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U.C. Berkeley's Boalt Hall School of Law Profile

Written by Ken DeLeon, Boalt Hall Alumni, Class of 1998

The University of California at Berkeley Boalt Hall School of Law ("Boalt Hall") offers the compelling combination of a world-class education, low tuition, and a beautiful campus located in the San Francisco Bay Area. Boalt Hall's renowned faculty includes recipients of 15 Fulbright and 20 Guggenheim fellowships, as well as authors of leading casebooks used worldwide. Universally considered a top ten law school, Boalt is particularly strong in the fields of intellectual property, environmental, and international law.

Being part of the nation's best public university system carries many advantages, the greatest being that Boalt's tuition is below that of other top law schools. Currently, in-state resident tuition is under $27,000 per year and nonresidents, who pay under $40,000 a year, can generally achieve residency and receive the lower in-state tuition within one year.

Boalt Admissions and Admissions Tips

All of the above attributes make Boalt one of the nation’s hardest law schools at which to gain admission. Recently, Boalt has had one of the country’s lowest acceptance rates, with approximately 12% of applicants being admitted. Admitted applicants generally have an undergraduate GPA of between 3.7 and 3.9 and an LSAT score of between 163 and 169 (these ranges are for the 25th and 75th percentiles of enrolled students). Applicants should still consider applying even if their credentials are not within this range, for Boalt takes a holistic approach in its admission process.

Edward Tom, the Dean of Admissions at Boalt, granted Top-Law-Schools.com an extensive interview. What follows are some tips and advice from Boalt’s Dean of Admissions, which may help a prospective student gain admittance into this prestigious school and improve the applicant’s law school applications overall.

Personal Statements

Boalt is very comprehensive and considers all aspects of a student’s file. While the LSAT score and GPA are important, Boalt is more concerned with prospective students’ individual stories, which better indicate what they bring as a whole to law school. Dean Tom says that putting together an entering class is “like organizing a choir; we want 270 distinct voices. There are hundreds of similar applicants, but only one of you; so take the opportunity provided by the personal statement to let us hear your voice.”

Dean Tom offers some excellent advice regarding the personal statement and why it is particularly important to the Boalt application. He says, “The personal statement is the first thing I look at when I open a folder, even before viewing the GPA or LSAT score. I think applicants should be aware that our personal statement option is twice as long as most other law schools; it’s four pages, and students should take advantage of that. There’s no particular assignment for our personal statement; it’s very open-ended. The personal statement is the applicant’s opportunity to distinguish himself from hundreds of other applicants who have the same numbers, and the same major, and come from a similar school. The personal statement is an applicant’s opportunity to describe the distance they’ve come in their lives.”

“Most everyone is a very different person now than they were in high school, and along that journey they develop a voice that they will be bringing into the classroom. I want to learn about the journey that developed that voice, and to the decision to apply to law school. We are looking for intellectually curious people, and we are looking for people with a diverse array of experiences. So, the ideal personal statement would bring all of that out.”

“The personal statement is also a sample of your writing, and we are looking for precision of writing skills. It is not up to Boalt to teach you how to write a sentence. There should be no typos, no spelling errors, and no punctuation errors. Please change the name of the school; we don’t want to know how happy you are to apply to some other school. Also, don’t submit anything too far out there: no movies, no scripts, and no law transcripts.”

In addition to the four pages an applicant is allowed for their personal statement, Boalt also allows additional written materials to be submitted. Dean Tom explains, “You can also send a resume, which I recommend doing. The resumes are generally one page, but that can be exceeded. More information can usually only help your application, so throw in the kitchen sink. There are no interviews, and I want to get to know the human behind the numbers. Also, you can send an addendum, one or two paragraphs on a separate page, dedicated to any particular talking points desired.”

