Drake Law School: Tuition, Admissions, and Opportunities

Drake University Law School, with its rich history dating back to 1865, offers a comprehensive legal education in the heart of Iowa's capital city. This article will explore the tuition and fees associated with attending Drake Law School, the admissions process, and the various opportunities available to students.

Cost of Attendance

Understanding the financial commitment is crucial for prospective law students. Law school tuition at Drake Law School is $101k annually (calculated from semester costs). Drake Law ranks #269 in terms of highest tuition among full-time law students ($50,920). It is important to note that these figures represent the direct cost of tuition and do not include living expenses, books, and other related costs.

Drake Law School provides a legal education that is not only exceptional but affordable.

Financial Aid and Scholarships

Drake Law School recognizes the financial burden of legal education and offers various financial aid options to students. Students wishing to borrow loans must file a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and request the analysis be sent to Drake University (School Code: 001860). The FAFSA can be filed as early as October, but financial aid packages will not be available until March. Loan eligibility will be determined after the FAFSA analysis is received at Drake. Drake Law School has a limited number of partial scholarships available to LLM students. Approximately 90% of entering students receive scholarships.

Admissions Criteria and Process

Gaining admission to Drake Law School requires a competitive application. The Law School at Drake University has an application deadline of Aug. 1. The full-time program application fee at the Law School at Drake University is $0. The part-time program application fee at the Law School at Drake University is $0.

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LSAT and GPA

For a competitive law school application to Drake Law School, students should aim to meet or exceed the median statistics shown below. LSAT/GPA data reflects Fall 2025 entering class. Based on the 2025 ABA 509 Report, 788 candidates submitted JD applications to Drake Law School and 432 received acceptance letters. This means that of the 432 applicants who received law school acceptance letters, 141 chose to enroll.

Historical LSAT, GPA, and acceptance rate data from ABA 509 reports. LSAT and GPA bands show 25th/50th/75th percentiles; acceptance rate is lower = more selective. Drake Law ranks #129 in LSAT composite (156.0), an average of its 25th, 50th, and 75th percentile LSAT scores (153 · 156 · 159). Drake Law ranks #92 in GPA composite (3.65), an average of its 25th, 50th, and 75th percentile GPAs (3.38 · 3.67 · 3.89).

Holistic Review

Beyond an applicant's LSAT score and undergraduate academic record, Drake Law School carefully considers an applicant's writing skills, letters of recommendation (academic letters preferred), leadership experience, community and extracurricular involvement and work and life experiences. All of the information submitted with the application will be carefully considered by the Admissions Committee as such it may be several weeks before an admissions decision is rendered.

Academic Programs and Opportunities

Drake Law School offers a variety of programs and opportunities to enhance students' legal education.

Experiential Learning

At Drake Law School you not only gain a solid foundation in legal theory, but also go to work in hands-on, practical experiences. All of our faculty have practiced law and bring their expertise into the classroom. Drake's First-Year Trial Practicum, the only program of its kind in the country, adds an important experiential learning dimension to the first-year curriculum. During the spring semester, students observe an actual state court trial-from jury selection to verdict-in the courtroom of the Neal and Bea Smith Law Center. Drake’s clinical programs allow students to build professional experience by applying classroom knowledge to real-world situations in a state-of-the-art training facility. The only program of its kind in the country, the Trial Practicum adds an important experiential learning dimension to the first-year curriculum. During the spring semester, students observe an actual state court trial-from jury selection to verdict-in the courtroom of the Neal and Bea Smith Law Center.

Read also: Opportunities at Drake University

Specialized Centers and Programs

Drake Law School houses several specialized centers and programs that allow students to focus on specific areas of law:

Agricultural Law Center: Our internationally recognized agricultural law program addresses the important issues in American and international law and policy regarding food production. Students conduct research, publish an agricultural law journal, and write articles on a wide range of topics. The center frequently hosts international agricultural law scholars who teach courses on international issues and topics such as farmland preservation, legal issues in biotechnology, and tax planning for agricultural businesses. The center also offers a series of one-week courses for students and attorneys in the Summer Agricultural Law Institute.
Business Law Certificate Program: The Business Law Certificate Program is designed to guide and further the interests of students in a business or transactional practice and prepare them for careers in business law, including private practice, with state or federal agencies, or as inside counsel for private and public companies.
Constitutional Law Center: Drake is one of only four schools selected to receive a congressional endowment for the establishment of a Constitutional Law Resource Center. The center sponsors a lecture series and annual symposia featuring nationally recognized constitutional scholars. The nationally renowned Dwight D. Opperman Lecture in Constitutional Law has been delivered by 11 current and former justices of the United States Supreme Court.
Center for Legislative Practice: Drake is one of only a few schools in the country that offers a Legislative Practice Certificate. Classroom study and a wide range of internships expose students to the underpinnings of legislative and rule-making processes. Students who complete the program are uniquely prepared to work for administrative or government agencies, research and draft legislation, represent businesses and organizations with government interests, or work in a variety of other public policy-making positions.
Middleton Center for Children’s Rights: The Middleton Center for Children’s Rights pursues a broad agenda, advancing children’s rights through the legal process, training, public information, and public policy formation.
Civil Litigation and Dispute Resolution Certificate: Drake Law School has achieved a well-deserved reputation for its education and training of future litigators, mediators, negotiators, and judges. Our alumni are well represented among the nation’s leading trial and appellate lawyers and on both the federal and state courts.
Public Service Certificate and Social Justice and Public Interest Lawyering Certificate: Drake Law School promotes public service not only through its academic programming such as coursework, clinics, and internships, but also through volunteerism. We also offer a full-tuition Public Service Scholarship program.

