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Welcome to Penn State's Dickinson Law!
Before we get started, let me explain the many ways that you can explore our beautiful law school.
You can click on the front facing arrow to start walking around our law school.
You can also jump to the next stop or the previous stop by clicking on the "Next" or "Previous" buttons.
If you already know where you want to go, you can select any location by using the list.
Finally, keep in mind that you can explore any particular location in more detail by clicking on the icons labeled 360s, photos, or videos.
South College Street Entrance
Tour stop audio transcript
From the front steps of Dickinson Law, you can see the historical marker that recognizes us as the oldest law school in Pennsylvania. Founded in 1834, Dickinson Law is also the fifth oldest law school in the United States. Thanks to the generosity of The Pennsylvania State University, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and several alumni donors, we were able to renovate our law school's historic home and build a new state-of-the-art addition. Our facilities are LEED certified and equipped with a high-definition digital audiovisual telecommunication system. We even have an environmentally-friendly vegetated green roof designed to clean storm water runoff and regulate the building's temperature.
Legislative Hearing Room
Tour stop audio transcript
The Legislative Hearing Room is located in Dickinson Law's historic Trickett Hall. The 840-square-foot room is among the most beautiful and memorable spaces within the renovated building, which has helped Dickinson Law to earn recognition as one of the top 10 law education facilities in the country. As the Law School's home since 1918, Trickett Hall is a destination for returning alumni and distinguished visitors as well as for every prospective and current student, and the Hearing Room is integral to the Dickinson Law experience. Used for panel discussions by the Admissions Office, the 34-seat room is one of the first spaces that Dickinson Law students encounter, and one that they return to throughout their education for our trial advocacy training program, moot court meetings, and mock oral arguments.
The H. Laddie Montague, Jr. Law Library - Reference Area
Tour stop audio transcript
The H. Laddie Montague, Jr. Law Library is a 3-floor, state-of-the-art research facility that offers a variety of attractive study spaces. In addition to providing access to legal and non-legal resources, the library offers a range of services designed to support the law school curriculum, promote the advancement of legal scholarship, and fulfill the informational needs of its users including students, faculty, and members of the public. Our library is open to the public during regular business hours, but Dickinson Law students have unlimited 24/7 access to both the library and the Law School.
The H. Laddie Montague, Jr. Law Library - Upper Level
Tour stop audio transcript
Our library houses several hundred thousand legal resources onsite and offers ready access to millions more interdisciplinary resources through Penn State's world-renowned research libraries. The second floor features an open research environment infused with natural light and pervasive technology. Researchers have a choice of comfortable soft seating, large work tables, quiet study spaces, and group conference rooms. Experienced, welcoming law librarians are available in person and virtually to assist researchers and respond to student questions. Indeed, the Law Library at Dickinson Law is truly a dynamic commons space as well as a key resource for the entire Law School community.
Faculty Wing trail
Faculty Wing
Tour stop audio transcript
One benefit of Dickinson Law's intentionally-small community is that law students are able to build strong and lasting relationships with professors. Our faculty prides itself on being accessible—professors have open door policies rather than "office hours." Significantly, all of our faculty members have actually practiced law, and they continue to engage nationally and internationally with the legal profession through pro bono litigation, mediation, advisory committees, and scholarship. Our full-time faculty is complemented by a skilled adjunct faculty of practicing attorneys and judges who translate years of legal experience into exercises of critical thinking and problem solving.
Apfelbaum Family Courtroom trail
Apfelbaum Family Courtroom & Auditorium
Tour stop audio transcript
The Apfelbaum Family Courtroom & Auditorium features a state-of-the-art courtroom with a 200-seat observatory. In keeping with the theory that trial advocacy is best learned by "doing," the Apfelbaum Family Courtroom & Auditorium allows our students to do exactly that. Our advocacy classes meet here, our 1L mock trial teams compete here, and our moot court and trial teams practice here. Because this space is designed to be functional, the mobile podium and moveable counsel tables are easily able to accommodate varied speakers and events.
Ridge Commons trail
Ridge Commons
Tour stop audio transcript
On a daily basis we strive to foster a sense of community and mutual support between and among faculty, students, and staff, and in our interactions outside Dickinson Law. We not only view community as a proper ethos but also believe that cultivating the interpersonal skills, respect, and tolerance that promote community will enable our students to more professionally and sensitively counsel their clients and accomplish their professional goals.
Lecture Style Classroom
Tour stop audio transcript
All of the classrooms at Dickinson Law are equipped with high definition audio-visual technology. We have the ability to record classes, and students may be granted permission to view class recordings in the event of an excused absence or to prepare for a final exam. An added benefit of this technology is that we are able to bring in speakers from around the world to electronically "guest lecture" in real time with the simple click of a button.
