Founded in 1834 and joined AALS as a member in 2006, Penn State Law is a public institution located in University Park, Pennsylvania that guides its first-year JD students from their first day to commencement with an in-depth learning experience approach.

Penn State Law faculty encourage experiential learning, both in courses and in nine clinics and one practicum, to augment students’ coursework and help them develop the confidence to serve as leaders in a range of legal fields. In experiential law school programs, students work and earn academic credit as they foster lifelong relationships with peers and mentors.

One of Penn State Laws’s experiential law programs is the Center for Immigrant Rights Clinic (CIRC). The CIRC partnered with Penn State Undergraduate Admissions Office to inform and aid undocumented and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) students about the resources at Penn State. The students in the clinic also assisted with pro-bono cases, prepared fact sheets and training to assist Afghan people seeking to evacuate or arriving in the United States, created the Third Circuit Blog consisting of impartial summaries of precedential and select non-precedential Third Circuit immigration opinions relating to immigration relief from removal and detention.

AALS Member School Highlights