The University of Alabama School of Law, (formerly known as the Hugh F. Culverhouse Jr. School of Law at The University of Alabama) located in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, is the only public law school in the state. It is one of five law schools in the state, and one of three that are ABA accredited. According to Alabama's official 2025 ABA-required disclosures, 93.2% of the Class of 2025 obtained full-time, long-term, JD-required employment nine months after graduation. An additional 5.5% of the Class of 2025 obtained JD-advantage employment.
395 JD students attended Alabama Law during school year 2024–2025. 51 undergraduate institutions, 23 states, and 3 countries are represented among the class of 2026, and the student-faculty ratio is 6.7 to 1.
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Academics
Alabama Law offers the Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree, as well as an International LL.M., an LL.M. in Taxation, and an LL.M. in Business Transactions. In conjunction with the Manderson Graduate School of Business, the law school also offers a four-year joint J.D./M.B.A. program. Students may also pursue a number of graduate degrees through established dual enrollment programs for M.A. or Ph.D. in Political Science, M.P.A., Ph.D. in Economics, or LL.M. in Taxation. Certificates in Public Interest Law, Governmental Affairs, and International and Comparative Law are also available.
Admissions have been increasingly selective. The class of 2026 has a median LSAT score of 167 and median undergraduate GPA of 3.95. The 75th and 25th percentile for these metrics are 168 and 4.00, and 159 and 3.63, respectively.
Law clinics
Alabama Law guarantees that every interested student has the opportunity to participate in at least one law clinic before graduating. It is one of the few law schools in the country to make this guarantee.
The Children's Rights Clinic works with the Alabama Disabilities Advocacy Program to assist youth with disabilities in the juvenile justice system.
The Civil Law Clinic is Alabama's oldest clinic and provides free legal advice and representation to University of Alabama students and community members in civil matters. Civil clinic students handle over 200 cases annually.
The Criminal Defense Law Clinic represents indigent defendants in misdemeanor and felony criminal matters for both bench and jury trials.
The Domestic Violence Clinic takes a holistic approach to assisting survivors of domestic abuse in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama. In addition to providing comprehensive legal services, clinic students also perform outreach and education.
The Entrepreneurship & Nonprofit Clinic provides free transactional legal services to small businesses, start-ups, and nonprofit organizations. The suite of services include preparation of formation documents, agreement negotiation and drafting, and regulatory compliance. The clinic is taking a hiatus for the 2026-2027 year, and may be permanently replaced by the Community Development Clinic.
The Mediation Law Clinic provides an alternative to the adversarial litigation process for families to settle disputes more promptly and with a reduction in emotional trauma.
The Appellate Advocacy Clinic provides free legal help in appeals involving civil matters, criminal cases, and issues with administrative agencies, allowing law students to take on real appeals from start to finish, including mediation, briefing and oral arguments in front of the Alabama courts of appeal and the Eleventh Circuit.
Publications
In 2007 Jarvis & Coleman ranked the Alabama Law Review (ALR) 36th "on the basis of the prominence of their lead article authors." This represents an incredible 63 position improvement from the rankings of ten years prior. For 2015–2016, ExpressO, UC Berkeley's manuscript submission service, ranked the ALR at 10th in terms of "number of manuscripts received." In 2015 Washington and Lee's methods rank ALR at 46th in both the number of citations from other journals and the combined score. These show an improvement of 10 and 26 positions, respectively, over the preceding 5 years.
Alabama Civil Rights & Civil Liberties Law Review
Alabama Law Review
Journal of the Legal Profession
Law & Psychology Review
Approximately 40% of students graduate with journal experience. This is a slightly lower percentage than many of Alabama's peer schools, but nonetheless above the national average.
Employment
According to Alabama's official 2025 ABA-required disclosures, 93.2% of the Class of 2025 obtained full-time, long-term, bar passage required employment within nine months after graduation. 29.7% of 2025 graduates were employed by a national law firm and 17.2% found judicial clerkships. Alabama's Law School Transparency under-employment score for 2023 is 4.9%, indicating the percentage of the Class of 2023 who were unemployed, pursuing an additional degree, or working in a non-professional, short-term, or part-time job nine months after graduation.
Costs
Tuition and fees at the University of Alabama School of Law for the 2025–2026 academic year total $24,980 for residents and $48,100 for nonresidents. 96% of students received grants during the 2024–2025 school year, of which 66% received at least half tuition.
Alabama law alumni awards
Each year the Law School Board of Governors and the Alabama Law Alumni Society give out three awards. Specifically the three awards are The Sam W. Pipes Distinguished Alumna Award, Alabama Lawyer Hall of Honor Award, and Alabama Rising Young Attorney Award.
Alabama Lawyer Hall of Honor
The Alabama Lawyer Hall of Honor was established in 2020 by the Law School Foundation Board to honor alumni and faculty of the law school. The recipient of the Sam W. Pipes Distinguished Alumna Award is also inducted into the Alabama Lawyer Hall of Honor.
Notable alumni
John W. Abercrombie, United States Congressman from Alabama (1913–1917) and President of the University of Alabama (1902–1911)
Edward B. Almon, United States Representative from Alabama (1915–1933)
James B. Allen, United States Senator from Alabama (1969–1978)
Mel Allen, sportscaster best known as the "Voice of the New York Yankees" and first host of This Week in Baseball
George W. Andrews (Class of 1928), former U.S. Congressman for the 3rd District of Alabama
Spencer Bachus, United States Congressman from Alabama's 6th Congressional District (1993–2015)
Bill Baxley, former Attorney General and Lieutenant Governor of Alabama, and Civil Rights lawyer
Samuel A. Beatty, Associate Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court (1976–1989)
Robert H. Bennett, member of the Alabama House of Representatives (1942–1946)
Tom Bevill (Class of 1948), former U.S. Congressman for the 4th District of Alabama
Hugo Black, U.S. Representative and U.S. Senator for Alabama; Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, (1937–1971)
Fred L. Blackmon (Class of 1894), former U.S. Congressman for the 4th District of Alabama
Sydney J. Bowie (Class of 1885), former U.S. Congressman for the 4th District of Alabama