The University of Tennessee College of Law has a productive, collegial, and engaged faculty and student body; low student faculty ratios; a modern technologically advanced facility; and an integration of substantive legal theory, practical law, and skills across its curriculum. It is an intellectually stimulating environment where people can learn to be excellent lawyers. This is a statement of the core strengths of the UT College of Law.

Most sound decisions in life are made after comparing the pros and cons of the available choices. Here are some factors that current Tennessee Law students cite and which candidates might want to consider as they weigh their options.

  • Nationally recognized professors are focused on teaching. In addition to contributing to academic through scholarly works, they are primarily committed to ensuring their students' readiness--with skills, substance and ethics--to begin successfully practicing law after graduation.

  • UT offers one of the lowest student-to-faculty ratios of any top-ranked law school. First-year sections are no larger than 55 students. Upper division classes averaged 22 students per class in the Spring Semester 2004, and special interest seminars were conducted with one faculty member and as few as five students.

  • With fewer than 500 students, the College of Law could be smaller than a high school, but the services, programs, activities, and amenities of a comprehensive research university are right across the street.

  • The living and learning climate at UT is supportive. Students remark about the exceedingly friendly, open, warm, and helpful atmosphere that is pervasive at the College of Law.

  • Thanks to reasonable tuition and the low cost of living in Knoxville, students get a top rate education without oppressive financial burdens. The average indebtedness of UT law graduates is below the current national average for public law schools.

  • The nation's oldest continuously operating law school clinical program is at UT, along with a newer Business Clinic. These programs, along with the Concentrations in Advocacy and Dispute Resolution and the Concentration in Business Transactions, provide students with practical, applied lawyering skills in addition to exposure to a core of substantive and theoretical legal doctrine.

  • Knoxville is a great place to live and study. The Great Smokey Mountains, the Ocoee River, and area lakes offer recreational opportunities in abundance. Knoxville is home to numerous cultural attractions that appeal to a variety of tastes. If a larger city beckons, Knoxville is an easy three-hour drive from Nashville and Atlanta--prime employment markets for UT law students and graduates. Knoxville blurs the line between small town and big city, and many UT law students find that characteristic appealing.