Letters of Recommendation

Boalt also shows a similar kindness in allowing multiple letters of recommendation. Dean Tom said of letters of recommendation, “You should cultivate two substantive letters, from people who can discuss your academic potential. Usually that is a professor or a teaching assistant. The second best letters come from people at work, supervisors who can comment on your research, analytical skills and writing ability in particular. Letters from famous people whom you met once, friends of the family, or a judge for whom you babysat are not helpful. Three letters of recommendation are okay, even four is fine, however, five is probably pushing it.”

Application Process

Dean Tom also offers some insight into the admissions process itself. “All the files are read, previewed initially by me or by one of my staff. I have four other people who help me with the application process initially. However, I read the bulk of them. I read about two-thirds of the applicant pool, while the other four read the other one-third. It’s structured this way because I know what I’m looking for. And, if my staff finds an applicant whom they want to admit, they have to bring the file to me for a final review. Concurrent to this review process we also identify about 1400 to 1600 other applications that are very competitive, and these we send to our faculty admissions committee, comprised of six faculty and twelve students. Students serve in an advising capacity on the committee. I admit roughly 550 people through what I call the administrative review process, and the admissions committee (the faculty committee) admits about another 200 or so. So, we end up admitting about 700 to 750 people. The admissions committee also structures a waiting list, and then everyone else is denied, either administratively or by the Committee.

This year for example, we received approximately 7100 applications. We admitted roughly 750, and we’re going to enroll a class of about 270. The applications go up and down a little bit from year to year, but in terms of admission, the number of people we offer admission to, and the size of the class, that’s about the same.”

GPA vs. LSAT: One Weighted More?

Many law school applicants feel that they are reduced to the numbers within their LSAT score and GPA, and while at Boalt they take the entire student into consideration, these scores still do matter. But does one matter more than the other? Dean Tom addresses this question: “I know that there is a perception out there in the cyberspace world that we value GPAs a lot more than LSATs, and I’m not sure where people get that. Because if you look at our index formula, we are purposeful in weighting it so that GPA and LSAT are roughly equivalent. So, if I had to characterize our review process, it’s about one-third LSAT score, about one-third academic record – I prefer to call it academic record because GPA is just so narrow, whereas with academic record we consider all of the factors that impacted the GPA: work responsibilities, extra-curricular activities, rigor of major, and so on. The last third is the subjective factors -- what one says in their personal statement, and what others say about them in their letters of recommendation. So, no, I don’t think either of the two quantitative factors is more important than the other.”

Ideal Candidate for Boalt

When asked what would describe an ideal candidate for admissions to Boalt, Dean Tom replied: “Curiosity, very strong academic potential, a centered person who has been out of school a year or two, an interest in an interdisciplinary approach to the study of law, and someone who is not applying because of outside pressures or expectations. Also the ideal candidate should be someone who enjoys school. You know, I don’t care where you go to law school, it’s a lot of work, and you’ve got to like school. Law school is like taking the subway or Bart. The train arrives, the door opens, you enter, but this train picks up speed without stopping. Enjoy the trip, because the train won’t be stopping for awhile.”

Apply Early!

One of the most important pieces of information Dean Tom had to offer was that it is very important to apply early. He said, “You must apply early. Even though we don’t have an early decision program, the early bird does catch the worm here. And by early I’m talking about October, mid-November at the latest. Even if you’re taking the December LSAT, you should send in your application to us ahead of time. Use the Law Services electronic application that’s available now. It’s a great product and it works very, very well. You can just apply online through them. Our application is available on our website in PDF form too. But if you use the Law Services version everything comes to us in a bundle: your LSAT score, your letters of recommendation, your personal statement, and it expedites things for the candidate.

A lot of people make the mistake of filling out their applications over the Christmas holidays. But I start reading applications in late October, and I start making offers at that time. Because we have a finite number of offers to make, not only are there fewer spots available later in the process, the competition for those spots increases.”

Read our entire interview with Dean of Admission Edward Tom.

Boalt's Curriculum

Boalt's first-year curriculum consists of the foundation classes of Civil Procedure, Contracts, Criminal Law, Property, Torts, Legal Research and Writing, and two elective classes taken from the upper division curriculum. While most classes have 60 to 120 students, at least one class is taught in a small section of 30 students. Generally, the professor of the small section seeks to interact extensively with the students and generally has his or her students over for dinner at their home.

