Cumberland School of Law

Cumberland School of Law The official Facebook account for Samford University's Cumberland School of Law. Second, Lawyering and Legal Reasoning. Third, our location.

Founded in 1847, Cumberland School of Law is one of the nation's oldest law schools and is nationally recognized for trial advocacy and quality instruction. Our Juris Doctor curriculum trains students to practice in all areas of law, including corporate law, trial advocacy, health law, environmental law and public interest law. There are three components to the law school that combine to create it

s successful academic environment:

First, the collegial, scholarly interaction between its faculty and students. Known on and off campus simply as LLR, this comprehensive, cutting-edge writing course gives each first-year student hands-on experience in skills that range from the initial client interview through the preparation and presentation of an appellate brief. Cumberland School of Law is situated on Samford University’s campus near downtown Birmingham, one of the legal hubs of the Southeast. Our proximity to this dynamic market offers our students an environment rich with opportunities for externships and extracurricular activities that enhance the classroom experience. In addition to the Juris Doctor degree, Cumberland School of Law offers the Master of Laws (LL.M.) for lawyers and Master of Studies in Law (M.S.L.) for nonlawyers, both completely online. Cumberland School of Law is part of Samford University, which is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.

We’re excited to host the 2025 Thurgood Marshall Symposium on Thursday, Feb 6, presented by the Black Law Students Assoc...
01/24/2025

We’re excited to host the 2025 Thurgood Marshall Symposium on Thursday, Feb 6, presented by the Black Law Students Association.

This year’s topic will be centered around the 70th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education. Our speaker, Victor M. Jones, is senior counsel at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.

Join us as we reflect on the fulfilled and unfulfilled promises of the landmark case.

Thanks to the generosity of Dee Miles, JD ’89, and his wife, Sandra, a $1 million gift will help ensure Cumberland Schoo...
01/23/2025

Thanks to the generosity of Dee Miles, JD ’89, and his wife, Sandra, a $1 million gift will help ensure Cumberland School of Law's nationally recognized advocacy program remains a pillar of excellence in advocacy education for years to come.

The long-term commitment from the Miles family goes beyond a monetary donation. Through their gift, they hope any law student who desires to be a trial lawyer will take full advantage of Cumberland’s advocacy program to fulfill their dreams.

“The courtroom equalizes the parties, and it’s the only fair forum for a victim to find justice,” Miles said. “Those victims need trial lawyers to be their voice. We are proud of Cumberland’s rich history of producing some of this country’s finest trial lawyers. We want that reputation to continue and that ‘brand’ to thrive in the legal marketplace well into the future.”

Read the full story here: https://www.samford.edu/law/news/2025/Samfords-Cumberland-School-of-Law-Receives-1-Million-Gift-to-Continue-Legacy-of-Excellence-in-Advocacy

Selected Cumberland School of Law students qualified as Scholars of Merit and received the CALI Award for the fall 2024 ...
01/22/2025

Selected Cumberland School of Law students qualified as Scholars of Merit and received the CALI Award for the fall 2024 term. The courses in which the students received this recognition are listed as well as the professors who taught the courses. Congratulations to the students listed at the news link in our bio and stories.

Selected Cumberland School of Law students qualified as Scholars of Merit and received the CALI Award for the fall 2024 ...
01/22/2025

Selected Cumberland School of Law students qualified as Scholars of Merit and received the CALI Award for the fall 2024 term. The courses in which the students received this recognition are listed as well as the professors who taught the courses. Congratulations to these students:

The following Cumberland School of Law students qualified as Scholars of Merit for the fall 2024 term.

Tomorrow! Join us and Alabama Appleseed Center for Law & Justice for a special evening with Matthew Martens, author of "...
01/22/2025

Tomorrow! Join us and Alabama Appleseed Center for Law & Justice for a special evening with Matthew Martens, author of "Reforming Criminal Justice: A Christian Proposal".

Martens is a trial lawyer, a former federal prosecutor, a seminary graduate, a legal ethics professor and an award-winning author.

Learn more: samford.edu/law/events/Reforming-Criminal-Justice-in-Alabama-A-Christian-Proposal

Looking for your first CLE credits of 2025? On January 31, join our Continuing Legal Education department and the Land U...
01/21/2025

Looking for your first CLE credits of 2025?

