University of California Irvine School of Law

University of California, Irvine School of Law
UCI School of Law building
Parent school	University of California, Irvine
Established	2008
School type	Public
Parent endowment	$ 504.3 million
Dean	L. Song Richardson, Dean and Professor of Law
Location	Irvine, California, US
Enrollment	338
Faculty	81
USNWR ranking	21
Bar pass rate	79.8%
Website	www.law.uci.edu

The University of California, Irvine School of Law is the law school at the University of California, Irvine. It is the fifth law school in the UC system. In September 2007, Erwin Chemerinsky was named as the law school's first dean. Chemerinsky was hired to be dean of the UC Berkeley School of Law in 2017; L. Song Richardson became interim dean in July 2017 and full dean in January 2018.

Initially, it was announced that the school would be named for Donald Bren, chairman of the Irvine Company, due to his $20 million donation towards its founding. In 2008, an agreement was reached between Bren and UCI that the school would not bear his name, in order to be consistent with other UC schools and the trend away from naming law schools after major donors.

In the summer of 2011, the American Bar Association granted the school provisional accreditation. As law schools need to exist for two years before being granted provisional accreditation, this was the earliest point at which the school could become accredited. The school was granted full accreditation in June 2014.

In hiring an inaugural dean, the University approached Duke University school of law Professor Erwin Chemerinsky. After signing a contract with Chemerinsky on September 4, 2007, the offer was rescinded by then UCI Chancellor Michael V. Drake because he felt the law professor's commentaries were "polarizing" and would not serve the interests of California's first new public law school in 40 years; Drake claimed the decision was his own and not the subject of any outside influence. The action was criticized by liberal and conservative scholars who felt it hindered the academic mission of the law school, and disbelief over Chancellor Drake's claims that it was the subject of no outside influence.

The issue was the subject of a New York Times editorial on Friday, September 14, 2007. Details emerged revealing that UCI had received criticism on the hire from California Chief Justice Ronald M. George, who criticized Chemerinsky's grasp of death penalty appeals, as well as a group of prominent Orange County Republicans and Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich, who wanted to derail the appointment. Drake traveled over a weekend to Durham, North Carolina, and the two reached an agreement late Sunday evening. On September 17, Chemerinsky issued a joint press release with Drake indicating that Chemerinsky would head the UCI law school, stating "Our new law school will be founded on the bedrock principle of academic freedom. The chancellor reiterated his lifelong, unqualified commitment to academic freedom, which extends to every faculty member, including deans and other senior administrators."