St. Thomas Law School

The law school is located on the main St. Thomas University campus, which is about 15 miles North of downtown Miami (anywhere from 20 minutes to well over an hour's drive with traffic) and about 20 miles South of Ft. Lauderdale (about 25 to 50 minute drive depending on traffic). Ft. Lauderdale has a Federal Courthouse and a good size legal community for a city with a population of about 180,000. Ft. Lauderdale even has about 8 large law firms, which is very good for a city of its size. Miami is a much larger city with a population of about 400,000 and a much larger legal community. Miami has about 19 large law firms, which is also very good for a city of its size. Miami and Ft. Lauderdale are excellent places to obtain legal positions with a relatively inexpensive cost of living for such beautiful areas near the Atlantic Ocean. They are also great places to relieve stress from the fast paced law school atmosphere.

	St. Thomas University
Public or Private	Private
Tuition	$27,930
Acceptance Rate	45.5%
State Bar Pass Rate	Florida, July 2008 80% (Avg. Bar pass rate for Florida, 82.5%)
Employment Rate after 9 mos. from Graduation	83%
Employment Rate at Graduation	Not Available
Average Salary for Graduates in the Private Sector	$60,000
Student Body Population	625
LSAT score bottom 25th percentile of incoming class	147
LSAT score top 25th percentile of incoming class	151
Median LSAT of incoming class	149
Bottom 25th percentile of incoming class undergraduate GPA (UGPA)	2.75
Top 25th percentile of incoming class UGPA	3.43
Median UGPA	3.09

St. Thomas University is a fourth tier law school located in Miami Gardens, Florida, which is located about 15 miles north of Miami. The law school began operations in 1984 and is located on the university's main campus. The law school has a Master of Laws (L.L.M.) degree and Doctor of the Science of Law (J.S.D.) programs in Intercultural Human Rights as well as a law review and moot court competition in the subject. The school does not seem to have the best reputation in the South Florida area, but its employment statistics are relatively high for a law school of its caliber.

The law school has recently raised about $600,000 by offering the right to name various buidlings and breezeways on its campus. The Miami attorney Dan Dolan donated $100,000 for the right to have Ken Feldman's namesake on the Student Affairs facility. Mr. Feldman was a law professor and a pro bono attorney that recently passed. The university is now trying to raise about $10 million for the right to name the law school itself.

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The grading system is on a 4.0 scale and first year courses the average grade must be a 2.75 - 3.0. Meaning the school has a forced curve for first year classes of about a C+ to B. For required second and third year courses the average grade must be a 2.75 - 3.25 and for electives the average must be a 2.75 - 3.5.

Any student that earns less than a 2.15 GPA in his or her first semester will be academically dimissed from the law school. If any student earns between a 2.15 and a 2.5 GPA he or she will be placed on academic probation and has one semester to earn at least a 2.5 or will be academically dimissed from the school.

For upper division and first year courses, at least 15% of the grades must be above a B (i.e. a B+ or above) and at least 15% of the grades must be lower than a C+ (i.e. a C or below). However, these required percentages do not apply to electives or legal writing courses.

By the requirement that at least 15% of the grades in the first year be lower than a C, or 2.0 GPA, it can be deduced that at least 15% of the first year students will be placed on academic probation and perhaps academically dismissed. However, for a lower ranked law school this does not seem like a very difficult grading curve. It is possible that the curve for a number of first year courses is a B and that is commensurate with the curves at some of the top ranked law schools. This curve does not seem as if it would halt a graduate from earning an associate position after law school and may even help as the curve is not overly difficult and seems fair.

A number of legal professionals and recent law school graduates in the South Florida area have conveyed their belief that the St. Thomas University does not have the best reputation among those in the legal community. Some cite the poor morale of some of the students and ability to obtain an associate position after graduation. A human resources director even commented that they do not give resumes from St. Thomas graduates a second look although it does not seem fair or intelligible to dismiss a prospective employee merely because of where they earned their diploma; a prospective associate should be judged on their own merits. Also, judging from the employment statistics it seems that the school's graduates are earning associate positions at a relatively high rate and with good pay for a law school of its ranking. We wanted you to be aware of this information so you can make your own judgment about the school.