Welcome to Next
Dean Haider Hamoudi’s Strategic Priorities
At the University of Cincinnati College of Law, we advance society through our unwavering commitment to preparing students for the practice of law.
We do more than teach substantive law and analytical skills. We invite students to enter the arena and immerse them in meaningful experiences that deepen their theoretical understanding, moral discernment, practical lawyering, and professional integrity.
Nothing Cincinnati Law does is unexpected, but the care we take to integrate analysis and experience and to prepare students to counsel clients is uncommon. We view this balance as crucial for developing professional competence and a sense of identity and responsibility that ultimately make the demands of legal work rewarding and life-giving.
Our approach seeks to anticipate what’s next in legal education and practice.
It’s an honor and responsibility to assume the role of Dean at this inflection point, with a newly renovated Cincinnati Law school, a passionate and diverse student body, and a surge in faculty numbers and scholarly production. Our vision for what’s next will allow us to rise along with our community partners—more than 800 law firms, Fortune 500 companies, agencies, and state and federal courts that call Cincinnati home.
#1. A Holistic View of Student Success
Law practice challenges the best minds to apply reasoned legal thinking to the complexity of client situations.
Cincinnati Law’s small-by-choice culture allows students to develop holistically, balancing classroom knowledge of legal processes with a broader set of practice, ethical, and interpersonal skills. At every step, we seek new and better ways to improve student learning and provide meaningful feedback to students. By pouring more than knowledge into students, we create the conditions for success in law school, improved bar exam pass rates, employment outcomes, and greater professional satisfaction.
As we move forward, we will invest in even broader indicators of success (student wellness, inclusive excellence, equity, belonging, and professionalism). Our scope of concern covers everything from first contact to admissions to graduation and beyond. Investing in our people fortifies our inclusive culture, leading Cincinnati Law and its students to ever-greater heights.
Dean's Vision:
We continue to invest in a more holistic definition of student success, from admissions to graduation. This attracts a diverse student body and connects our alumni across legal specialties and generations.
A Place to Belong
The University of Cincinnati College of Law draws vibrancy from our diversity and fosters a culture that prioritizes long-term success and well-being, professional and personal.
We challenge legacy archetypes of law students and early career lawyers as inevitable candidates for burnout, drug and alcohol abuse, and counterproductive relationships.
Our Diversity and Wellness Program Offerings Include:
- Navigating Difficult Conversations
- Navigating Power Hierarchies
- Healthy Hours
- The Wellness Corner
- Out of the College Excursions
- The Healthy Professional Group Convos
- Staff Clinician
- Wellness Minute
- Nutritionist
- Professional Dress Closet
- Student Emergency Funds
- Fitness Classes
- Finals Weeks Wellness
We are a proud member of the ABA Well-Being Pledge Community
Exhilarating Challenge
#2. Legal Theory Meets Complex Legal Practice
Cincinnati Law merges the doctrinal scholarship expected from a top-tier (R1) urban research university with top-ranked clinics and externship opportunities that prepare students for immediate professional success. Cincinnati Law faculty and advisors challenge students to embrace and reflect on the duality of law: the precise and orderly nature of legal analysis and the dazzling complexity of actual human, social, and ethical conflict.
As we move forward, we will continue to attract top legal scholars and imbue students with the highest level of legal reasoning. At the same time, we will invest further in Cincinnati Law’s highly regarded clinical education program. Significantly, our culture does not discriminate between the contributions of scholarship and the impact of practice and professional responsibility roles.
Dean's Vision:
Cincinnati Law continues to perfect its balance of doctrinal and experiential learning, aware that our urban location, deep relationships, and scholarly traditions create a competitive advantage. Our school and students will continue to be distinguished by our ability to instill in graduates a broad range of skills critical for their immediate professional success.
100 Percent Legal Extern Placement
During their second and third years, Cincinnati Law students gain professional experience and academic credit at various externship sites, from government agencies to non-profit organizations to Fortune 500 corporations.
Recent University of Cincinnati Legal Externs have been placed at:
- Procter & Gamble Tax Division
- Fifth Third Bank
- The Kroger Company
- Tire Discounters
- TriHealth
- UC Health
- Latham BioPharm Group
- CareSource
- LCA Vision
- GE Aviation
- Field Aerospace
- Luxottica
- Prysmian Group
- 80 Acres Farms
- Cincinnati Public Schools
- Unites States Attorney
- National Labor Relations Board
- City of Cincinnati Law Department
- Wright Patt Air Force Base
- Kentucky Department of Public Advocacy
- Hamilton County Public Defender's Office
- Hamilton County Prosecutor's Office
- Legal Aid Society Southwest Ohio, Cincinnati + Bluegrass
- Children's Law Center Northern KY + Washington D.C.
