The University of Akron School of Law is a public law school in northeast Ohio with full-time and part-time JD options. Its strengths include intellectual property, litigation, constitutional law, and clinical training.
This guide walks you through how to get into Akron Law.
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1. Akron Law Admissions Numbers and Statistics
Akron Law Class of 2029:
- LSAT: 75th: 158 | Median: 155 | 25th: 152
- GPA: 75th: 3.83 | Median: 3.57 | 25th: 3.32
Akron Law Class of 2028:
- LSAT: 75th: 157 | Median: 154 | 25th: 151
- GPA: 75th: 3.76 | Median: 3.51 | 25th: 3.22
The 2026 entering-class profile, dated August 31, raises the overall LSAT median one point and GPA median 0.06 over the 2025 ABA figures. Both sets combine full-time and part-time students. The 2026 profile includes 195 entrants, compared with 203 in the prior ABA reporting window.
Aim to be at or above at least one median to be competitive. Above both puts you in a stronger position. Below both medians, this is a prayer, not a reach.
For context on how medians affect your strategy, see How to Build a Smart Law School List.
2. Akron Law Application Essays
Personal Statement (required)
Akron requires a typed personal statement of no more than two double-spaced pages. Its prompt invites you to explain how law school advances your personal or professional goals, discuss significant accomplishments, or address special circumstances.
For more on how to write a personal statement, see my Personal Statement Examples and Personal Statement Guide.
If you discuss relevant special circumstances within this personal statement, see my Diversity Statement Examples and Diversity Statement Guide.
Why Akron Statement (optional)
Akron invites an approximately one-page, double-spaced statement explaining your interest in the school.
For more on how to write a Why X essay, see my Why X Essay Guide.
For more on making all of these essays work together, see my Cohesive Narrative Guide.
Addenda and Character & Fitness (if applicable)
Akron permits supplemental statements addressing circumstances relevant to the application.
I'll be publishing a guide to addenda and character and fitness.
3. Akron Law Resume Requirements
A resume is required. Make education, employment, leadership, and service easy to follow. Describe responsibilities and results rather than repeating job descriptions.
For more on preparing your resume, see my Resume Examples and Resume Guide.
4. Akron Law Letters of Recommendation
Letters of recommendation are optional but strongly encouraged. Most applicants send one to three through CAS. Academic letters are especially useful for current students; applicants with substantial work experience may use professional recommenders. Missing optional letters do not hold an otherwise complete application.
For more on recommendations, see my LOR Guide (Applicants) and LOR Guide (Writers).
5. Akron Law Interview Process
Akron evaluates academic preparation, work experience, service, and personal circumstances through its application review. Your personal statement and optional Why Akron statement provide the main opportunities to explain your background and goals in your own words.
6. Akron Law Deadlines and Decision Options
Testing Policy
Akron accepts the LSAT or GRE taken within five years of application. JD-Next may supplement either test but does not replace it. Applicants with both LSAT and GRE scores receive consideration of the stronger score.
If you're considering the GRE, read my LSAT vs. GRE guide before deciding.
Application Dates and Fees
- Fall Application Deadline: March 31.
- Spring Application Deadline: November 30.
- Applicants Requiring a Student Visa: March 15 for fall; October 15 for spring.
- Application Fee: None.
- Review: Rolling, with later applications considered as space permits.
The application page publishes these recurring month-and-day deadlines for January and August entry. The part-time evening curriculum normally takes four years with summer study. Its blended-online option limits required campus attendance to two nights weekly during the first two years; later electives may require additional nights.
7. Akron Law Scholarships and Financial Aid
Merit Scholarships
Admitted JD applicants receive automatic consideration for Board of Trustees scholarships. Awards renew for three full-time or four part-time years with good academic standing. Upper-division donor scholarships may consider merit, financial need, or other specified criteria.
The FAFSA starts the federal-aid process. Eligible joint-degree students may also pursue graduate assistantships after their first law-school year. Akron offers Public Interest Fellowships for qualifying work, separate from scholarship renewal.
Tuition and Budget
For 2026-2027, the university estimates full-time cost of attendance at $47,924 for Ohio residents and $48,054 for nonresidents, including budgeted tuition and fees of $29,000 and $29,130. Its part-time budgets are $36,634 and $36,754. These are attendance estimates, not a fall 2027 price commitment; the law school's credit-based tuition schedule produces a different bill depending on enrollment.
For more on scholarship strategy, see How to Negotiate Law School Scholarships.
8. Akron Law Joint Degree Programs
- JD/MBA: With Akron's College of Business; approximately four years with coordinated coursework.
- JD/Master of Taxation: With the College of Business; approximately three-and-a-half full-time years, including summers.
- JD/MS in Accountancy: With the College of Business; approximately three-and-a-half years for full-time students with an accounting background.
- JD/Master of Applied Politics: With the Department of Political Science and Ray C. Bliss Institute, combining legal study with applied political training.
- JD/MA in Intelligence and National Security Studies: With Political Science, combining security studies and law through shared credits.
- JD/LLM in Intellectual Property: Within Akron Law; 100 total credits, twelve beyond the JD.
For business and political-science pairings, students apply after first-semester law grades and begin graduate coursework after the first-year law curriculum. Separate graduate admission is required. Foundational business coursework can lengthen an individual plan.
