The UF Levin College of Law was ranked fifth in the nation for its Family Law Program by Law Street Media, an online legal publication.
Components such as classes offered, employment statistics, networking opportunities and extracurricular activities were used to rank universities, said Laura Rosenbury, dean of the Levin College of Law.
UF law students receive real-world experience on campus at the Family Advocacy Clinic, the Intimate Partner Violence Assistance Clinic and the Center for Children and Families, Rosenbury said.
Families receive legal representation from law students who are receiving class credit by working in the clinics, said Nancy Dowd, a UF family law professor and chair of the Family Law Program.
One aspect of the Intimate Partner Violence Assistance Clinic is its partnership with the UF medical school, so clients, victims of domestic violence and other family-oriented crimes can receive medical therapy while also having legal representation.
With groups like the UF Family Law Society on campus, educating students on the meaning of family law is very important, said Fiorella Franchini, a second-year law student and the former vice president of the Family Law Society at UF.
“We want students to be more informed with family law,” Franchini said.
Society’s definition of family is changing and progressing, causing the world of family law to get bigger as well.
“Increasingly diverse definitions of family will lead to increasingly interesting opportunities for family law,” Rosenbury said.
[A version of this story ran on page 4 on 7/30/15]
