Loyola Marymount University's Loyola Law School is based in downtown Los Angeles, with day and hybrid evening JD programs. Its strengths include entertainment, tax, intellectual property, and public-interest practice, supported by extensive clinics.
This guide walks you through how to get into Loyola Los Angeles Law.
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1. Loyola Los Angeles Law Admissions Numbers and Statistics
Loyola Los Angeles Law Class of 2029:
- LSAT: 75th: 166 | Median: 164 | 25th: 160
- GPA: 75th: 3.91 | Median: 3.79 | 25th: 3.61
Loyola Los Angeles Law Class of 2028:
- LSAT: 75th: 165 | Median: 163 | 25th: 161
- GPA: 75th: 3.91 | Median: 3.77 | 25th: 3.55
Between fall 2025 and fall 2026, Loyola's day-program LSAT median rose from 163 to 164 and its GPA median rose from 3.77 to 3.79. The lower LSAT quartile fell from 161 to 160. Fall 2026 evening medians were 163 and 3.57. Use the division that matches your application when judging your position.
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. Loyola Los Angeles Law Application Essays
Personal Statement (required)
Submit a personal statement of no more than three double-spaced pages, using at least 10-point type. Loyola gives you space to explain the experiences, qualities, and motivations that distinguish your application.
For more on how to write a personal statement, see my Personal Statement Examples and Personal Statement Guide.
Identity Statement (optional)
The identity statement allows up to two pages about your background, circumstances, or adversity and how those experiences would shape your contribution.
For more on how to write a diversity or perspective statement, see my Diversity Statement Examples and Diversity Statement Guide.
Law Interest Statement (optional)
This one-page statement addresses your interest in law and Loyola, including its mission, clinics, or concentrations.
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)
Academic or test explanations should generally be half a page to one page, double-spaced, in at least 10-point type. Explain a difference of four or more LSAT points factually. Required character-and-fitness explanations are separate; an application requiring one is incomplete without it.
I'll be publishing a guide to addenda and character and fitness.
3. Loyola Los Angeles Law Resume Requirements
A resume is optional but strongly recommended, with a two-page limit. Include education, employment, service, leadership, and relevant interests. Describe responsibilities and results rather than relying on impressive job titles. Make dates and overlapping commitments easy to understand.
For more on preparing your resume, see my Resume Examples and Resume Guide.
4. Loyola Los Angeles Law Letters of Recommendation
Loyola requires one recommendation and accepts up to two. Academic recommendations are preferred, although an employer can be appropriate. Choose someone who can describe your work firsthand, not a family member or a prestigious name with little substance. See my guide to letters of recommendation.
For more on recommendations, see my LOR Guide (Applicants) and LOR Guide (Writers).
5. Loyola Los Angeles Law Interview Process
Loyola grants admissions interviews only at the Admissions Committee's request. Include the information you want considered in your written application; an applicant cannot request an interview as an additional application component.
6. Loyola Los Angeles Law Deadlines and Early Decision
Testing Policy
Loyola accepts the LSAT or GRE. The GRE-only route is for applicants who have not taken and do not plan to take the LSAT; submit all reportable GRE scores.
If you're considering the GRE, read my LSAT vs. GRE guide before deciding.
Application Dates and Fees
- Applications Open: September 15, 2026, for fall 2027.
- Priority Deadlines: February 1, 2027, for day; April 15, 2027, for evening.
- Application Fee: Waived through December 31, 2026; $75 thereafter, except for LMU students and alumni.
- Final LSAT: April 2027 for day; June 2027 for evening.
- Final GRE: April 15, 2027, for day; June 1, 2027, for evening.
Early Decision
- Binding Early Decision Deadline: December 1, 2026, including the signed agreement; the LSAT route requires testing by November.
- Early Decision Notification: Mailed by December 31, 2026.
Admitted ED applicants must withdraw other applications, decline other offers, submit no new applications, and pay the January deposit. Incomplete ED files move to general review. Scholarship consideration continues, but ordinary awards follow binding admission. Regular review begins in December and proceeds on a rolling basis.
For a full breakdown of early decision strategy, see Should You Apply Early Decision to Law School?
Day and Evening Programs
The Hybrid JD Evening Program takes four years, including three summers. First-year classes ordinarily combine Monday on campus with one virtual evening, mostly from 6–10 p.m. Upper-division choices may require more campus attendance. Applicants may rank day and evening divisions for consideration in both.
7. Loyola Los Angeles Law Scholarships and Financial Aid
Tuition and Fees
For 2026-2027, day tuition is $73,000, with $1,026 in general student and student-bar fees. Evening tuition is $54,180, with $748 in those fees. The published off-campus budgets are $119,600 for day students and $100,502 for evening students, including living expenses and other allowances. Year-specific bar expenses are added separately.
Merit Scholarships
Loyola considers admitted applicants for merit scholarships. Some awards require a 2.80 GPA, rather than merely remaining enrolled in good standing. The school's disclosure says approximately three-quarters of the class meet that threshold; a forfeited conditional award is not restored. In the 2024-2025 entering scholarship group, 36 of 216 conditional awards were reduced or eliminated.
The Public Interest Scholars Program requires an additional statement from interested admitted students. A granted admission deferral does not carry the scholarship forward; applicants are reconsidered in the next pool.
For more on scholarship strategy, see How to Negotiate Law School Scholarships.
