The University of Denver Sturm College of Law offers a three-year full-time JD and a four-year hybrid part-time program on its Denver campus. Its strengths include environmental law, business law, public interest, and clinical training.
This guide walks you through how to get into Denver Law.
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1. Denver Law Admissions Numbers and Statistics
Denver Law Classes of 2029 and 2030:
- LSAT: 75th: 163 | Median: 161 | 25th: 157
- GPA: 75th: 3.83 | Median: 3.70 | 25th: 3.42
Denver Law Classes of 2028 and 2029:
- LSAT: 75th: 162 | Median: 160 | 25th: 156
- GPA: 75th: 3.80 | Median: 3.66 | 25th: 3.36
These combined profiles include full-time and part-time entrants. Fall 2026 enrollment was 276, including 233 full-time and 43 part-time students, compared with 285 total in fall 2025. The LSAT median rose one point and the GPA median rose 0.04. Every reported quartile increased across the two entering classes.
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. Denver Law Application Essays
Personal Statement (required)
Denver requires a personal statement of no more than 500 words explaining the circumstances that led you to pursue a legal education. Relevant material includes personal and professional experiences, talents, skills, challenges, and examples of courage, leadership, or determination.
For more on how to write a personal statement, see my Personal Statement Examples and Personal Statement Guide.
Additional Statements (optional)
Applicants may submit one or more additional statements, each limited to 250 words. These can address commitments, life experiences, or other information that adds to the committee's understanding of you.
For more on how to write a diversity or perspective statement, see my Diversity Statement Examples and Diversity Statement Guide.
Chancellor's Scholarship Essay
Applicants for this public-interest scholarship submit a separate essay of up to 1,000 words discussing their public-interest experience. The resume should document that work, and at least one recommender should know it well.
For more on making all of these essays work together, see my Cohesive Narrative Guide.
Addenda
Denver's optional statements also accommodate relevant GPA or test-score context.
I'll be publishing a guide to addenda and character and fitness.
3. Denver Law Resume Requirements
A resume is required and should include education, employment, activities, and honors. Provide dates for every item. Make responsibilities and accomplishments concrete, especially when professional experience explains your interest in the part-time program or a particular field.
For more on preparing your resume, see my Resume Examples and Resume Guide.
4. Denver Law Letters of Recommendation
Denver requires two letters of recommendation. Professors and employers should address analytical ability, writing, and integrity through specific examples. Chancellor's Scholarship applicants should include a recommender familiar with their public-interest work.
For more on recommendations, see my LOR Guide (Applicants) and LOR Guide (Writers).
5. Denver Law Interview Process
DU's six-year bachelor's/JD pathway includes an interview with the Dean of Admissions. This is a requirement of that accelerated undergraduate pathway, not a general interview requirement for every JD applicant.
6. Denver Law Deadlines and Decision Options
Testing Policy
Denver accepts the LSAT, GRE, or JD-Next. Choose the testing route that fits your broader school list rather than considering Denver in isolation.
If you're considering the GRE, read my LSAT vs. GRE guide before deciding.
Application Dates and Fees
- Applications open: September 1
- Chancellor's Scholarship deadline for fall 2027: January 15, 2027, for both the completed JD application and separate scholarship application
- Application fee: $65
Denver reviews applications on a rolling basis and strongly encourages submission in November or December. Decisions generally arrive six to eight weeks after the application is complete. Both first-year JD programs begin in the fall.
Program Formats
The full-time JD ordinarily takes three years. The 90-credit part-time program normally takes four years, with eight on-campus weekends per semester and up to one-third of instruction online. This is a hybrid weekend program, not an entirely online degree.
7. Denver Law Scholarships and Financial Aid
Merit Scholarships
Denver automatically considers applicants for most merit scholarships and does not award need-based grants. Standard merit awards cover six full-time or eight part-time semesters. Most require good academic standing at 2.3 for renewal.
Sturm Elevation Initiative
The initiative provides full tuition and a first-year stipend. Its renewal standard is a 3.0 GPA.
Chancellor's Scholarship
The full-tuition Chancellor's Scholarship requires a separate application, a minimum 3.6 undergraduate GPA and 161 LSAT, and a demonstrated public-interest commitment. Scholars complete 300 service hours before graduation.
Cost and Award Review
For 2026-2027, annual tuition is $63,390 full-time or $46,486 part-time. The full-time cost-of-attendance budget is $90,821, including living allowances, insurance, and fees. The $4,400 insurance charge is waivable with qualifying coverage; the $774 health and counseling fee is not. A separate $90 loan-repayment-assistance fee applies in the first semester and is outside that budget.
Denver does not offer an admissions scholarship negotiation or appeal process. That is different from an appeal concerning scholarship retention after enrollment. Build your decision around the actual offer, renewal conditions, and full cost.
For more on scholarship strategy, see How to Negotiate Law School Scholarships.
8. Denver Law Dual Degree Programs
Denver's dual-degree options include:
- JD/MBA: With the Daniels College of Business.
- JD/Master of Public Policy and JD/Master of Social Work: With the university's corresponding graduate programs.
- JD/MS in Healthcare Leadership: With the College of Professional Studies.
- JD/MS in Legal Administration: Within Sturm College of Law.
- JD/LLM: In Taxation; International Business Transactions; or Global Natural Resources, Energy, and Environmental Law.
- Dual JD with the University of Western Australia: A four-year international option.