On January 31, join our Continuing Legal Education department and the Land Use & Natural Resources Law Center for a half day institute focusing on regulatory alternatives to direct federal environmental regulation in view of a federal administrative state. The symposium will highlight the development of private governance, environmental markets, and taxation policies to fill environmental regulatory gaps.

Learn more and register here: samford.edu/law/events/continuing-education/live-seminars/Environmental-Regulatory-Alternatives-in-a-Diminished-Administrative-State

We look forward to hosting our Spring Open House on Friday, Feb. 21, 2025. Our open house events allow prospective law s...
01/19/2025

We look forward to hosting our Spring Open House on Friday, Feb. 21, 2025.

Our open house events allow prospective law students the opportunity to tour the law school, hear from faculty and students, learn about scholarships and fellowships, discover our programs and centers and gain an understanding of the admission process.

Registration is now open here: samford.edu/law/events/Cumberland-School-of-Law-Spring-Open-House

Brannon P. Denning, the Starnes Professor of Law, has been announced as a recipient of the 2025 Thomas M. Cooley Book Pr...
01/17/2025

Brannon P. Denning, the Starnes Professor of Law, has been announced as a recipient of the 2025 Thomas M. Cooley Book Prize by Georgetown Law’s Center for the Constitution. The annual award recognizes exceptional books, and their authors, that advance our understanding of, and commitment to, the Constitution.

Denning will be recognized alongside his co-author, Robert J. Cottrol, for their collaborative work, "To Trust the People with Arms: The Supreme Court and the Second Amendment." The book examines the historical, legal and cultural underpinnings of the Second Amendment, offering an in-depth exploration of the Supreme Court’s evolving jurisprudence surrounding the right to keep and bear arms. Their work provides a balanced and scholarly treatment of a deeply contested constitutional issue, situating the Second Amendment within broader questions of liberty, government power and historical interpretation.

samford.edu/law/news/2025/Denning-Named-Cooley-Book-Prize-Recipient-by-Georgetown-Law-Center-for-the-Constitution

Cumberland School of Law recognizes excellence in academic achievement each semester by publishing a Dean’s List. Includ...
01/15/2025

Cumberland School of Law recognizes excellence in academic achievement each semester by publishing a Dean’s List. Included on the list are students whose end-of-semester GPA is 3.3 or higher. Congratulations to the following students who qualified for the fall 2024 Dean's List: samford.edu/law/news/2025/Deans-List-Announced-for-Fall-2024.

Birmingham area attorneys: join us for our Market Mixer event this Thursday, Jan. 16, hosted by the Cumberland Law Revie...
01/13/2025

Birmingham area attorneys: join us for our Market Mixer event this Thursday, Jan. 16, hosted by the Cumberland Law Review, the American Journal of Trial Advocacy and the Career Development Office.

Learn more and register: samford.edu/go/lawmixer

We look forward to hosting our annual Cordell Hull Speakers Forum on Jan. 30. Our 2025 event will feature Tracy Walder, ...
01/12/2025

We look forward to hosting our annual Cordell Hull Speakers Forum on Jan. 30. Our 2025 event will feature Tracy Walder, former CIA and FBI special agent and author of "The Unexpected Spy."

Walder worked as staff operations officer at the Central Intelligence Agency's Counterterrorism Center Weapons of Mass Destruction Group. During her time at the CIA, she traveled to Afghanistan, Jordan, Uzbekistan, Algeria, Morocco, Denmark, Sweden, Italy and England. During this time she received many awards for her service from both the CIA and from foreign intelligence offices as well. Among her awards were four Exceptional Performance Awards from the director of the CIA, two Special Activity Awards, a Meritorious Unit Citation Award, a DCI Counterterrorism Center Medal, and two Operation Enduring Freedom Targeting Awards. After the CIA, she became a special agent at the FBI's Los Angeles Field Office specializing in Chinese counterintelligence operations. She is a sought after public speaker through the World Affairs Council.

We look forward to hosting our Spring Open House on Friday, Feb. 21. Our open house events allow prospective law student...
01/10/2025

We look forward to hosting our Spring Open House on Friday, Feb. 21.

Our open house events allow prospective law students the opportunity to tour the law school, hear from faculty and students, learn about scholarships and fellowships, discover our programs and centers and gain an understanding of the admission process.

