a long, rich history of providing innovative, forward-thinking, and accessible legal education. This extraordinary union brought together two law schools that had shaped Minnesota’s legal landscape for more than a combined 155 years, creating the largest law school in the region and the top choice for motivated students who want to pursue a rigorous, practice-based legal education in a way that fits their lives. With approximately 20,000 alumni and over 50 faculty members, the new law school is leading the way in innovating new legal education opportunities in its blended programs and experiential education in particular.

  History

• Vision and mission

  Mitchell Hamline will be the nation’s leading innovator in legal education. We provide rigorous, practice-based training that equips students for the changing realities of the legal profession. We empower students to pursue careers of meaning. We use technologies in new ways to expand access to legal services and legal knowledge.

  We live, study, and teach the law, working to make it just and accessible. We are dedicated to:

  • Serving as a gateway to opportunities that enable students to further causes about which they are passionate
  • Preparing students to compete successfully for jobs that exist today while positioning them to excel in jobs yet to be created
  • Expanding access to legal knowledge throughout society, among lawyers and non-lawyers alike
  • Providing access to high-quality legal education for people from a wide variety of backgrounds
  • Advancing the rule of law and justice for all

• Location and regional highlights

  Located just minutes from downtown St. Paul and Minneapolis, Mitchell Hamline School of Law is nestled in the beautiful, vibrant, and historic Summit Avenue neighborhood, home to the nation’s longest stretch of preserved Victorian architecture. There are dozens of restaurants and shops on nearby Grand Avenue, parks and trails to explore across the Twin Cities, energetic nightlife and entertainment options, student groups to join, and school-sponsored events that connect students with thousands of Mitchell Hamline graduates who live and work in the area.

  The Twin Cities is an ideal place to go to school and a great place to live, work, and play. Minnesota has earned external accolades and has been recognized as the second-best state in the nation for natural environment, infrastructure, and healthcare. St. Paul and Minneapolis have a thriving economic climate with a highly skilled and educated workforce. The region has among the lowest unemployment rates of the country’s large metro areas, and some of the world’s most recognizable companies are based here, including 3M, Target, Cargill, Best Buy, Ecolab, UnitedHealth Group, and General Mills. The Twin Cities is home to 18 Fortune 500 companies.

  The Twin Cities are also active. There are miles of trails, dozens of lakes, the winding Mississippi River, and acres of parks in the metro area to enjoy. And with skating, skiing, snowshoeing, and ice fishing, winter does not put an end to outdoor activities. The Twin Cities arts and culture scene also has plenty to offer, with myriad options for live theater, live music, and dance. There are dozens of art, science, and history museums spread throughout the community. Finally, St. Paul and Minneapolis are a sports lover’s dream, with professional baseball, football, basketball, hockey, and soccer teams.

• Academic program

  Mitchell Hamline is a top law school for dispute resolution and health law and a nationally recognized pioneer in clinical programs. It offers a multitude of legal education programs, combining legal theory and training with other professions, such as business and public health. The school also prides itself on offering courses not widely available, notably providing expertise in Native American Law and Sovereignty.

  In January 2015, Mitchell Hamline became the first ABA-approved law school in the nation to offer students the chance to earn a law degree through a hybrid blend of half online and half on-campus instruction. The program, termed “blended learning,” is particularly noteworthy given Mitchell Hamline’s trailblazing approach; because the school was the first, it has had the time to build on technological platforms and continuously improve instructional techniques. Given the program’s popularity and success, the school extended the hybrid J.D. program format to an Executive J.D. and a weekend option, including a popular case-study workshop component in which students learn firsthand from lawyers and participants in actual cases. All programs allow students who otherwise could not obtain their J.D.s to access and thrive at Mitchell Hamline. This is particularly salient for students who live in states without law schools and whose life commitments preclude an out-of-state move for a three- or four-year stint. Today, 60 percent of students enroll as blended learning students.

  With deep ties to the local community and Minnesota more broadly, many students opt to complete their J.D.s on campus. On-campus enrollees can earn a traditional J.D. in three years as a full-time student or continue to work full time and earn a J.D. as a part-time day or evening student. Campus classrooms use modern design and technology to enhance learning, providing students with spacious work areas to make room for collaboration. Professors can access the latest high-tech teaching tools, allowing them to better engage and interact with students during their lectures. Mitchell Hamline also boasts a model courtroom/classroom design that gives students an authentic courtroom experience. They are highly versatile, filled with adaptable technology and modular furniture that allows for a number of courtroom and classroom setups. Today, 40 percent of students enroll in the on-campus program.

  The American Bar Association, Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admission to the Bar, accredits Mitchell Hamline School of Law. The school is also a candidate for accreditation with the Higher Learning Commission, a historically regional accreditation agency recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.

• Centers and institutes

  Through a unique set of Centers and Institutes, Mitchell Hamline offers students specialized instruction across a range of areas. These include:

  Center for Law and Business

  William Mitchell and Hamline Law had long histories of providing a curriculum in law and business for students. The combination of the two schools has blended the best of both programs, and the center is committed to providing law students with the knowledge, skills, and experience needed to succeed as business leaders, business managers, and business lawyers.

