The School of Law curriculum and activities are competitive and rigorous. Our Law Center facilities, library and student services will support you in all your endeavors—and provide“stress relief”when you need it.

THE NEW LAW BUILDING (above)

Plans are under way for construction of a new law building, with ground breaking anticipated in early 2008. The new building, designed in cooperation with a leading architectural consulting group that has worked on many law buildings constructed in the last 10 years, will feature a host of amenities. The classrooms and seminar rooms will vary in size and will be laid out in a horseshoe-shaped pattern to promote interaction between students and the professor and among the students themselves. They also will feature state-of-the-art instructional technology. The building will feature a café that provides a relaxing, informal atmosphere where students and faculty can get to know each other better.

LAMAR HALL

Until the new building is completed, the current building, Lamar Hall, offers one of the best-designed and equipped law teaching facilities in the country. The Law Center is a five-story structure that contains, among many other features, five large classrooms with tiered seating, power and Internet connections at each seat, and the latest digital projection and broadcast capabilities. Two seminar rooms and two moot court rooms also are equipped with the latest in instructional technology.

The Law Center also houses several auxiliary law programs and their staff, placing related educational, research and service functions together to provide more efficient and more extensive service.

THE LAW LIBRARY

Both the physical and intellectual center of the School of Law, the law library offers students a quiet, comfortable and convenient place to study, research and relax. It is regularly open and staffed more than 100 hours per week, with an extended schedule immediately before and during exams.

The library offers a variety of spaces to suit different students’ work styles. Some students prefer to make study carrels their “home away from home.” Others like to work at the large study tables or to reserve one of the small group-study rooms. The library’s two computer labs are also popular. Equipped with Pentium-class Dell PCs, high-speed laser printers, scanners and ergonomic furniture, they are open to all law students—and only law students. Wireless network access is available throughout the library and the building.

With more than 325,000 volumes and volume-equivalents, the library is one of the largest and most important legal research institutions in the south. Growing by almost 5,000 volumes a year, the library houses a comprehensive collection of federal and state statutes, judicial opinions and administrative agency rules and decisions; bilateral and multinational treaties; and all significant Anglo-American legal journals, treatises, reference works and other aids necessary for researching domestic and international law. The library also serves as an official depository for United States and state of Mississippi government documents. Particular collection strengths include civil rights, gaming law and space law.

Via the library’s Web site (http://library.law.olemiss.edu), UM law students also have access to many sources of online legal information. These resources include
• a growing collection of subscription-only databases (for example, LexisNexis Congressional, HeinOnline, CCH Research Network, BNA Publications and LegalTrac
• the library’s catalog (http://louis.law.ole miss.edu)
• faculty bibliographies
• digitized materials from the law school’s archives (for example, the previous years’ exams)
• annotated guides to the best free services on the Internet
• subscriptions to both Westlaw and LexisNexis

The library’s friendly and dedicated staff, including seven librarians who have earned law and library science degrees, are on hand to assist students with all of their information needs. The librarians provide individual research consultations and training sessions as well as classroom-style instruction on topics related to the curriculum and the practice of law. Other library services include interlibrary loan for materials not available on campus and information-technology support.

For more information, please contact Kris Gilliland, director of the library and associate professor of law, at 662-915-6836 or gillilan@olemiss.edu.

TECHNOLOGY

The School of Law is committed to providing students the best environment for legal education. Every classroom, seminar room and courtroom is outfitted with state-of-the-art presentation technologies, and the law school is now wireless throughout the building.

Students have electrical power and network access at each classroom seat. Law students have high-speed access to the Internet, the Ole Miss computer network, the library card catalogs, research databases and other instructional technologies. Among other features, the Ole Miss computer network provides students access to class schedules, online registration, the bursar's office, grade reports and many other helpful services.

Each classroom is equipped with lectern, computer, large screen, DVD, document camera, video/audio projection system, VCR, LAN and Internet access through wired and wireless connectivity. Video recording also is offered for later playback of student presentations.

Law students also have free access to Secure Exam by Software Secure (www. softwaresecure. com/). This software allows students to take their examinations on computer. Both PC and Mac versions are available.
The law school has two full-time IT employees. Paul Bennett is senior network administrator for the law school, and Poindexter Barnes is network administrator with the National Center for Justice and the Rule of Law. The law IT staff are available to help with any technology needs.

STUDENTS OF COLOR

The University of Mississippi School of Law is committed to having a diverse law student body. The first African-American graduate received his law degree from The University of Mississippi School of Law in 1967, and, significantly, this alumnus was the first African American to sit on the Mississippi Supreme Court and to serve as president of the Mississippi Bar.

Since that time, the School of Law has enrolled and graduated students of color from across the country, and students of color have taken leadership roles at the highest levels among the student body, including Moot Court Board chair and LSSB president. We continually seek to expand and refine our efforts to enroll and graduate additional students of color to increase their participation in the legal profession.

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