The only requirements in the final two years are that students must take a class in Constitutional Law and Professional Responsibility and complete a major writing project. With this great academic freedom, the upper division curriculum offers numerous seminars and classes, particularly in the following areas of law: intellectual property, environmental, corporate, and international. The Jurisprudence and Social Policy Program offers theoretical seminars that examine the law from various disciplines such as philosophy, anthropology, and economics. Boalt students can take classes or even receive a joint masters or Ph.D. degree from several graduate departments, including Economics, History (Legal History), Journalism, the Haas School of Business, and the School of Public Policy.

Boalt offers a varied curriculum with many classes straying far from typical “bar preparation” classes. Some of the more exotic classes have included Modern Chinese Law, Law and Literature, Race and Law, and Biomedical Law. Class sizes range from seminars with a few students to lecture halls with 150 students. Individual research projects with professors can also be arranged.

Boalt also has a flexible externship program where students can receive as many as ten credits for working with a judge, government agencies, or public interest firms for a semester. Boalt also allows students to study abroad in law schools in Europe or Asia for a semester. Boalt also has an exchange program with Harvard Law School, where five third-year students from Boalt study at Harvard Law School and vice-versa.

Many students receive credit while working on Boalt’s four clinical programs. Students have the option of working for the East Bay Community Law Center, where indigent clients who would otherwise not be able to afford legal counsel are assisted on real cases. Three other clinics offer hands on experience to very academic but real life issues, with the three clinics being the Samuelson Law, Technology & Public Policy Clinic, the International Human Rights Law Clinic, and the Death Penalty Clinic.

Students can also receive course credit for being an editor or assistant editor for one of Boalt’s ten legal journals. The most prestigious law journal is the California Law Review, where generally 35 students from each class are chosen to participate. Grades do not play a factor in acceptance to law review, for instead a writing competition is how members are selected. Boalt’s nine other law reviews ensure that any student who desires to be a member of a law review has this opportunity.

Boalt's Quality of Life

The Boalt administration and faculty seek to foster a relaxed environment where students can focus on learning the law rather than stressing over failing out of school or landing a job after graduation. At orientation, the introductory speaker asks incoming students to, "look to your left and then look to your right; know that you will all see each other again at graduation." Those few that leave Boalt do so of their own accord.

Instead of the hyper-competitive atmosphere that is portrayed in the movie “The Paper Chase,” and is a reality across the bay at Hastings Law School, the first year of Boalt is a humane introduction to the world of law. Professors lead class discussions rather than monotonously lecture or attack students with the Socratic Method. Students, secure that almost all Boalt graduates get several job opportunities, share outlines and notes and eagerly form study groups with each other. While a few "gunners" may speak in class more than others and study incessantly, they are the exception and not the rule.

Dean Tom sees this as a positive aspect of studying law at Berkeley and he strives to maintain this atmosphere with his admissions procedures: “I think the thing that sets us apart most is that the relative level of neurotic behavior at Boalt is lower than at most other law schools. And that’s a comment on the students. And not only the students who enroll, but it’s also a comment on an admissions process that expends a lot of energy and work and pride in identifying very bright students who, as a group, don’t take themselves too seriously, who, as a group, are centered, rather than self-centered, people.”

The Boalt administration encourages student gatherings, and quite often there is a keg in the courtyard on Thursday afternoons, sponsored by one of the many student journals or groups. Every Thursday night is "Bar Review," where law students congregate at one of the local pubs to relax.

Boalt's unique grading system also mitigates student competitiveness by not ranking students and by generally grading students with only three possible grades. The top 10% of students in a class receive a grade of High Honors, with the next 30% receiving a grade of Honors, with the remaining 60% of students receiving a grade of Pass. By making the Pass grade so common so that nearly every student has a few P’s, the law school hopes to take away the stigma of this grade. Grades of No Credit or Substandard Pass are rarely given out.