  Center for the Study of Black Life and the Law

  The Center for the Study of Black Life and the Law is integral to Mitchell Hamline’s identity as an antiracist institution and the site of scholarly and community engagement regarding the dignified treatment of Black and BlaQueer (LGBTQ+) people under the law. It integrates legal advocacy, grassroots organizing, and artistic expression and inquiry along with academic study. The Center supports scholarly, professional, and creative work that seeks to foster social justice for Black people.

  Dispute Resolution Institute

  Dispute resolution is at the core of the Mitchell Hamline law curriculum because it teaches identification of interests, mutual understanding, creative problem solving, and artful negotiation—all skills that contribute to the Dispute Resolution Institute’s concentration, offering rigorous academic discourse, hands-on simulation experience, and cross-disciplinary examination of conflict theory, advocacy, and problem-solving for law students, lawyers, and other professionals. For the past two decades, the Dispute Resolution Institute has been ranked in the nation’s top 10 dispute resolution programs by U.S. News & World Report.

  Health Law Institute

  The Health Law Institute is the primary reason why Mitchell Hamline’s health law program was ranked nationally by the latest U.S. News & World Report specialty ranking. Through specialized courses and experiential learning, the institute provides students with real-life health law experience. The institute’s national speaker series and advanced courses for working professionals take education beyond law students to the Upper Midwest’s accomplished community of healthcare attorneys, practitioners, and business professionals.

  Institute to Transform Child Protection

  Through a focus on innovative policy, substantive research, training, and community engagement, the Institute to Transform Child Protection works toward a more effective nationwide child protection system that preserves families, prevents trauma, and builds resilience within communities.

  Intellectual Property Institute

  The Intellectual Property Institute offers a robust curriculum taught by faculty experts recognized locally and around the world. Mitchell Hamline I.P. students benefit from access to some of the world’s leading innovators at 3M, Cargill, Medtronic, and more.

  Native American Law and Sovereignty Institute

  Mitchell Hamline’s Native American Law and Sovereignty Institute is unique as a legal program at Mitchell Hamline. The institute has dual purposes of furthering legal education in the field of Native American law and of recruiting, supporting, retaining, and graduating Native American law students. Further, the institute allows Mitchell Hamline to maintain a strong connection to the Indigenous peoples of the region and the sovereign Tribal Nations in Minnesota.

  Public Health Law Center

  The Public Health Law Center is a national nonprofit law and policy organization that helps health leaders, officials, and advocates use the law to advance public health. Founded in 2000, this organization is a leader in U.S. public health policy and a respected legal resource for dozens of local, state, national, and international health organizations.

• Student body

  The trait that best defines the student who chooses Mitchell Hamline is motivation. Whether they are second-career professionals, dreamers and idealists, recent undergraduates, or individuals with a compelling personal history with the law, they choose Mitchell Hamline for a reason and with a goal in mind. They come to Mitchell Hamline from Minnesota and the Upper Midwest and, partially through the online blended learning program, from around the country and the world. Blended learning students need self-motivation to build and keep personal study schedules. Many have used that motivation to complete their four-year J.D. program a year or more early. Many people whose law school ambitions have been on hold for years while raising a family, establishing a career, and investing in their communities have found Mitchell Hamline to be the only school where they could earn their J.D. in a fully supportive and collegial setting.

  Ask any faculty member about Mitchell Hamline students, and you will hear about their diversity, passion, and unique backgrounds. Today’s student body consists of approximately 465 full-time and 735 part-time students, for a total of just under 1,200 enrollees. The students hail from 47 states, the District of Columbia, and 28 foreign countries. Twenty-six percent identify as students of color, and 56 percent identify as women. The class entering in Fall 2022 consisted of 351 students. Sixty-four percent of these students identify as female; 29 percent identify as a student of color; and 13 percent identify as members of the LGBTQ+ community. Furthermore, 40 percent of the class were first-generation students, and nearly 90 percent were the first member of their family to attend law school.

• Alumni

  Mitchell Hamline’s 20,000 alumni are leaders in the profession, working in the state’s and country’s largest law firms, Fortune 500 companies, judiciary, government, and nonprofit organizations. In Minnesota and nationwide, Mitchell Hamline alumni form a robust network that graduates utilize for both professional networking and community camaraderie.

  Mitchell Hamline is proud of its many notable alumni, including a U.S. Supreme Court chief justice, trailblazers who overcame discrimination, governors, members of the U.S. Congress, CEOs of multinational corporations, and defenders of the disenfranchised. Their incredible achievements are a testament to Mitchell Hamline’s tradition of excellence.