- Ohio Justice and Policy Center
- Great American
NextGen Bar Ready
Cincinnati Law’s mindful balance of theoretical knowledge and client-serving skills anticipates a seismic shift to the “NextGen”Bar Exam that debuts in July 2026. The new exam affirms our approach, integrating foundational legal concepts and principles with clinical legal education skills. Cincinnati Law faculty and leadership will continue to track how a changing legal landscape and updated bar exam will impact student readiness.
#3. Investing in Centers of Excellence
The University of Cincinnati College of Law offers one of the country's best and most diverse experiential programs, making this an ideal place to study and practice law. Students learn by helping real clients with real cases. Whether student aspirations involve a big firm, policy, and advocacy, a public interest career, a judicial clerkship, or any other path, Cincinnati Law graduates consistently land the most sought-after legal jobs in America.
As we move forward, we will support the role of centers and institutes in generating scholarship and teaching opportunities, awakening alumni interest, and inviting all to engage in the larger conversations of justice, change and social well-being. As with our students and faculty, our diversity within centers and institutes keeps Cincinnati Law strong and vibrant.
Dean's Vision:
Cincinnati Law faculty, alumni, and students express their commitment to advancing legal study and the law through their commitment and investments in our many world-class centers and institutes. These centers and the experiences that they offer to Cincinnati Law students provide an unmatched training ground for students to explore a wide variety of career paths and test their strengths and assumptions.
Six Dimensions of Difference Making
Cincinnati Law attracts faculty and students with an enthusiasm for first-hand, experiential learning. Our six Centers of Excellence include:
Center for Practice
The Center for Practice deepens interdisciplinary knowledge and sharpens professional skills through a range of competitions, simulations, and real-world experiences, including:
- Trial Practice Competition
- Alternative Dispute Resolution
- American Bar Association Negotiation Competition
- The Indigent Defense Clinic
- Ohio Justice and Policy Center
Corporate Law Center
The Corporate Law Center expands professional networks and immerses students in the substantive issues of corporate, securities, and business law. Primary programs include:
- Corporate Law Fellowships
- Corporate Law Symposium
Cincinnati Center for the Global Practice of Law
The Center for the Global Practice of Law challenges students to develop a global legal perspective on everything from human rights and security to trade agreements and contracts. Primary programs include:
- Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot
- Urban Morgan Institute for Human Rights
- Human Rights Quarterly
- Bogotá, Colombia Course
Nathaniel R. Jones Center for Race, Gender, and Social Justice
The Jones Center for Race, Gender, and Social Justice provides experiential learning, research, and other opportunities to lead in advancing justice. Primary programs include:
- Social Justice Fellows
- Joint Degree Program in Law and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
- Freedom Center Journal
- Domestic Violence and Civil Protection Order Clinic
Ohio Innocence Project
Since 2003, UC Law’s Ohio Innocence Project has created a community of lawyers, law students, community leaders, and advocates who work to overturn wrongful convictions and seek lasting criminal justice reform. Primary programs include:
- Ohio Innocence Project Fellows
- Ohio Innocence Project Internships
- Ohio Innocence Project Review
Urban Morgan Institute for Human Rights
For three decades, the Urban Morgan Institute for Human Rights at Cincinnati Law has educated and trained human rights lawyers to promote and protect human rights in the international arena. Primary programs include:
- Arthur Russell Morgan Fellowships
- Human Rights Summer Experiences
- Human Rights Quarterly Journal
- Independent Research Projects
Empowering Change
Since its founding in 2003, the Ohio Innocence Project at Cincinnati Law has helped 42 wrongfully convicted Ohioans regain their freedom. OIP, part of the Innocence Network, represents the wrongfully convicted and advocates for lasting criminal justice reform. OIP has championed a variety of legislative reforms designed to safeguard against wrongful convictions, including: preservation of DNA evidence; double-blind lineups; and recorded custodial interrogations of people charged with most major felonies.
#4. Expanding Our Community
Cincinnati Law recognizes a growing need for working professionals to secure graduate-level training in the law's nature, operation, and societal consequences. Cincinnati Law’s Masters in Legal Studies serves an ecosystem of legal, regulatory, and compliance employers that prioritize foundational and specialized knowledge of laws and legal systems. From a risk management perspective, our graduates apply legal concepts to business realities and spot potential issues before they become costly and difficult legal problems.
