Empowering Opportunity

At Michigan State College of Law, we know a lot about the power of opportunity. Opportunity defines our history and character—and it will define our progress for the next ten years.

Our roots are unique among law schools at our peer land-grant institutions. In 1891, private citizens who wanted to provide more opportunity for Detroiters to study law founded Detroit College of Law, and early on welcomed students from a wide range of lived experiences, including veterans, women, and people of color. Many of our alumni went on to become lawyer leaders in the private sector and in public service; among them, the current governor of Michigan, the Chief Justice for the State Supreme Court, the Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District, generations of state and federal legislators, and two former mayors of Detroit.

Having become a full-fledged college of MSU, we offer individuals of any background the resources of a law school that’s part of a great public, research university, as we continue to shape a community that makes an impact at every level of society:

• The curriculum, advocacy, and scholarship of our Indigenous Law & Policy Center and Indian Law Clinic play a central role in Supreme Court decisions and educating leaders in Indigenous law.
• Scholars and policy makers rely on our criminal law faculty’s research on wrongful convictions, the exoneration of innocent people, the role of race in jury selection, and capital punishment.
• Our constitutional law faculty are sought after for their expertise in presidential power, impeachment, and federal administrative law.
• Our legal history scholars’ research has unearthed broad implications for the influence of slavery-era judicial decisions on current judicial decision-making.
• Our faculty in private and business law—tax law, tax policy, corporate governance and securities, entrepreneurship— are influential voices in national conversations.
• Our scholars are leading experts at the intersection of immigration law and family law.
• Our Center for Law, Technology & Innovation has been at the forefront of integrating technology and innovation into the legal profession, democratizing access to justice.

Building on this foundation of strength, we recommit ourselves to excellence. We will continue to educate and inspire an inclusive community of new members of the legal profession, and set a new standard for what it means to be a law school at an R1, land-grant institution. We are proud of our collective talents and tenacity, and heartened by our shared vision for equity and justice. Everywhere we look, we see opportunity.