Admission to both programs and approval of the combined course plan are required. Denver also permits proposed flexible dual degrees. The sequence and shared credits vary by combination.
9. Denver Law Employment Outcomes (Class of 2025)
Denver Class of 2025 employment outcomes (reported to the ABA, measured 10 months after graduation):
- Full-time, long-term bar-passage-required employment (ABA): 77.2%
- BigLaw (firms with 101+ attorneys): 15.1%
- Federal clerkships: 0.4%
- Public service (including government): 22.8%
Colorado is the dominant employment market, with smaller groups in Washington, DC, and New York. Smaller firms, government, public-interest employers, and state judicial clerkships are substantial parts of the picture. Large-firm employment is one route, not the school's typical graduate outcome. Consider Denver primarily in connection with the region and practice settings where you want to work.
10. Denver Law Areas of Study and Specializations
Environmental and Natural Resources Law: The certificate connects specialized study with practical environmental work. The Rocky Mountain Land Use Institute adds a focus on development and land-use questions through research and professional events. The Environmental Law Clinic supplies a litigation and administrative-practice component.
Corporate and Commercial Law: Students can connect business-focused coursework with transactional experience through the Community Economic Development Clinic or Corporate Externship Program. The JD/MBA offers a separate graduate route for applicants whose goals genuinely require both legal and business training.
Intellectual Property and Technology Law: The Intellectual Property and Technology Law Program covers patent, copyright, trademark, and privacy law. Students develop an upper-level course plan combining doctrinal and experiential work, with events connecting them to practitioners and scholars in Denver's intellectual-property community.
International Legal Studies: The certificate and Ved Nanda Center connect international legal study with questions spanning public and private practice. International Business Transactions graduate study and the Western Australia dual JD provide additional, distinct routes for students with defined cross-border interests.
Animal Law: The certificate sits alongside the Animal Activist Legal Defense Project, where supervised students work on civil and criminal representation. It connects animal-law study with litigation, client counseling, and questions involving constitutional rights rather than treating the subject only as an academic interest.
Denver also offers certificates in Constitutional Rights and Remedies and Workplace Law.
11. Denver Law Clinics and Experiential Learning
Students in the Student Law Office work under faculty supervision with direct responsibility for clients and projects. Its seven clinics include:
- Advancing Social Change: Community-partner projects, policy analysis, and legislative drafting.
- Civil Litigation: Housing, protection-order, employment-discrimination, and wage matters, including interviewing and courtroom work.
- Civil Rights: Litigation involving prisoners' rights, including pleadings, discovery, and written advocacy.
- Community Economic Development: Entity formation, contracts, and tax-exempt applications for nonprofits and small businesses.
- Criminal Defense: Client counseling, investigation, negotiation, and trial preparation in misdemeanor and municipal cases.
- Environmental Law: Administrative and litigation work involving public lands, water, wildlife, and pollution.
- Immigration Law and Policy: Representation of low-income detained clients, including removal-hearing preparation and written advocacy.
Pro Bono and Experiential Learning
The Lorenzo Márquez Program places externs with the Colorado Supreme Court and Court of Appeals for judicial research and writing. The Corporate Externship Program offers in-house and transactional placements. Semester in Practice combines full-time fieldwork in the final year with a seminar for up to 15 credits.
Every JD student must satisfy a 50-hour supervised, uncompensated, law-related public-service requirement. Qualifying clinics, courses, and unpaid externships can satisfy it. Paid externships do not, even when the employer is a government agency or nonprofit.
12. Denver Law Notable Faculty and Journals
Faculty
- Rebecca Aviel: Professor of Law and Maxine Kurtz Faculty Research Scholar. Studies legal ethics, family law, and constitutional law. Her professional experience includes serving as a Ninth Circuit staff attorney, and her scholarship examines professional regulation and access to legal services.
- Alexi Freeman: Professor of the Practice of Law and Associate Dean for Community Support and Engagement. Directs externships and social-justice initiatives. Her work connects public-interest practice with experiential education; she received Denver Law's Robert B. Yegge Excellence in Teaching Award.
- Lindsey Webb: Associate Professor of Law and Ronald V. Yegge Clinical Director. Teaches criminal law, evidence, and clinical advocacy. Before teaching, she worked in both trial and appellate practice with the Colorado State Public Defender.
- Justin Marceau: Professor and Brooks Institute Faculty Research Scholar of Animal Law and Policy. Works in animal law, criminal law, and civil rights. His coauthored book Truth and Transparency received the Tankard Prize in journalism and communication.
Journals
- Denver Law Review, the flagship, publishes scholarship across all areas of law.
- Denver Journal of International Law and Policy: Scholarship on developments in international law.
- Sports and Entertainment Law Journal: Articles on sports and entertainment law.
- Transportation Law Journal: Legal analysis across modes of transportation.
- University of Denver Water Law Review: Scholarship on water law and policy.
13. Denver Law Culture and Student Life
Denver combines a university-campus setting with access to a substantial metropolitan legal community. Clinical work, externships, and public service connect students with practicing lawyers before graduation. The full-time and hybrid part-time programs also bring together students at different stages of their professional lives.
The Student Bar Association, Public Interest Law Group, Land Use Law Society, and Intellectual Property Law Society offer different ways to participate. Part-time students should plan beyond the weekend classroom schedule: client work, placements, and some upper-level opportunities require additional availability. The format accommodates working students without making the rest of law school disappear.
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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 Denver 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.
