The Law Center and Student Life

The School of Law curriculum and related 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.

Teaching Facilities

A groundbreaking was held in spring 2008 for a new law building to open in the fall of 2010. The new building, designed in cooperation with a leading architectural consulting group, will feature a host of amenities and will be the first building on a Mississippi university campus to be certified by the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program. The LEED program is a nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction and operation of high-performance green buildings, and the new law building will be built to conserve energy and resources.

The classrooms and seminar rooms in the new building will vary in size and will be laid out in a horseshoe-shaped pattern to promote interaction among students and between students and professors. The building will feature a café that provides a relaxing, informal atmosphere for students and faculty. To be located on Coliseum Drive across from the Tad Smith Coliseum and with ample parking, the new facility will serve law students, faculty and alumni for generations to come.

Until the new building is completed, the current building, Lamar Hall, offers one of the best-designed and best-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.

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. Updated in the summer of 2008 with all-new Dell PCs, the labs feature high-speed laser printers, scanners, ergonomic furniture and other useful equipment that are for law students’ use only.

With approximately 350,000 volumes and volume-equivalents, the library is one of the largest and most important legal research institutions in the South. Growing by almost 10,000 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 databases (for example, LexisNexis Congressional, HeinOnline, CCH Research Network, BNA Publications and LegalTrac)

• the library’s catalog (http://louis.law.olemiss.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, call the library at 662-915-6824.

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 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, who are available to help with any technology needs.

Diversity

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 all races, religions and cultures, who come to us from across the country and internationally. These students have taken leadership roles at the highest levels in the student body, including Moot Court Board chair and Law School Student Body 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.

The Student Perspective

Alexander C. Martin II

Second-year student; hometown: Port Gibson, Mississippi

There is a collegial atmosphere among the students here that greatly enhances the law school experience. My classmates are always willing to lend a helping hand. Though the work is tough, we realize it’s important to have fun and get to know each other. I look forward to continuing into the practice of law the many friends I’ve developed.”