The Strategic Planning Process
As the university seeks to create the Division of Access, Opportunity, and Community Engagement, the School of Law is evaluating and updating its strategic plans. The review is to ensure alignment with the goals of fostering partnerships, access, and engagement that strengthen our sense of community, enrich learning and development, enhance research, and ensure opportunities for all. The School of Law will share additional details once the review process and updates are finalized.
Implementation and Assessment of the Strategic Plan
The implementation and assessment of the strategic plan is the ultimate responsibility of the Dean’s Office. The Dean will designate personnel (e.g., an associate dean, advisory group, or committee) to assist with implementation and assessment. The Dean will also ensure that regular progress reports are made to faculty and staff each semester by appropriate personnel. The Law School will follow this strategic plan through the year 2025 or until revised.
Mission
As an outstanding public law school, the University of Mississippi School of Law leads, excels, and inspires by preparing students for the practice of law in a changing global marketplace, expanding the horizons of legal knowledge through scholarly research, and serving diverse communities in the state, region, nation, and world. As it pursues its mission, the Law School also has a special responsibility to the State of Mississippi as the State’s only public law school and a central component of its flagship university.
The Law School graduates innovative, practice-ready lawyers who enhance the legal profession, promote the cause of justice, and serve the public. The Law School empowers students to reach their highest potential through a curriculum centered on doctrinal courses, legal research and writing, skills training, clinical instruction, externships, and professional ethics. As a state school, the Law School has a special commitment to educate state residents and train lawyers who will serve the needs of the State of Mississippi.
The Law School advances legal knowledge through the publication and presentation of original scholarly research. The Law School’s support for scholarship and a vibrant culture of inquiry provides a crucial foundation for the teaching and service components of the Law School’s mission—in addition to the intrinsic value of the expansion of knowledge.
The Law School serves diverse communities through its programs and personnel in order to transform lives and promote access to justice, legal professionalism, progress, reform, and the public interest. The Law School’s clinics, centers, institutes, and programs are essential to the Law School’s service mission, which has a special emphasis on Mississippi communities.
Values
In pursuing its mission, the Law School:
- Affirms its purpose as a professional school
- Strives for excellence in teaching, research, and service
- Provides an affordable and outstanding legal education
- Offers a wide array of high-quality and innovative programs
- Embraces a “students-first” philosophy of education and empowerment
- Promotes a rich culture of scholarship and intellectual inquiry
- Serves the public interest and the cause of justice
- Strives for diversity, inclusion, and outreach—with a special focus on historically underrepresented and excluded groups
- Protects academic freedom and integrity
- Cultivates a civil community of mutual respect and shared governance
- Practices good stewardship of resources
- Commits to energetic engagement with alumni
- Affirms its commitment to the University of Mississippi Creed
The University of Mississippi Creed
The University of Mississippi is a community of learning dedicated to nurturing excellence in intellectual inquiry and personal character in an open and diverse environment. As a voluntary member of this community:
I believe in respect for the dignity of each person.
I believe in fairness and civility.
I believe in personal and professional integrity.
I believe in academic honesty.
I believe in academic freedom.
I believe in good stewardship of our resources.
I pledge to uphold these values and encourage others to follow my example.
Programs and Personnel
The Law School encompasses a wide range of components that form a mutually supportive, interdependent, and overlapping set of programs and personnel, all of which contribute to the mission and values of the Law School. The Law School’s components include students, staff, faculty, the Dean’s Office, administrative offices, faculty and staff committees, the Grisham Law Library, the clinical programs, the advocacy programs, the Academic Workshop Program, law journals, student organizations, the Cambridge Program, the Business Law Institute, the Mississippi Law Research Institute, the National Sea Grant Law Center, the Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Legal Program, the Center for Continuing Legal Education, the Mississippi Judicial College, and the LL.M. and non-J.D. Certificate Programs in Air and Space Law.
Stakeholders
The Law School affirms its deep commitment to its stakeholders: students, alumni, staff, faculty, the University, bench and bar, and the State of Mississippi.
UM Law 2025 Flagship Goals
The following set of flagship goals on issues of overarching importance will receive special attention during the implementation of the 2025 Strategic Plan.
- Achieve a 10% or greater increase in Mississippi resident and non-resident applications over those received in the 2019-2020 admissions cycle
- Achieve a 90% or better bar passage rate for first-time takers
- Achieve a 90% or better ten-month-after-graduation employment rate for graduates
- Increase the rate of alumni participation in annual giving by 100% over the rate attained in 2019-2020
- “Top 75 by 2025” – Achieve a rank of 75 in the U.S. News and World Report Law School rankings by 2025