9. Akron Law Employment Outcomes (Class of 2025)
Akron Class of 2025 employment outcomes (reported to the ABA, measured 10 months after graduation):
- Full-time, long-term bar-passage-required employment (ABA): 78.9%
- BigLaw (firms with 101+ attorneys): 9.0%
- Federal clerkships: 0.8%
- Public service (including government): 30.1%
Ohio is the dominant employment destination, followed by Pennsylvania and Florida. Government and public-interest work occupy a much larger share of the class than large-firm practice. Akron makes the most sense when its regional network, practical training, and net cost fit the career you actually want.
10. Akron Law Areas of Study and Specializations
Intellectual Property: The Center for Intellectual Property Law & Technology connects patent, trademark, and copyright study with an IP certificate and joint JD/LLM. The Trademark Clinic adds client representation. A technical undergraduate degree is not required for the certificate.
Constitutional Law: The Center for Constitutional Law supports a certificate, research fellowships, and scholarly programming on civil rights and government powers. Students can develop sustained research alongside the center's faculty.
Litigation: The Litigation Certificate includes Trial Advocacy I or Summer Trial Academy and advanced litigation coursework. It connects evidence and procedure with the preparation and presentation of cases.
Business and Health Law: The Business Law Certificate and SEED Clinic support transactional interests. The Health Law Certificate combines four health-law courses with a semester externship, connecting regulatory study with work in healthcare organizations.
Professional Responsibility: The Miller Becker Center for Professional Responsibility studies the regulation of lawyers and legal ethics. Its programming brings academic discussion into contact with practicing lawyers and the disciplinary system.
11. Akron Law Clinics and Experiential Learning
Akron's live-client opportunities cover civil representation, entrepreneurship, intellectual property, and relief from the consequences of criminal convictions.
- Reentry Clinic: Students assist with record sealing, qualifying expungements, and certificates that address employment barriers. Client work connects criminal records with the practical obstacles people face after a case ends.
- Civil Litigation Clinic: Also described by the school as its Civil Practice Clinic, this program provides supervised representation through Community Legal Services, including housing matters for low-income clients.
- Small Entrepreneur and Economic Development Clinic: Students help businesses select entities and prepare operating agreements and transaction documents. Past clients include Bent Tree Coffee and the nonprofit Elevate Akron.
- Trademark Clinic: Students interview clients, search existing marks, prepare applications, respond to USPTO office actions, and draft related contracts. Participation requires the relevant prerequisite coursework.
The Ohio Governor's Expedited Pardon Project is a related reentry initiative, not an additional stand-alone clinic. It connects Akron's work with state partners and Ohio State's Drug Enforcement and Policy Center.
Pro Bono and Experiential Learning
Students complete 30 community-service hours, including 15 serving people of limited means and ten attorney-supervised law-related hours. At least five of those ten must serve people of limited means. Externship placements include the Sixth Circuit, Ohio Attorney General, Community Legal Aid, and Cleveland Clinic. Students cannot receive compensation for a placement while earning course credit for it.
12. Akron Law Notable Faculty and Journals
Faculty
- Tracy A. Thomas: Seiberling Chair of Constitutional Law and director of the constitutional-law center. Her work spans constitutional law and remedies; she edits the casebook Remedies: Public and Private.
- Heather Zirke: Associate Professor and Joseph G. Miller Endowed Chair, directing the Miller Becker Center. She previously served as general counsel and bar counsel for the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association.
- G. Ben Cohen: Associate Professor of Law with extensive criminal litigation experience. He co-founded the Capital Appeals Project and previously served as chief of appeals for the Orleans Parish District Attorney's Office.
- Julie Cortes: Assistant Clinical Professor and SEED Clinic director. She previously supervised work at the Legal Aid Society of Cleveland and helped create its Legal Center for Low-Income Entrepreneurs.
Journals
Akron Law Review is the student-edited flagship. Its annual Intellectual Property Edition incorporates the former Akron Intellectual Property Journal. ConLawNOW, supported by the constitutional-law center, is a separate faculty-edited online publication, not another student-edited journal. It publishes short essays on current constitutional law issues.
13. Akron Law Culture and Student Life
Full-time students and working evening students share a school organized around practical legal preparation. Clinics, law review, and advocacy activities offer ways to build relationships through sustained work. The broader university adds campus resources without requiring a residential law-school experience.
Akron's legal community extends into Cleveland and the surrounding northeast Ohio region. The school connects students with local courts, legal-aid organizations, healthcare systems, and businesses. Those relationships are particularly useful when your plans involve Ohio practice rather than a location-independent national job search.
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Related Reading
→ How to Build a Smart Law School List
→ Should You Apply Early Decision to Law School?
→ How to Negotiate Law School Scholarships
→ 6 Proven Steps to Get Off a Law School Waitlist
→ How to Get Into Law School Below Both Medians
→ What Holistic Law School Admissions Really Means
→ Blog Directory
Note: While I try to keep this guide up to date, always verify deadlines, requirements, and policies at the Akron Law website before applying.
Think you spotted an outdated requirement or something that doesn't look right? Email moshe@sharperstatements.com with the school and a link to the current information.
