The academic environment here at Atlanta’s John Marshall Law School is tough, demanding, and yet also very warm, engaging, and supportive.  Ask any current student and they will share with you that the curriculum and the standards are rigorous.  Good grades do not come easily.  We employ this approach to ensure that our students are practice-ready in today’s competitive legal environment.  But with our no-nonsense approach, we treat our students with respect.  Unlike many graduate programs across the country today, at Atlanta’s John Marshall Law School, we treat our students as the professionals they will soon become.  

We also pride ourselves in having a Faculty of exceptional teachers who love to teach, and show sincere concern for their students.  We have intentionally recruited and retained professors who bring to the classroom not only superior academic credentials and scholarship, but also an extensive amount of real-world experience as successful legal practitioners.  Our professors have the ability to impart not only the theoretical, but also the practical aspects of the law, in a clear and understandable manner.  Perhaps most importantly, they do so with a personal touch that would be hard to find at any other law school.      

To help our students achieve the high standards we have set for them, we have put in place an extensive support system, including an Office of Academic Achievement where students may seek personalized assistance in structuring a study program or seek help in strengthening a study skill.  The Office of Academic Achievement also oversees our Professional and Academic Success Seminar (P.A.S.S.), which every first-year student participates in once a week during their first semester.  The P.A.S.S. program provides students with the opportunity to identify and strengthen weaknesses in areas such as issue spotting, analytical thinking, and writing skills, all areas closely related to finding success in law school, on the bar exam, and in practice.  Furthermore, we offer Saturday workshops for first-year students, an Advanced Analytical Methods course for second-year students, and a variety of tools and support services for third-year and fourth-year-part-time students in preparation for their bar exams. 

The required curriculum provides a sound foundation for our students to succeed.  It includes a total of eleven credits in courses involving legal writing, transactional drafting, and advocacy skills.  Our law school’s elective course offerings provide our students the opportunity to study the newest and most innovative areas of the law, including intellectual property, financial fraud, scientific evidence, corrections law, international criminal law, consumer law, health care law, immigration law, domestic relations, juvenile law, alternative dispute resolution and mediation, and much more. 

Atlanta’s John Marshall Law School places heavy emphasis on developing legal abilities both inside and outside the classroom through our Externship Program and the many pro bono opportunities available to our students.  Our law school has an outstanding Law Journal staffed by a student editorial board which is dedicated to providing an important forum for legal scholarship.  In addition to publishing research articles from scholars, our Law Journal provides opportunities for our student editors and staff members to develop their own editing and writing skills.  We also have an active moot court and mock trial program, where our students have consistently placed well in competitions across the state and nation.   

The staff supporting our academics is outstanding.  Our Career Services Office provides some of the most innovative and timely support found in the field.  Students can rely on our Career Services Office to provide an unparalleled level of support.  We have recently added an Assistant Registrar to the Registrar’s Office, and we are currently looking at new and more effective ways to provide that service to our students.   

The ultimate goal of our academic program is to develop students into attorneys who will persistently display character and values that represent the best of our legal profession.  We seek each graduate to hold dear the values of commitment, integrity, competence, and courage—courage to always stand firm for what is just. 

My door is always open.  It is my distinct honor to serve the students, faculty, and staff here at Atlanta’s John Marshall Law School.

Sincerely,

Kevin Cieply
Associate Dean for Academic Affairs
Atlanta's John Marshall Law School