Registration is required and will open here on Jan. 15: samford.edu/law/events/Cumberland-School-of-Law-Spring-Open-House

Professor Tracey Roberts has been elected to the Executive Committee of the Tax Section for the Association of American ...
01/09/2025

Professor Tracey Roberts has been elected to the Executive Committee of the Tax Section for the Association of American Law Schools (AALS). She will be presenting Energy Community Credit Impediments in Alabama and Kentucky in the Clean Energy and Community Economic Development session, co-sponsored by the Community Economic Development and the Environmental Law Sections on January 11 at the AALS annual meeting in San Francisco.

We look forward to partnering with Alabama Appleseed Center for Law & Justice for a special evening with Matthew Martens...
01/06/2025

We look forward to partnering with Alabama Appleseed Center for Law & Justice for a special evening with Matthew Martens, author of "Reforming Criminal Justice: A Christian Proposal" on January 23.

Martens is a trial lawyer, a former federal prosecutor, a seminary graduate, a legal ethics professor and an award-winning author.

Learn more: samford.edu/law/events/Reforming-Criminal-Justice-in-Alabama-A-Christian-Proposal

Birmingham area attorneys are invited to mix and mingle with Cumberland School of Law students at our Market Mixer event...
01/03/2025

Birmingham area attorneys are invited to mix and mingle with Cumberland School of Law students at our Market Mixer event on Jan. 16, hosted by the Cumberland Law Review, the American Journal of Trial Advocacy and the Career Development Office.

Learn more and register here: samford.edu/go/lawmixer

Happy New Year! Although it's only January, it's not too early to make your summer plans!Join us at the Balmoral Hotel i...
01/02/2025

Happy New Year! Although it's only January, it's not too early to make your summer plans!

Join us at the Balmoral Hotel in Edinburgh, Scotland, for the second annual Art of Advocacy CLE conference, June 29-July 1.

Our early bird rate ends March 1. Don't wait!

samford.edu/law/study-abroad -opportunity

Happy New Year! As we jump into 2025, we hope you'll join us for these events to kick off the year:🔴 January 16: Market ...
01/01/2025

Happy New Year! As we jump into 2025, we hope you'll join us for these events to kick off the year:

🔴 January 16: Market Mixer, hosted by Cumberland Law Review, American Journal of Trial Advocacy and the Career Development Office

🔵 January 23, Reforming Criminal Justice in Alabama: A Christian Proposal, featuring bestselling author Matthew Martens, in partnership with Alabama Appleseed Center for Law & Justice

🔴 January 23: Advocacy Fundraiser Event in Clearwater, Florida

🔵 January 24: Mandatory Professionalism CLE Seminar

🔴 January 30: Cordell Hull Speakers Forum, featuring Tracy Walder, former CIA and FBI special agent and author of The Unexpected Spy

🔵 January 31: CLE Environmental Regulatory Alternatives in a Diminished Administrative State

🔴 February 6: Thurgood Marshall Symposium, featuring Victor Jones, senior counsel at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund

🔵 February 7: Healthcare Ethics & Law Conference, hosted by Samford's Healthcare Ethics and Law Institute

View these event details and more: samford.edu/law/events/

We look forward to hosting our annual Cordell Hull Speakers Forum on Jan. 30, 2025. Our 2025 event will feature Tracy Wa...
12/30/2024

We look forward to hosting our annual Cordell Hull Speakers Forum on Jan. 30, 2025.

Our 2025 event will feature Tracy Walder, former CIA and FBI special agent and author of "The Unexpected Spy."

Walder worked as staff operations officer at the Central Intelligence Agency's Counterterrorism Center Weapons of Mass Destruction Group. During her time at the CIA, she traveled to Afghanistan, Jordan, Uzbekistan, Algeria, Morocco, Denmark, Sweden, Italy and England. During this time she received many awards for her service from both the CIA and from foreign intelligence offices as well. Among her awards were four Exceptional Performance Awards from the director of the CIA, two Special Activity Awards, a Meritorious Unit Citation Award, a DCI Counterterrorism Center Medal, and two Operation Enduring Freedom Targeting Awards. After the CIA, she became a special agent at the FBI's Los Angeles Field Office specializing in Chinese counterintelligence operations. She is a sought after public speaker through the World Affairs Council.

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800 Lakeshore Drive
Birmingham, AL
35229

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