The School of Law was founded in a Washington, D.C., church basement as the International School of Law and affiliated with George Mason University in 1979. Today, the George Mason University School of Law specializes in law and economics. The school's curriculum emphasizes business and integrates economics into many course offerings; the law and economics center offers an LLM in business law. GMU Law also has a strong intellectual property program that JD students can concentrate in.

Students participate in a three-year legal writing program in addition to foundational core classes. In their upper-level years, students can concentrate in one of 10 areas such as international business law and corporate and securities law, or follow three specialty tracks in regulatory law, patent law or litigation law. GMU Law has a strong night program, and students in Vault's surveys say that many upper-level students opt for evening classes in order to accommodate interning in nearby Washington, D.C. Students also recommend taking classes with adjunct professors who teach while practicing in the D.C. metropolitan area.

About a quarter of GMU graduate go into government jobs, thanks to numerous D.C. recruiters, and others spread themselves out between private practice and business law. Living off campus in the D.C. suburbs can be expensive, but proximity to the city means that bars, clubs and restaurants are close on the Metro, and students don't worry about neighborhood safety.