U. S. News & World Report has ranked the Intellectual Property (IP) and Health Law programs at the DePaul University College of Law among the 10 best in the county. In the rankings released by U.S. News March 30, both DePaul’s IP and Health Law programs were tied for ninth place with Boston University. DePaul is one of only two universities in Chicago with two specialty law programs ranked in the survey.

“These distinctions exemplify the types of innovative programs that students attending DePaul’s College of Law have come to expect,” said Teree E. Foster, dean of the College of Law. “We are committed to providing our students with outstanding programs that will help distinguish them among the finest, best-qualified attorneys in their fields.”

Established in 1997, DePaul’s IP program has nearly 30 intellectual property course offerings. Many are unique, such as a first-year intellectual property section of legal writing, advanced substantive and writing courses in trademarks and patent law, intellectual property for corporate transactional lawyers, and art law. The program also supports a Technology Intellectual Property Clinic in which students gain valuable experience providing legal assistance to local artists and inventors.

“For the second consecutive year DePaul’s IP program has been ranked among the best in the country, and that honor reflects the hard work, dedication and outstanding faculty talent that have helped shape the program,” said Roberta Rosenthal Kwall, director of the IP program and the College of Law’s Raymond P. Niro professor.

DePaul’s Health Law Program, which was created in 1984, has consistently been included among the top ten health law programs in the U. S. News rankings. The program offers students distinctive courses in such areas as the legal implications of mapping the human genome, the ethics of clinical medical research and protecting research subjects in the area of informed consent.

“This ranking helps us communicate to prospective law students that DePaul offers a wide range of high-quality health law courses dealing with the business and economic regulatory aspects of medicine as well as recent developments in medical research and ethical discussion,” said Donald Hermann, who directs DePaul’s health law program.

U.S. News also cited DePaul for having one of the most racially diverse student bodies of the nation’s 174 accredited law schools. Of the 1,119 students enrolled in the College of Law during the 2000-20001 academic year, 8% were Hispanic, 6.5% were African-American and 7.2 were Asian-American.

While DePaul’s IP and Health Law programs earned high marks in the U.S. News survey, Foster suggests that students considering law school weigh the rankings with other factors when looking for the best law school fit. “When evaluating prospective law schools, students should also consider the unique personality and attributes of an institution,” said Foster. “These should be measured along with rankings to ensure potential students find the best possible program to meet their needs.”

U.S. News’ rankings will be available online April 2 at www.usnews.com. Selected rankings will be published in the April 9 edition of U.S. News & World Report magazine.