Boalt's grading system has been controversial since its origins over thirty years ago, with opponents stating that it hurts Boalt students by being hard for employers to understand and hurts Boalt's best in their hunt for judicial clerkships. Opponents claim that a grade of Honors, which can be given to a student in the top 11% of a class, is much less impressive than the A or A- that most top law schools assign for that same percentile score. However, this grading system is likely to stay since a large effort to modify the grading system recently failed.

The prestige of a Boalt degree coupled with strong job prospects for graduates are seen as the strongest counter arguments to changing a grading system that is viewed as the primary reason for Boalt's relaxed environment and is conducive to the sharing of knowledge and student camaraderie.

Read our interview with Boalt's former Dean Robert Berring, offering more about Boalt's great quality of life.

Legal Specialties

Boalt is particularly renowned in the fields of intellectual property law and environmental law, so these two areas are discussed in depth. Additionally, according to the law school rankings provided by the Educational Quality Rankings, which surveys legal scholars, Boalt is also one of the top ten law schools in the following legal fields:

Business Law (corporate, securities, antitrust) Constitutional Law Criminal Law & Procedure Critical Legal Theory (Critical Race Theory, Feminist Legal Theory) International and Comparative Law Law & Economics Law & Philosophy Law & Social Sciences Legal History

Intellectual Property Law

Boalt's Intellectual Property (IP) program has been recognized as the best IP program in the country by the US News law school rankings for the past six years. Boalt's continued excellence in IP seems assured in the wake of recent faculty hiring, expanded class and clinical offerings, and the strengthening partnership between the law school and the legal community of Silicon Valley.

The linchpin to Boalt's IP excellence is the Berkeley Center for Law & Technology ("BCLT"). Founded in 1995, the BCLT was the first organization of its kind and continues to be at the forefront of technology law and policy issues. Some of the esteemed faculty of the BCLT include Professors Robert Merges and Pam Samuelson.

Professor Robert Merges is one of the most respected authorities in patent law and his casebooks on intellectual property and patent law are used by many law schools around the nation. Although heavily recruited by Harvard while a visiting professor, Professor Merges chose to stay with the BCLT, which he co-founded.

Professor Pam Samuelson was recently awarded the MacArthur Fellowship, or "Genius Award," for her scholarship that advanced intellectual property policy. Professor Samuelson used most of these proceeds for a $2 million gift to form the Samuelson Law, Technology and Public Policy Clinic at Berkeley. Having personally worked with Professor Samuelson for my writing requirement in Cyberlaw (for which I received the top grade in this large class), I can say that she is an excellent professor who is very concerned about her students as well as her research.

The BCLT is also instrumental in the publication of the Berkeley Technology Law Journal (BTLJ). The BTLJ is considered the leading technology law journal in America and is operated and edited by Boalt students.

The prestige of Boalt's IP program has led many Boalt students to focus on IP law and to receive the Law and Technology Certification upon graduation. Completion of the Law and Technology Certification requires a total of six IP courses, participation in law and technology organizations, and a research paper focused on IP legal issues.

The demand for Boalt's IP graduates is still strong and most graduates work in Silicon Valley law firms, but some also get jobs in other technology hubs such as Boston and San Diego of Seattle, Austin.

Environmental Law

Boalt's renowned Environmental Law program offers a rich and diverse curriculum taught by nationally recognized faculty members. At Boalt, environmental law is taught within the broader context of examining the social, economic, and political policies that shape the creation and interpretation of environmental statutes. As a result, students are encouraged to take classes in other graduate departments including the Departments of Environmental Science, Forestry, City and Regional Planning, and the Energy and Resource Group. Many students enroll in concurrent degree programs and can earn both a law degree and master's degree from one of the above departments in four years.

A certificate of specialization in environmental law is granted to students who complete six classes on or related to environmental law and also write a research paper on an environmental topic. Many students participate on The Ecology Law Quarterly, one of the nation's premier environmental law journals.

