At Wayne Law, students train for legal careers in a diverse set of environments. Whether you're passionate about the courtroom or working for a nonprofit or corporation, the Law School's practical legal training prepares you for a successful career. Our location in Detroit also provides students with unique opportunities to put their legal training into practice from day one.

Training

Students gain the knowledge needed to secure meaningful employment upon graduation thanks to rigorous classroom instruction with faculty scholars who are sought internationally for their legal opinions.

• Wayne Law has been ranked Best Value Law School for 10 consecutive years by preLaw and National Jurist magazine (Fall 2023).
• We offer students a unique advantage: to graduate without taking on excessive debt. Wayne Law is ranked #11 for lowest debt-to-income, by the HEA Group (The National Jurist preLaw Magazine 2024), and ranked No. 2 nationally by U.S. News and World Report for the best salary to debt ratio of graduates entering the private sector,
• We partner with JD Advising to provide our students with a free, full-scale, comprehensive bar preparation program that includes individualized feedback and one-on-one consultations and tutoring, live workshops, on-demand courses, access to questions, a practice exam and other valuable print and electronic resources. Research consistently shows that students who take full advantage of programs like these pass the bar exam at higher rates than those who don’t.
• 91.1% of Wayne Law Class of 2022 graduates are employed in “gold-standard” jobs: full-time, long-term positions for which bar admission is required or a J.D. is an advantage post-graduation.

Experience

• Wayne Law's Office of Career and Professional Development works with students early on to help them prepare for a successful career. This includes personalized counseling, access to recruitment programs, networking opportunities, mock interviews and more. 
• Today's employers are looking for candidates who excel in both theory and legal practice. For this reason, Wayne Law has seven live-client clinics including our Legal Advocacy for People with Cancer Clinic a medical-legal partnership that preLaw magazine named one of the country's most innovative clinics.
• Wayne Law has four externships that provide firsthand, in-the-field experience, supporting the work of attorney mentors and judges.
• Co-curricular programs allow students to sharpen their skills outside of traditional classroom instruction. Among these opportunities are our Jessup International Law Moot Court team, and our Taft Transactional Law Competition, which permits students to negotiate and draft merger agreements in front of Metro Detroit transactional law attorneys.
• Students also have the opportunity to study around the world through our Program for International Legal Studies, which includes classes, summer internships abroad and co-curricular activities.

Location

Wayne State University is in the heart of Detroit a city whose history, culture and economic resurgence make it one of the most fascinating places in the world to live, learn, work and play. Every day, students and faculty participate in the reinvention of a great American city while enjoying a beautiful campus surrounded by world-class medical centers, museums, cultural institutions, eateries, and sports and entertainment venues.

• Located in one of the most vibrant cities, Wayne State offers more than 200 acres of green space and walking paths.
• Nearly 3,000 students live on campus in three residence halls and three apartment buildings.
• The Wayne State University Police Department, our dedicated 60-officer police department, patrols campus and the surrounding neighborhoods 24/7.
• Countless business, employment and community engagement opportunities are available thanks to the university's decades of relationship-building in the urban and metropolitan Detroit areas.

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