As we move forward, we will deepen and expand our online legal education offerings for non-lawyers. New certificate programs open opportunities for journalists, criminal justice workers and other non-lawyers, as well as graduate students from health and business, and foreign-trained lawyers. Cincinnati Law will continue to extend our demographic and geographic reach as we provide this new student segment with a sophisticated understanding of how to partner with in-house counsel and outside legal experts.
Dean's Vision:
Cincinnati Law recognizes a growing need for professionals in business, health, engineering, technology, entertainment/media, environment, and policy to secure graduate-level training in the nature, operation, and societal consequences of the law. Our offerings will continue to expand our demographic and geographic reach as we provide this new student segment a sophisticated understanding of how to partner with in-house counsel and outside legal experts.
Masters in Legal Studies
A Masters in Legal Studies from Cincinnati Law can adjust to fit any career challenge or goal:
- Business Advising and Human Resource Compliance
- Cyber Law, Data Privacy and Information Security
- Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Policy and Compliance
- Energy and Environmental Law
- Engineering and Construction Compliance
- Family Law and Child Advocacy
- Government Law and Policy
- Health Law and Policy
- Law Enforcement
- Medical Research Compliance
- Social Justice and Community Organizing
- Wealth Management and Tax Law
Cincinnati Law: Rooted in Community
The ties that bind Cincinnati Law with its Clifton Heights neighborhood and people throughout this diverse and dynamic city are strong and deep, and include more than 800+ law firms, Fortune 500 companies, agencies, and state and federal courts. A key to our affordable and experience-rich legal education is a focus on community relationships and service. Since 1997, Cincinnati Law students have collectively provided nearly 10,000 hours of pro bono legal services to the Greater Cincinnati community. They engage in independent law-related public service activities under the supervision of licensed attorneys. These activities include working with individuals and organizations to address social problems related to legal processes, civil rights, civil liberties, and public rights. Students who perform at least 50 hours of independent law-related public service are designated as William S. Richardson Champions for Public Service for their contributions to the community.
Student Communities
- Adventure JDs
- Alternative Dispute Resolution Club
- American Constitution Society
- Asian Pacific American Law Student Association
- Black Law Students Association
- Board Game Society
- Business Law Society
- Christian Legal Society
- Criminal Legal Society
- DREAM
- Environmental Law Club
- Federal Bar Association
- Federalist Society
- First Generation Law Students
- Health and Public Health Law Society
- Honor Council
- If/When/How: Lawyering for Reproductive Justice
- Intellectual Property Law Student Association (IPLSA)
- International Law Society
- Jewish Law Students Association
- Juvenile & Family Law Club
- Labor and Employment Law
- Latina/o Law Student Association
- Muslim Lawyers Society
- Out & Allies
- Public Interest Law Society
- Rod and Gun Club
- Sports and Entertainment Law
- Student Bar Association
- Student Legal Education Committee
- Trial Practice Team
- UCincy IP
- Women in Law
#5. Elevating Global Engagement
Cincinnati Law students and faculty maintain a 360-degree global perspective, aware that globalization and law continue to converge across transactional and litigation matters—some universal, such as climate change, and others specific, such as claims to a sunken 18th-century Spanish galleon.
As we move forward, we will build upon the breadth and reach of our international and comparative law programming. In this pursuit, context matters. Our standing as America’s fourth oldest law school, integration with a large urban research university, and relationships with globally connected law firms, human rights advocates, and corporations guide our next steps.
Dean's Vision:
Cincinnati Law knows that future readiness and more widely shared prosperity for cities like Cincinnati and states like Ohio requires greater ties to global innovation and markets. Our LLM degree offers foreign professionals nine professional pathways. Those same LLM students encourage all Cincinnati Law students to be more globally aware and engaged. This exchange of value and connection strengthens our region and sparks future innovation, trade, and human rights protections.
Global Innovation
Move Forward with Cincinnati Law
Learn more about what puts Cincinnati Law on the national and global map and makes our approach a beacon for students who want more from their three years of law school than simply learning to think like lawyers.
We have an ambitious agenda. Working together, we will advance Cincinnati Law's standing as a law school whose faculty is seen as among the very best in the country in generating new ideas and equipping students with the knowledge, ethical compass, and skills they need to succeed. When our students graduate, pass the bar and find valuable and rewarding employment, everyone benefits. In building our resources and reputation, we will deepen our commitment to community, committed to human rights, equal and inclusive justice, and the rule of law.