Dean's Message

Welcome to Carolina Law's online community. You may be visiting our site as a prospective student, considering applying to law school and therefore interested in learning about the life of a Carolina Law student. Perhaps you are a faculty member at another law school interested in the work of one of our outstanding legal scholars. Maybe you are one of our dedicated Carolina Law alumni, curious about whether we plan to host an event in your area in the coming months. Or you might be a recruiter interested in our talented students for your firm, government office or non-profit agency. Whatever brings you to us, we hope you find what you are looking for and more. If not, our staff is only a phone call or email away, waiting to assist you in locating whatever information you are seeking.

Carolina Law is a special place with an academically challenging yet friendly environment, a place where budding lawyers learn to summon the very best within themselves. Allow me briefly to count our strengths.

We draw some of the nation's most talented and diverse students to Chapel Hill. Although many come from North Carolina, we enroll hundreds from every corner of the United States and the larger world. One reason Carolina Law attracts so many is its modest cost; very few top-tier law schools claim both a strong academic program and such low tuition. Our entering students know they will leave after three years of training with the widest of professional choices, free of the heavy burden of debt carried by so many contemporary law school graduates.

In this place, students master the core of the Anglo American legal tradition-contracts, torts, constitutional law, civil procedure and other substantive areas of law-under the guidance of some of the nation's finest legal scholars. Students learn much about how to practice law, from brilliantly accomplished clinicians and practitioners. All of these experiences deepen our students' appreciation for the professional responsibilities that all lawyers must assume. Our devoted alumni, far-flung from one side of the globe to the other once aspired as students to join this noble profession. Each chose to begin the journey with us. No matter their varied paths, our 9,500 living alumni cherish an abiding sense of affection for Carolina Law, and acknowledge with gratitude this school's role in shaping their remarkable professional lives.

Carolina Law is indeed a special place, with a long tradition that continues to shape our mission today. Let me invite you to explore our website, to get to know us for the first time or to renew the acquaintance. Please do not hesitate to contact us if we can be of assistance to you.

Very best regards,

John Charles Boger
Dean and Wade Edwards Distinguished Professor of Law