Elon Law Review

Elon law is located in downtown Greensboro, giving it an ideal location given its region. There is a wealth of businesses around the school, something that the school takes advantage of with its mentorship program for law students. The school is rather new, having been constructed and established in the mid-2000s. Having said this, although the building is rather small from the outside, inside it comes furnished with all the trappings one would expect of a law school created in the 21st century. When first walking in the door there is a state of the art courtroom with a glass wall to allow easy viewing directly ahead.

Sadly, while I was there I was unable to stay for the entire Open House. It was originally scheduled to run from 2pm-4pm, and having an appointment in Raleigh at 6pm, I needed to get out as close to 4 as possible. I’m sure they had a tour, but with some of the administrators taking a little longer during their sessions speaking to us it ran over. So sadly, I was unable to see the entire school. The Open House consisted of most of the things you would expect, information from Admissions, Financial Aid, Career Services, etc. One pleasant surprise, and something I have yet to experience at any of the other law schools I visited was a live class. However, this wasn’t simply sitting in on a class, but rather a class that a professor came into the room to give to all of the prospective students. Although it was originally labeled on the agenda as a mock trial class, it was certainly more along the lines of a constitutional/criminal law class. It was dumbed down enough and not very in-depth to allow it to only cover about 30 minutes and not really require any prior knowledge. However, it was a very fun experience, and allowed us all to receive the Socratic Method treatment first-hand, possibly in an attempt to ease our fears a bit.

The information sessions we received were excellent. I actually had several of my financial aid related fears put to rest after learning a little more about the advantages of federal student loans, both the unsubsidized Stafford and the Grad Plus, and the amazingness that is the IBR(income-based repayment). Otherwise Elon seemed quite routine as far as law schools go. 1L classes are the basic Torts, Constitutional law, Crim law, civil procedure, legal writing etc., routine that everyone else mandates. Elon does require its students to pick at least one of four concentrations for their degree by the end of their 2L year though. Although this may sound limiting, the categories are quite broad and there is no limit to stick with just one concentration. Students easily pick up a second concentration, and roughly half of all students classes are electives that are freely chosen.

As far as the building is concerned, I was unfortunately unable to see a ton of it. As far as food options go, Elon is better than most law schools I’ve visited. They have a coffee shop called “Legal Grounds” for students on the second floor and this area was absolutely jam-packed with law students when I arrived. Parking also wasn’t a problem at all. There is a massive parking deck literally across the street. As well as on-street parking all around the law school. Food options seemed a little scarce, although I only saw about a one to two block radius around the school, where I grabbed some delicious Quiznos.

*I’ll be sure to actually sign-up to a take a tour at Elon ASAP. After doing so, I’ll be sure to update this article and notify all of you.

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