History

General Information

| Nondiscrimination Policy | Resource Center |

History

In 1895, three young lawyers with energy and vision, William P. Borland, Edward D. Ellison and Elmer N. Powell, founded the Kansas City School of Law with the active assistance of leading members of the bench and bar. Borland, the first dean of the school, was elected to Congress in 1910 and was succeeded by Ellison, who served as dean until the School of Law merged with the University of Kansas City in 1938. After affiliation with the University of Missouri System in 1963, the school assumed its present name as the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law.

Accreditation

The school is accredited by the American Bar Association and is a member of the Association of American Law Schools.

Law Building

Nestled among giant oak trees on the corner of 52nd and Oak Streets, at the center of Kansas City and at the center of the nation, is the UMKC School of Law. Among the unique features of this building are "virtual office" suites shared by faculty and students. The School of Law continues to take great pride in its efforts to foster faculty-student interaction. Many LL.M. students are assigned to student offices or carrels located within suites that also house their professors' offices.

This "intellectual migration" was designed to foster the exchange of ideas and more generally to promote collegiality between faculty and staff. As a further step, the tax, business, and estate planning suite houses a virtual office featuring state-of-the-art computers linked to primary servers in the Law Library's Virtual Classroom, in a conference-style setting.

Law Library

The Leon E. Bloch Law Library is a comfortable, efficient and user-friendly facility. The library contains holdings in all major areas of legal scholarship and practice. It is especially strong in the materials needed by students for law study. Most of the collection is on open shelves, with ample research and study space provided by tables and study carrels.

Electronic Resource Center

Technology has reshaped legal publishing in ways that will forever alter how attorneys and judges approach their work. The information professionals of the Leon E. Bloch Law Library have embraced this transformation in creating a state-of-the art Electronic Resource Center. The center has four major components: The Virtual Law Classroom, comprised of 20 Pentium-processor equipped computers, provides a teaching resource for instruction in the use of digital/optical databases; the Internet and World Wide Web; and multiple software applications of use to law students and lawyers. When not used as a classroom, these machines are available for library patrons. The Law Student Computing Center provides 15 Pentium-processor equipped computers exclusively reserved for use by law students. All of the resources available in the Virtual Law Classroom, plus additional law student-related software and CD-ROMs are also available on this equipment. In addition, software necessary for accessing multiple database services from home is available.

Disabled Student Services

The University of Missouri-Kansas City endeavors to make all activities, programs and services accessible to students with disabilities. A campus coordinator for disabled student services is available to advise students and arrange for reasonable accommodations concerning all aspects of campus life. It is important that students contact the coordinator at least six weeks prior to the beginning of classes to arrange for providing appropriate documentation and the prescribing of reasonable accommodations in the classroom. For information call (816) 235-5696. Speech and hearing impaired use Relay Missouri, 1-800-735-2966 (TT) or 1-800-735-2466 (Voice).

Nondiscrimination Policy

The Board of Curators of the University of Missouri and the University of Missouri-Kansas City are committed to the policy that there shall be no discrimination on the basis of race, color, creed, sex, age, national origin, disability, or Vietnam era veteran status. This policy pertains to educational programs, admissions, activities and employment practices. Pursuant to and in addition to this policy, the University abides by the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act, Titles VI and VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Revised Order No. 4, Executive Orders 11246 and 11375, Sections 799A and 845 of the Public Health Service Act, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, Sections 503 and 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Section 402 of the Vietnam Era Veterans' Readjustment Act of 1974, and other federal regulations and pertinent acts of Congress. The vice provost for affirmative action, located in room 354 Administrative Center (5115 Oak), is responsible for all relevant programs and may be contacted at (816) 235-1323 or 235-2721. Speech and hearing impaired use Relay Missouri: 1-800-735-2966 (TT) or 1-800-735-2466 (Voice).

Comments or Questions to law@umkc.edu