8. Loyola Los Angeles Law Joint Degree Programs
Loyola offers two focused combined-degree routes:
- JD/MBA, with LMU's College of Business Administration, designed for completion in four years. Applicants complete the separate business-school application process as well as law admission.
- JD/Tax LLM, integrating advanced tax training into a three-year sequence within the Law School. The structure leaves the second-year summer available for employment.
The two combinations serve different interests: broader business study or an accelerated tax specialization.
9. Loyola Los Angeles Law Employment Outcomes (Class of 2025)
Loyola Class of 2025 employment outcomes (reported to the ABA, measured 10 months after graduation):
- Full-time, long-term bar-passage-required employment (ABA): 85.7%
- BigLaw (firms with 101+ attorneys): 25.3%
- Federal clerkships: 1.0%
- Public service (including government): 12.0%
Loyola's outcomes support a practical Los Angeles strategy: substantial private-practice placement alongside government and public-interest work. Large firms are a meaningful part of the picture, but most graduates do not enter firms of that size. Compare the scholarship-adjusted cost with the work you actually want, especially when public service is the goal.
10. Loyola Los Angeles Law Areas of Study and Specializations
Entertainment and media law: The Entertainment and Media Law concentration and entertainment journal give this interest an academic home.
Tax law: Loyola's Tax LLM and integrated JD/Tax LLM provide an advanced route beyond introductory tax courses. The field connects statutory interpretation with business planning, transactions, and disputes, making the sequence especially relevant to applicants who enjoy technical analysis.
Civil litigation: The Civil Litigation concentration complements trial and appellate clinics. Students can move from evidence and procedure into supervised work on records, briefs, and hearings, building an understanding of how a case changes as it moves through the courts.
Immigrant advocacy: The Immigrant Advocacy concentration and Loyola Immigrant Justice Clinic connect immigration study with community-based legal work. This is a concrete fit for applicants whose service, employment, or academic interests already involve migration and access to representation.
Corporate law and intellectual property: Separate concentrations support business and IP interests, while the Transactional Lawyering Institute gives students a setting to advise entrepreneurs. The useful connection is between legal doctrine and a client's decisions about structure, agreements, and protection of intangible assets.
11. Loyola Los Angeles Law Clinics and Experiential Learning
Clinics and Client Work
- California Appellate Law Clinic: Students help self-represented civil litigants with intake, appellate briefs, and oral argument preparation. Enrollment preference for evening-hybrid students makes this particularly relevant to that division.
- Loyola Project for the Innocent: Students investigate wrongful-conviction claims and work on post-conviction relief, including habeas matters, through a yearlong commitment.
- Ninth Circuit Appellate Clinic: Students handle civil and immigration appeals, examine the record, write opening and reply briefs, and prepare for argument before the federal appeals court.
- Workers' Rights Clinic: Students assist low-wage workers through interviews, declarations, legal briefs, mediation, and hearings, connecting employment doctrine with individual disputes.
- Juvenile Justice Clinic: Students represent young people in delinquency proceedings, investigate allegations, interview clients, and prepare motions and trial work alongside a multidisciplinary team.
- Shriver Landlord Tenant Clinic: Students work with low-income tenants facing eviction, developing pleadings and discovery, negotiating, and preparing cases for trial.
- Transactional Lawyering Institute: Corporate and intellectual-property tracks involve advising startups and other clients on business and trademark matters rather than litigating a simulated case.
Pro Bono and Experiential Learning
Externships provide another route into practice, including documented student work at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Loyola also requires 40 hours of supervised, unpaid pro bono work. Plan the clinic, externship, and service commitments alongside the rest of your schedule.
Named opportunities include Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA), which provides free tax preparation to low-income individuals and families, and the Law School Day of Service, when students volunteer legal services in the community.
12. Loyola Los Angeles Law Notable Faculty and Journals
Faculty
- Justin Levitt, Professor of Law and Gerald T. McLaughlin Fellow, works on constitutional law and democracy. He served as the White House's first Senior Policy Advisor for Democracy and Voting Rights and previously held a senior Justice Department civil-rights role.
- Katherine (Katie) Pratt, Professor of Law and Sayre Macneil Fellow, studies tax policy, including medical-expense and food-tax questions. She coauthors Federal Income Taxation: Examples & Explanations.
- Theodore P. Seto, Professor of Law and holder of the Hon. Frederick J. Lower Jr. Chair, teaches tax and property. His scholarship follows substantial tax practice at Foley Hoag and Drinker Biddle.
- Justin Hughes, the Hon. William Matthew Byrne Jr. Distinguished Professor of Law, works on intellectual property and international trade. He was the chief U.S. negotiator for the Beijing and Marrakesh copyright treaties.
Journals
- Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review: Analysis of developing law.
- Loyola of Los Angeles International and Comparative Law Review: International and comparative legal scholarship.
- Loyola of Los Angeles Entertainment Law Review: Scholarship on entertainment, sports and intellectual property law.
Upper-division day and evening students can participate through the writing competition.
13. Loyola Los Angeles Law Culture and Student Life
The law school occupies LMU's downtown Los Angeles campus, separate from the university's Westchester campus. That distinction matters for housing, commuting, and the daily experience of attending class. The day and evening programs create different rhythms within the same law-school community.
Student groups include First Lawyers in Progress, the Black Law Students Association, the Asian Pacific American Law Students Association, and Women in Entertainment Law Society. Clinics, journals, and affinity organizations offer different ways to build relationships. Choose commitments that match your interests and leave room to do the work well.
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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 Loyola Los Angeles 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.