Penn State University - Penn State Law

Penn State Law is located on Penn State's 13-square-mile University Park campus in State College, Pennsylvania.

One of the world's preeminent research universities, The Pennsylvania State University combines strength in traditional academics with a forward thinking approach to interdisciplinary studies and internationalization. Consistently ranked as one of the top universities in the world, Penn State is considered a “public Ivy” offering an education on par with Ivy League institutions. As one of the largest and most respected universities in the United States, Penn State boasts an international university community and a global alumni network that both prepares students to work in the global economy and ensures a Penn State connection almost anywhere in the world.

The Lewis Katz Building, home of Penn State Law and one of the world’s most innovative academic buildings.

Penn State Law prepares students for varied careers in law, government, academics, and nongovernmental organizations through direct access to world-class litigators and legal scholars, extensive opportunities for hands-on learning through clinics and externships, and varied opportunities for academic concentration and scholarship. Tracing its roots to the founding of The Dickinson Law School in 1834, Penn State Law offers the prestige of a historic law school combined with an intimate, small classroom setting, interdisciplinary studies to prepare students for the international workplace, and all the varied academic and cultural opportunities of an institution as large and decorated as Penn State.

Penn State Law is a leader in training international lawyers for the global marketplace through multiple programs and areas of studies. The LL.M. program is designed to provide students with an introduction to U.S. law while allowing them the opportunity to design a course of study that meets their individual goals. LL.M. students take classes alongside J.D. students and are able to choose from a wide array of course offerings. Typical areas of focus include mergers and acquisitions, business law, international and comparative law, and arbitration law. Faculty members are available to work with students, and a friendly staff of advisers provides guidance on everything from American life to career services. LL.M. graduates leave the program with an advanced degree in law and a worldwide network of colleagues from every field of endeavor within the global Penn State alumni network.

Penn State Law has an outstanding faculty, comprised of nationally and internationally renowned scholars. Larry Backer is a leading scholar of comparative corporate and constitutional law. Tom Carbonneau is one of the world's foremost scholars of comparative and international arbitration. Beth Farmer teaches in the fields of U.S. and comparative antitrust, criminal law, and gender and the law. David H. Kaye is widely recognized as the world’s preeminent legal scholar of DNA evidence and an expert on scientific evidence and issues of statistics in law. Catherine A. Rogers is a scholar of international arbitration and professional ethics at Penn State Law, with a dual appointment as Professor of Ethics, Regulation, and the Rule of Law at Queen Mary, University of London, where she is also Co-Director of the Institute for Ethics and Regulation. Samuel Thompson is a highly regarded scholar of corporate and international tax, corporate government, and antitrust. Marco Ventoruzzo is a scholar of business law appointed as a Research Associate of the European Corporate Governance Institute.

A limited amount of financial aid is available.

State College, Pennsylvania; also known as Happy Valley.

Penn State Law is located on Penn State’s scenic 22-square-kilometer University Park campus in State College, Pa. University Park is the largest of Penn State’s campuses and is the academic home of a diverse population of about 46,000 graduate, undergraduate, and professional students, including more than 7,000 international students. In addition to Big Ten athletic events (including the world-famous Penn State football program), Penn State students enjoy a lively music and arts community and a wide range of other entertainment. The campus is pedestrian- and bike-friendly with an eclectic mixture of historic classroom buildings, cutting-edge, modern architecture, and beautiful urban landscape.

Penn State Law is housed in the Lewis Katz Building, a state-of-the-art facility recognized by the architecture blog Architizer as one of the world’s best academic buildings on its list of “Top 10 University Buildings that Actually Make You Want to go to Class.” The Katz building is adjacent to the radiant H.O. Smith Botanic Gardens, across the street from a recently renovated student intramural sports and fitness center, and a mere few blocks from central campus and downtown State College.

State College, Pennsylvania – perhaps better known as “Happy Valley” – is the quintessential American college town, offering students many of the amenities of a larger urban environment in a clean, safe, and welcoming setting. Thanks to its highly educated population made up largely of Penn State faculty and staff, State College is consistently ranked among the nation’s smartest, safest, and most livable cities by a variety of organizations and publications.

State College is within a few hours’ drive of such urban destinations as New York, Washington, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Pittsburgh. The University Park airport, located 10 minutes from the law school’s Lewis Katz Building, also offers direct flights to Chicago, Detroit, Philadelphia, and Washington D.C., with convenient connections to other major cities.

Beaver Stadium, home to Penn State’s Nittany Lions football team.

With over 40 student organizations, Penn State Law provides a wide variety of opportunities for students who wish to become involved in the law school community outside of the classroom. Additional opportunities exist on campus for international students to become involved in numerous academic and professional organizations, international student government, nationality clubs, as well as intramural sports like rugby, soccer, and tennis.

Penn State Law also offers a Pre-LL.M. program, in which students spend the academic year immersed in intensive legal English and U.S. law studies in preparation for subsequent LL.M. studies. The rigorous one-year certificate program is intended for pre-LL.M. studies, with the opportunity to apply to the Penn State Law LL.M. Program or any other LL.M. program in the United States. The certificate program will assist students in developing reading comprehension skills, case briefing skills, legal analysis, and synthesis skills in the U.S. common law system, increased proficiency in legal English, basic research and citation skills and exam-writing skills. The Legal English Certificate requires students to be full-time, in-residence students during the two semesters of study.