• Faculty and staff

  Mitchell Hamline’s faculty include professors who: have been asked to serve as Special Assistant Attorney General to the State of Minnesota; received the William E. McGee Public Defender Award of Excellence; served as assistant commissioner and principal regulator of Minnesota nursing homes, hospitals, health plans, emergency medical services, and health occupations; ranked among the Top 20 most cited health law scholars in the United States and the Top 50 in the world; served as General Counsel for the Sisseton-Wahpeton (Dakota) Oyate tribe; received the Mary Parker Follett Award for Excellence and Innovation in Dispute Resolution; inducted into the Martin Luther King Jr. Collegium of Scholars at Morehouse College; and served on the Minnesota Environmental Quality Board. This group of 52 full-time and one part-time scholars and teachers form the backbone of the campus community. Currently, 55-percent of faculty identify as women, and 30-percent identify as people of color.

  Alongside the faculty, a diverse group of approximately 140 full-time and 11 part-time dedicated employees are essential to developing and supporting Mitchell Hamline’s academic and co-curricular experience. Staff members are passionate about Mitchell Hamline’s mission around access, social justice, and aiding students and faculty in providing the best experience. Of the current 151 staff members, 65-percent identify as women, and 29-percent identify as people of color.

• Governance

  A talented group of thought leaders and administrators oversees Mitchell Hamline’s day-to-day operations. This group includes experts managing Human Resources, Enrollment, Student Affairs, Academic and Faculty Affairs, Finance and Administration, Institutional Mmanagement, and Development and Alumni Relations. The executive assistant and administrative manager also supports the senior team.

  As an autonomous law school, Mitchell Hamline’s Board of Trustees is an independent group. The board consists of approximately 35 members, many of whom are graduates of Mitchell Hamline or a predecessor institution, as well as leaders in the community. The group’s executive committee comprises a chair, vice chair, secretary, and treasurer. Of the Board’s current 33 members, 39-percent identify as women, and 24-percent identify as BIPOC. Board members serve three-year terms.

• Diversity, equity, inclusion, and access

  The community at Mitchell Hamline believes that diversity, in all of its forms, benefits the classroom, the school, and the legal profession. Mitchell Hamline is a welcoming and respectful community where individuals can explore differences in a safe and positive environment and where students learn not only from their professors but also from the diverse life experiences of their classmates. In support of this commitment, Mitchell Hamline employs several approaches to institutionalizing efforts and creating systems of accountability.

  The Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

  The Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion works with the Mitchell Hamline administration, faculty, and staff to create an environment where students feel comfortable expressing their racial, ethnic, gender, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, religion, and all other dimensions of their social and cultural identity. The office offers a number of programs and services that help students build a vibrant learning community, as well as explore the law from different perspectives.

  Diversity Credit Requirement

  Mitchell Hamline’s matriculating students are required to attend at least six total hours of extracurricular diversity programming. Of the six total hours required before graduation, at least four hours must be completed in the student’s 1L or 2L year.

  Land Acknowledgment Statement

  Through the guidance of the Native American Law and Sovereignty Institute, Mitchell Hamline has adopted a land acknowledgment statement as a step towards recognizing the history of the land on which the school now stands.

  Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Steering Committee

  The Mitchell Hamline Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Steering Committee embraces all parts of the Mitchell Hamline community. The committee functions as an advisory body to the president and dean, executive leadership team, and faculty. The committee’s goal is to promote an inclusive culture, particularly with respect to groups that are historically underrepresented in the legal profession. The committee provides a forum for learning and sharing innovative programs and best practices that enhance diversity and inclusion to create a sense of belonging. The steering committee has divided its work into subcommittees, which include: Classroom Climate, Staff and Faculty Climate, Student Culture, Communications, Human Resources/Hiring and Best Practices, Activities and Events, Recruitment and Admissions, and Alumni.

  Equity Leadership Institute

  In Partnership with the YMCA Equity Innovation Center of Excellence, Mitchell Hamline School of Law provides faculty and staff an opportunity to learn, grow, and develop their knowledge, skills, and awareness of equity and

• Strategic planning

  Mitchell Hamline’s commitment to community and collective decision-making extended to the most recent strategic planning process. The strategic plan was created through the work of more than 100 community members, with input from students and alumni as well. Collectively, the community decided to focus on five key strategic areas: Curriculum, Access and Opportunity, Student Experience, Organizational Excellence and Culture, and Community.

  The strategic plan summary contains detailed information on each goal as well as a sample of the key desired action steps and outcomes for each.

• Finances and fundraising

  Mitchell Hamline’s operating budget for FY24 is $33 million. Its endowment, inclusive of other long-term investments, is valued at $53.9 million as of March 31, 2023.

  Mitchell Hamline is 80 percent tuition- and fee-driven, with auxiliary enterprises and fundraising serving to augment the revenue streams. The institution is committed to keeping its tuition pricing low, and it currently provides one of the lowest tuition rates in its peer group at $51,620 for the 2023-24 academic year. Financial assistance is available to students through grants, scholarships, awards, loans, and employment.

  For FY23, the school raised approximately $4.7 million from alumni, foundations, and other key supporters. This is an increase of roughly $1.8 million from FY22.