Mission, Vision & Values

Mission

Seattle University School of Law is committed to educating outstanding lawyers who are leaders for a just and humane world.

Vision

Seattle University School of Law will be one of the premier law schools in the nation, recognized for its academic quality, Jesuit Catholic inspiration and service to society.

Values

Care
We put the good of students first.

Academic Excellence
We value excellence in learning with great teachers who are active scholars.

Diversity
We celebrate educational excellence achieved through diversity.

Faith
We treasure our Jesuit Catholic ethos and the enrichment from many faiths of our university community.

Justice
We foster a concern for justice and the competence to promote it.

Leadership
We seek to develop responsible leaders committed to the common good.

School of Law Mission Statement

The School of Law provides an excellent legal education in congruity with the overall educational mission of Seattle University.

Reflecting the Jesuit tradition of academic distinction, we commit ourselves to preparing our students for the highest degree of professional performance. The twenty-first century presents novel and exciting challenges for legal practitioners, and we are dedicated to anticipating these challenges and educating our students to meet them. Our curriculum, designed with an eye to the future, enables our students to develop the intellectual abilities and practical skills necessary for a full range of career options-whether they enter sole or large-firm practice, serve as government or public interest lawyers, or use their legal education to enhance civic leadership or a business career.

Our teaching is both demanding and humane; it blends legal theory, doctrinal analysis, and comprehensive practical skills training.

Our faculty is dedicated to scholarship and professional activities, for we recognize that the quality of teaching is enhanced by learning, that intellectual progress is inherently valuable, and that the pursuit of justice is furthered by dialogue with colleagues inside and outside of the law. Together, and through all of these pursuits, our faculty, administrators, and staff seek to be role models for the principled and public-spirited attorneys that we wish our students to become.

Reflecting, as well, the Jesuit tradition of open inquiry, social responsibility, and concern for personal growth, we commit ourselves to freedom of conscience, thought, and speech.

We educate lawyers who will lead and serve others with integrity and compassion. We aspire to foster the finest qualities of leadership and service: clear and critical thinking, effective communication, wise judgment, ethical behavior, and a charitable spirit. We explore with our students the purposes of the laws, examining the value contexts in which citizens make decisions and take action. We conceive of legal ethics as a lifetime in the law at the service of justice, rather than as the mere observance of a professional code. We ask our students to exercise critical intelligence and to evolve a generosity of spirit as they grow professionally. Ultimately, we challenge our students to contribute to the common good by shaping an equitable legal system so that the American people may honor the law and respect its lawyers.

Our students are, and will remain, distinctive and diverse.

We admit students whose life experiences and talents demonstrate the ability, intellect, and character to complete our program successfully, whether they are entering directly after college, changing careers, or combining legal education with their ongoing professions. We actively seek diversity in our community, welcoming qualified persons of different races, ethnicities, religions, ages, disabilities, genders, sexual orientations, socio-economic backgrounds, and points of view.

With a bold spirit and a steadfast commitment to academic distinction, open inquiry, and social responsibility, the Seattle University School of Law strives to promote learning in law as the cornerstone of effective democracy.