Boalt’s Employment Prospects

A law degree from Boalt opens many doors, including the varied doors of large, private law firms, public interest work, and judicial clerkships. Over 300 law firms come to the Berkeley campus during the fall interview season. Because there are more firms than second-year Boalt students vying for these jobs, most Boalt students have many interviews and several choices after the On-Campus Interview Process.

Given this demand, the Boalt interview process puts the power in the hand of the students and not the law firms. Interviews with law firms are set up solely by student preference, with law firms not being able to pre-screen applicants. If there is a very popular law firm, selection is made by a bidding system where students bid upon what interviews they desire the most. Through this bidding system, an equalization of the number of interviews and access to law firms is achieved.

Generally, about 75% of Boalt students are employed in California, reflecting both the California origins of around half of the student body plus the attractions of California sunshine and lifestyles that attract the many out-of-state students to stay. Dean Tom gave some insights into the job placement of Boalt graduates: “…the perception among the pre-law world nationwide [is] that if you go to Berkeley you can’t get a job outside of California. People believe this because our placement statistics are skewed to the West Coast even though we do have many graduates in big market areas -- New York, Boston, and Washington D.C. But unlike a school, say, in the Midwest, that may send its students to the two coasts, people who come to Berkeley usually don’t want to leave the Bay Area or the West Coast.”

The majority of Boalt students end up practicing in large, private law firms paying in excess of $135,000 for first-year associates. Alternatively, many Boalt students choose instead to become judicial clerks for a year (generally about 14%), or work in the public interest sector or with the government (10%).

Overall, 98-99% of Boalt graduates are usually employed within 9 months after graduation. The bar passage rate for Boalt students on the notoriously hard California bar exam varies between 84-94%.

The University - Academics and Culture

Berkeley, the crown jewel of the extraordinary University of California system, is generally regarded as the best public university in America. U.C. Berkeley is renowned for its academic excellence, as well as for being at the forefront of social rights and change.

A recent National Research Council survey ranked Berkeley as the best overall graduate institution in the nation. Berkeley's excellence includes both their science and social science programs, with an astounding 35 of Berkeley's 36 graduate programs ranked in the top 10 in their fields.

Among Berkeley's distinguished faculty are 8 Nobel laureates, 19 MacArthur fellows, 86 members of the National Academy of Engineering, and 122 members of the National Academy of Sciences. Over the past 10 years, Berkeley awarded more total doctoral degrees than any other university.

Berkeley is almost as renowned for being an area of social unrest and individual exploration as for its distinguished academic programs. Both the town and campus of Berkeley thrive on the community’s sweeping encouragement of individual expression and joyfully embrace all that is unique, outrageous, and extraordinary. What is most intoxicating about "Berzerkeley" is its liberating spirit, which allows for creative and artistic expression in every form. Life is lived more intensely and freely in "The Peoples' Republic of Berkeley" than anywhere else.

For those looking for a change from the unique atmosphere of "Berzerkely," San Francisco is only a half hour away by car or public transportation, and within a few hours drive are the many attractions of Northern California, including Napa Valley Wine Country, Santa Cruz beaches, Carmel art galleries, and Tahoe skiing. Also, innumerable outdoor attractions and great hiking are available in the scenic Berkeley hills.

Housing is scarce in Berkeley and students are wise to begin their search for apartments in early August. Graduate dorm housing is an option for first-year students. Those seeking cheaper rents often rent in nearby Oakland or Albany. Several third-year students choose to enjoy their last year getting to enjoy San Francisco, one of the best cities in America.

Conclusion

The combination of academic excellence, great location and low tuition make U.C. Berkeley's Boalt Hall School of Law arguably the best law school in the nation for California residents or those who plan to establish residency status within one year.

Contact and Admissions Information

University of California
Berkeley School of Law Admissions Office
5 Boalt Hall Berkeley, CA 94720-7200
(510) 642-2274
Applications deadline: February 1
Application fee: $70