Consumer Information - ABA Required Disclosures
The American Bar Association (ABA) requires that all member law schools make available specific reports and information on the law school. Much of the information accessible on this page is available on other portions of our site and members of our admissions team are happy to answer any questions that you may have. We hope that you will find these statistics useful, but are also eager to share with you stories about the people that make up our community. At WashULaw, each story is unique, and your specific goals are important to us.
ABA Standard 509 Information Report
Every member law school submits an annual report to the ABA. The 509 Information Report is intended to provide prospective students with a useful summary of information that they may find relevant or interesting.
Washington University School of Law Current ABA Standard 509 Information Report
Washington University School of Law ABA 2024 Bar Passage Standard 509 Report
Washington University School of Law ABA 2023 Bar Passage Standard 509 Report
Employment Summary
ABA member law schools also submit employment information to the ABA on an annual basis. The Employment Summary reports for 2019 through the most recently reported data, 2022, are here. Additional information is available at https://www.abarequireddisclosures.org/.
Employment Summary for 2023 Graduates
Employment Summary for 2022 Graduates
Employment Summary for 2021 Graduates
Employment Summary for 2020 Graduates
Employment Summary for 2019 Graduates
Scholarship Retention Data
At WashULaw, all of our JD scholarships are guaranteed for three years. Not only is this unusual but many schools make scholarship awards conditional on maintaining a certain GPA or class rank. By contrast, WashULaw scholarships are given with no strings attached as long as you remain a student at the law school.
Information about Scholarship Opportunities
Year / Entering with Conditional Scholarship / Whose Conditional Scholarships Have Been Reduced or Eliminated
2017 / 0* / 0*
2016 / 0* / 0*
2015 / 0* / 0*
* All scholarships are guaranteed for 3 years.
Qualifications for Admission to the Bar
In addition to a bar examination, there are character, fitness, and other qualifications for admission to the bar in every U.S. jurisdiction. Applicants are encouraged to determine the requirements for any jurisdiction in which they intend to seek admission by contacting the jurisdiction. Addresses for all relevant agencies are available through the National Conference of Bar Examiners.
Other Information:
Mission and Guiding Principles
Character and Fitness Requirements
Student Complaints
As an ABA-accredited law school, Washington University School of Law is subject to the ABA Standards for Approval of Law Schools. The ABA Standards may be found at americanbar.org. Any student at the law school who wishes to bring a formal complaint to the administration of the law school of a significant problem that directly implicates the school’s program of legal education and its compliance with the ABA Standards should do the following:
- Submit the complaint in writing to the Associate Dean, Student Life. If the Associate Dean is not available, then submit the complaint to the Assistant Director of Student Life. The writing may consist of email, U.S. mail, or fax.
- The writing should describe in detail the behavior, program, process, or other matter that is the subject of the complaint, and should explain how the matter implicates the law school’s program of legal education and its compliance with a specific, identified ABA Standard(s).
- The writing must provide the name, official law school email address, and a street address of the complaining student, for further communication about the complaint.
- The Associate Dean will acknowledge the complaint within three business days of receipt of the written complaint. Acknowledgment may be made by email, U.S. mail, or by personal delivery, at the option of the Associate Dean.
- Within two weeks of acknowledgment of the complaint, the administrator, or the administrator’s designee, shall either meet with the complaining student, or respond to the substance of the complaint in writing. In this meeting or in this writing, the student should either receive a substantive response to the complaint, or information about what steps are being taken by the law school to address the complaint or further investigate the complaint. If further investigation is needed, when the investigation is completed, the student shall be provided either a substantive response to the complaint or information about what steps are being taken by the law school to address the complaint within two weeks after completion of the investigation.
- Appeals regarding decisions on complaints may be taken to the Dean of the law school. Any decision made on appeal by the Dean shall be final.
- A copy of the complaint and a summary of the process and resolution of the complaint shall be kept in the office of the Associate Dean, Student Life for a period of ten years from the date of final resolution of the complaint.
ABA Standard 310
ABA Standard 310 requires at least 42.5 hours of in-class and out-of-class work for each credit hour awarded. Each course at the school is designed to meet this requirement. All existing courses meet this requirement, and all new course proposals must include a statement demonstrating that the number of units of credit to be awarded is consistent with the requirements of ABA Standard 310. Washington University School of Law will monitor compliance with this requirement through a review of course descriptions and syllabi by the Vice Dean for Academic Affairs.
Learning Outcomes
- Knowledge and Understanding of Substantive and Procedural Law — Students will know and understand appropriate substantive and procedural laws, including in the core areas of civil procedure, constitutional law, contracts, criminal law, property, and torts.
- Legal Analysis, Reasoning and Problem Solving – Students will be able to identify relevant legal and policy issues, apply case law, statutes and rules, and weigh and recommend appropriate outcomes or legal actions.
- Written and Oral Communication – Students will be able to analyze legal problems, construct legal arguments, and communicate effectively and ethically with courts, lawyers, and clients regarding legal issues. They will draft legal documents, including objective memoranda and persuasive briefs, and communicate orally in a well-reasoned, organized, and professional manner appropriate to the audience and purpose.
- Legal Research – Students will be able to identify major primary and secondary legal sources, understand the appropriate use of sources, and develop an effective research strategy for locating, organizing and updating the sources needed to resolve a legal issue.
- Professionalism and Ethics – Students will be able to identify ethical issues in a variety of situations that lawyers face in practice, determine applicable rules of professional conduct, and apply the rules to ensure compliance with professional and ethical responsibilities.
- Professional Skills – Students will be able to demonstrate professional skills needed for effective and ethical participation as a member of the legal profession. These skills will include negotiation and may also include interviewing, counseling, fact development and analysis, pretrial and trial practice, document drafting, conflict resolution, organization and management of legal work, collaboration, cultural competency, and self-evaluation.
Rule 50(a)
Washington University in St. Louis School of Law is approved by the Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar of the American Bar Association, 321 North Clark Street, Chicago, IL 60654, 312-988-6738.
ABA Accreditation
The American Bar Association (ABA) accredited Washington University School of Law in 1923, and the School has continuously maintained its accreditation with the ABA. The Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admission to the Bar of the American Bar Association oversees law school accreditation, and contact information for the Council appears below.
The Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admission to the Bar
American Bar Association
321 N. Clark Street
Chicago, IL 60654
(312) 988-6738