Seminar Style Classroom trail
Career Services Office trail
Career Services Office
Tour stop audio transcript
Dickinson Law graduates are highly employable because our reimagined curriculum provides a solid foundation of legal theory and doctrine, combined with experiential learning opportunities and extra-legal competencies. Additionally, our intentionally small class size helps with job placement in a contracting legal marketplace. The Career Services Office provides a variety of services including on-campus interviews; individual career counseling; mock interviews with alumni; a resource room; and an electronic career portal with job postings that is available to both current students and alumni.
Alumni and Development Office trail
Alumni & Development Office
Tour stop audio transcript
Graduates of our law school become part of two great alumni networks—the Dickinson Law alumni network and the Penn State alumni network. Through the Dickinson Law alumni network, our students have access to the oldest law school alumni network in Pennsylvania, and through the Penn State University alumni network, our students are tapped into the largest active dues-paying alumni network in the world. Members of both of these vast networks are always eager to help our students.
Student Services
Tour stop audio transcript
We recognize that like the practice of law, the study of law requires that students find activities outside the classroom that enrich their lives and their experience at Dickinson Law. To this end, our Student Services Office provides opportunities for students to become involved in co-curricular activities like law review and moot court as well as extracurricular activities like the Student Bar Association, intramural sports, yoga, and meditation.
Downtown Carlisle
Tour stop audio transcript
The town of Carlisle is infinitely walkable--and bikeable, too. Everything you need is easily accessible. In fact, most Dickinson Law students find reasonably-priced housing close to the school for just that reason. We are fortunate that our Law School sits within a region of unparalleled beauty, culture, and opportunity for personal and professional growth. The historic town of Carlisle features our valued neighbor, Dickinson College; a variety of restaurants, shops, and galleries; an independent movie theatre; a farmers' market; and much more. We were not surprised that Forbes Magazine/Forbes.com recently ranked the Harrisburg/Carlisle region as one of America's most livable cities.
Entrance to the Clinic Building
Tour stop audio transcript
Our students don't just study law, they learn how to put those lessons to work in real-world situations. Dickinson Law students have the option to participate in a variety of legal clinics during their second and third years. As certified legal interns, our students provide a much-needed public service while sharpening their legal skills and broadening their practice experience in a real-life legal setting. Under the guidance of clinical faculty, our students offer helpful legal services to area residents and public interest organizations that can't afford private legal representation.
Children's Advocacy Clinic trail
Children's Advocacy Clinic
Tour stop audio transcript
Our Children's Advocacy Clinic provides an experiential learning opportunity for law students to develop basic lawyering skills involved in client representation and policy advocacy on behalf of child clients. This clinic receives court appointments to provide legal representation for children who are abused or neglected, and law students who choose to work in this clinic are expected to interview clients, draft legal documents, and argue cases in court. The Children's Advocacy Clinic is an interdisciplinary law office where law students partner with graduate-level social work interns and medical residents to meet the child client's legal interests. Students also work to address broader policy issues that impact children involved in the child welfare system.
Community Law Clinic trail
Community Law Clinic
Tour stop audio transcript
Our Community Law Clinic represents individuals living near or below the poverty line in matters of family and disability law. Students represent clients through every level of either the state common pleas court system or the federal court system. This clinic provides students with opportunities to gain valuable hands-on training serving a segment of the population that is generally underserved because of financial hardship. Under the supervision of a clinical professor, students represent individuals involved in family law matters such as divorce, support, custody, adoption, and protection from abuse; and in disability law matters such as ability discrimination, special education, Americans with Disabilities Act claims, and Social Security Disability Claims.
Legal and Regulatory Advocacy Clinic trail
Medical-Legal Partnership Clinic trail
Medical-Legal Partnership Clinic
Tour stop audio transcript
Our Medical-Legal Partnership Clinic introduces students to cutting-edge issues at the intersection of law, medicine, and poverty. A basic tenet of public health is that health disparities are linked to social and economic disadvantage. Often, a legal intervention can solve or alleviate the obstacles to health that are most prevalent in vulnerable communities. Students in this clinic work with medical professionals at Penn State Hershey Medical Center to come up with interdisciplinary solutions to improve patients' health and to resolve their civil legal issues.
Closing trail
Closing Message
Tour stop audio transcript
At Dickinson Law, the overarching mission of our faculty is to produce profession-ready lawyers who are equipped with the doctrinal knowledge, practical skills, and extra-legal competencies necessary to excel in an increasingly global legal market. The hallmarks of a Dickinson Law education are a unique curriculum that—from the very first day of law school—relies heavily on experiential learning to prepare our students to practice law, and a supportive community. If you're interested in learning more about us, visiting us in person, or applying to attend Dickinson Law, follow the prompts at the conclusion of this tour. We look forward to hearing from you!