Dual Degree Programs

Students may combine their Juris Doctor degree with the Master of Business Administration, Master of Public Administration, or Doctor of Pharmacy degree from Drake University. Qualified students can earn an undergraduate degree and a law degree in six years. Through this program, students complete three years of full-time undergraduate study, use law school courses to meet the balance of required undergraduate credits, and receive their bachelor’s degree after the first year of law school.

International Opportunities

Add an international element to your legal education by participating in our summer program at the University of Nantes Law School in France.

Student Organizations and Journals

Drake Law students participate in many student organizations and cocurricular activities. Drake students publish two journals, the Drake Law Review and the Journal of Agricultural Law. Drake Law Review is among the country’s most court-cited legal periodicals. The award-winning Student Bar Association and honorary societies provide students with leadership, public service, and learning opportunities.

Bar Passage and Employment

Drake Law School graduates consistently pass the bar and gain employment at rates above the national average. Drake Law ranks #71 in terms of bar passage rate among first-time test takers (85.7%), and it outperforms by +2.0% the state of Iowa's overall bar passage rate of 83.7%.

Career Services

The Career Services Office offers career planning and counseling services, assistance with résumé and cover letter preparation, salary and geographical employment statistics, nationwide job postings, and state bar examination information. The office also arranges interviews-both on and off campus-and exchanges job listings with over 100 other law schools around the country.

Controversy Surrounding Wrongful Convictions Clinic

An exonerated ex-prisoner, William Amor, left a nearly $3 million gift to Drake University's Wrongful Convictions Clinic. The clinic's director, Erica Nichols Cook, was fired by the university over a dispute regarding the handling of the funds. Drake accused Nichols Cook of misappropriating money after she received a check directly from Amor's trust, though she says she never deposited it.

William Amor's Gift

When William Amor wrote the instructions for his final trust, he wanted to show appreciation for his friends, his family - and the attorney who helped him prove his innocence after 22 years in prison for a crime he didn't commit. But four years after his death, Amor's generous bequest has brought nothing but strife and hardship for longtime wrongful conviction attorney Erica Nichols Cook, who in January was fired by Drake University over disputes about how to use Amor's nearly $3 million gift. Nichols Cook was the director of the Drake Wrongful Convictions Clinic, where she taught classes and worked with Drake law students on using DNA and other tools to overturn sometimes decades-old convictions. She also heads the Iowa state public defender's wrongful conviction unit.

Dispute Over Funds

The impetus for Nichols Cook's firing is a dispute over how Amor's gift should be handled, which led Drake to file a police report and a civil lawsuit, since withdrawn, accusing her of misappropriating some of the money. Her attorney, Matt Sease, said she was caught in the middle of a legal misunderstanding between the school and Amor's trustee. Drake could have determined the credibility of the allegations "if they would have actually talked to Erica," Sease said.

The Check and Termination

In December, Nichols Cook said, Amor's friend Jeanne Olson met with her and gave her a check for more than $154,000. "The trustee, reading that agreement, interpreted it in a way that the trust would then issue that money directly to Erica as the director of the clinic," Becker said. Nichols Cook said the trustee told her the check was part of the deal she'd negotiated with the school. She said she held onto the check and contacted Drake for guidance, requesting a copy of the agreement. She says she received no response. Drake, in its statement, says Nichols Cook never informed it she'd received the check.

In January, amid unrelated Illinois litigation between the trust and Amor's sister, the trustee filed an accounting showing the $154,000 distributed to Nichols Cook. According to Drake, that's the first it learned about it. Drake has not said specifically why it fired Nichols Cook. Nichols Cook, she filed Articles of Incorporation for an Iowa-based nonprofit corporation called 'Wrongful Convictions Clinic.' This nonprofit is not affiliated with Drake. According to records filed with the Iowa Secretary of State, Ms. Nichols Cook is the President of this 'Wrongful Convictions Clinic,' as well as the registered agent and incorporator for the entity," Drake said in its statement.

Police Investigation

Not only did Drake file civil claims against Nichols Cook and the trustee, but it also filed a report with Des Moines police, Nichols Cook said. After an investigation spanning multiple states, a detective informed Nichols Cook's attorney that no charges would be filed. On Feb. 6. "… Bill expressed so many times his desire to have the funds put under your control. He loved you and I overstepped what a trustee could legally do through ignorance. You paid the price and I am at fault."

Impact on the Public Defender's Office and Clinic

The dispute also has affected the state public defender's office, which had a deal with Drake to rent space for its wrongful convictions staff there, colocated with the clinic. With Nichols Cook now terminated, the state has had to relocate that department, although State Public Defender Jeff Wright told the Register no cases will be affected by the change. "There shouldn't be any disruption to any clients," Wright said.

Nichols Cook's firing a week into the spring semester effectively has suspended operations at the clinic, forcing students to find new classes at the last minute. In its statement, Drake says it "remains deeply committed to a sustainable path forward for its Wrongful Convictions Clinic." Under the April 2025 memorandum of understanding, if Drake should determine the clinic is "no longer viable," the university must use the rest of the money "to advance wrongful conviction awareness, education and litigation in the state of Iowa and beyond."

Trustee's Expectations

Becker said the trustee expects the university to fulfil its obligations. "I believe the trustee is very intent about keeping Drake to its word," he said. "The firing of Erica Nichols Cook, it diminishes the faith that the trustee has in the university."

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