Special Events

Thomas Jefferson School of Law fosters an environment of intellectual engagement through its conferences and its five academic centers. Each year, the school hosts dozens of top academics and thought-provoking conferences focusing on diverse legal issues. The Thomas Jefferson faculty includes remarkable scholars. The faculty produces books and scholarly articles, book chapters and article length works. The faculty shares its expertise in numerous local, national, and international presentations.

Philanthropic contributions are essential to Thomas Jefferson School of Law’s mission to provide a high standard of legal education and preparation for practice to a diverse student body. Generous donors are necessary to support financial aid including scholarships, community-based clinical programs, the law library educational infrastructure, student organizations and new initiatives.

We thank our alumni and friends who are helping to build the culture of philanthropy that is critical to providing an unparalleled legal education for our students.

Thomas Jefferson School of Law is a 501 (c) 3 non-profit corporation. Our fiscal year is July 1 through June 30.

How to Give

Your gift to Thomas Jefferson School of Law can be made by check (payable to “Thomas Jefferson School of Law”) or online through PayPal.

Giving Online
Donations to TJSL can be made with VISA, MASTER or American Express card online. All online donations will be securely processed by PayPal .

Make a Secure Online Gift

Giving by Mail
Please make check payable to Thomas Jefferson School of Law and mail to:

Types of Gifts

Annual Fund
The Thomas Jefferson Annual Fund is the most popular way that alumni, parents, and friends support the Law School. Gifts made to the Annual Fund provide "budget relieving" support to some of the most important areas on campus including financial aid, academic support and student programs. Unrestricted gifts are the most helpful as the funds can be applied to the area of greatest need.  Annual Fund gifts are expended in the same fiscal year in which they are received. Make a Secure Online Gift to the Thomas Jefferson Annual Fund.

Endowment Gifts
Endowed gifts are invested directly, with the generated income used to fund whatever donors specify. This means that the principal gift is never touched, but continues to generate income in perpetuity. For this reason, many donors elect to name endowments: to honor a family member, life-changing professor, or other mentor; preserve the name of their family foundation; or create a personal legacy. The endowment helps ensure adequate provision is made for the students, faculty and facilities of the future.

Planned Giving
Your bequest can help ensure the future of Thomas Jefferson School of Law. It can also offer practical advantages to you and your heirs, these charitable gifts are 100 percent deductible from your taxable estate.

Thomas Jefferson School of Law and its Center for Law and Social Justice have created the Samuel Kossack ’15 Social Justice Award. Funded through the generous contributions of Sam’s family and friends, an endowment has been established to fund the award in his honor. The award recognizes a currently enrolled Thomas Jefferson School of Law student who, through his or her own scholarship action, or both, seeks to promote social justice either on an individual basis or by seeking to transform systems that perpetuate injustice. Read press release here.

Matching Gift
Many employers offer matching gift opportunities. You may qualify to have your gift matched by your firm or company. If this applies, please enclose the appropriate form from your employer with your gift to the school. You will be recognized for the full amount of your gift plus any resulting corporate or firm match.

Questions?
Have questions or wish to discuss types of gifts, please contact Alumni Relations at (619) 961-4263 or alumni@tjsl.edu.

Why Alumni Support Thomas Jefferson

When legal issues are making news – think Thomas Jefferson School of Law. Our faculty members are experienced media commentators and great resources for stories on legal issues in the news.

Our student organizations are the lifeblood of your experience here at Thomas Jefferson. The nearly 20 organizations can offer you professional workshops in your areas of interest, amazing networking opportunities, community service projects and lots of social activities.

You also will have the opportunity to join one of our extraordinarily successful competition teams, the Alternative Dispute Resolution, the Mock Trial Team and the Moot Court Team. All three teams have an outstanding track-record of success against teams from the nation’s top-ranked law schools.

Alternative Dispute Resolution Team: Competes in negotiation and mediation competitions, and students develop dispute resolution skills applicable to virtually any area of practice.

Mock Trial Team: Competes in trial advocacy competitions, and students develop courtroom skills of particular value to a trial lawyer, such as a criminal prosecutor or defense attorney, a personal injury or medical malpractice plaintiffs’ lawyer, or an insurance defense lawyer.

Moot Court Team: Competes in appellate advocacy competitions, and students develop persuasive writing and oral argument skills relevant to practice areas in which legal writing is a critical component, such as a criminal law attorney focusing on appellate practice, a death penalty litigator, a business law litigator, or an intellectual property law litigator.

Visit the Student Bar Association (SBA).

Prospective Student Information Session

You are cordially invited to attend a VIRTUAL Prospective Student Information Session via Zoom with the Thomas Jefferson School of Law Admissions Department. Applicants with at least an Associate Degree and an LSAT score are welcome to apply. Information Sessions are tailored for students who are either waiting for an admissions decision, or have not yet applied. Join our info sessions to learn more about the law school admissions process and get your questions answered. To RSVP for a Virtual Information Session via Zoom, please select a convenient date from the list below.

Students who have already been admitted, should RSVP for an Admitted Student Open House.

For additional assistance, you also may email admissions@tjsl.edu 

We look forward to chatting you!

Register 

*Click the link to register in advance for an event. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
 

• Prospective Student Information Session on Wednesday, April 12, 2023 at 4:00pm
• Prospective Student Information Session on Thursday, May 10, 2023 at 5:30pm 

Thomas Jefferson School of Law offers an intellectually rich and stimulating academic program, taught by a distinguished and uniquely accessible faculty in a supportive atmosphere. Our student-centered academic program is engaging and interactive, and offers a balanced, comprehensive curriculum that will prepare our graduates for practice in any field, whether it is law, government, business, or social service. The J.D. curriculum is designed so that graduates will achieve the knowledge and skills outlined in the JD Program Learning Outcomes.

Rapid technological change and globalization have transformed many areas of the law and given rise to entirely new issues. Our faculty is on the cutting edge of these trends and has special expertise in the areas of law that most reflect our changing world: technological change, globalization and the transformation of our social order.

The result is a modern faculty and a vibrant academic program of exceptional strength, with particular depth in Legal Writing, Criminal Law, Intellectual Property, Entertainment Law and International Law.

Our curriculum offers the highest quality classroom instruction, with more than 155 courses, and the personal attention of our world-class faculty, as well as a great variety of hands-on learning experiences, such as our student-run clinics and real world externships.

In addition to our Juris Doctor program, Thomas Jefferson School of Law's innovative online Graduate Programs [Master's of Law (LLM), Master's of Science of Law (JSM), and Doctor of Science of Law (JSD)] are nationally ranked, and have programming for Attorneys. Except as provided in rule 4.30 of the Admissions Rules (Legal education in a foreign state or country), completion of a professional law degree program at this law school other than for the Juris Doctor degree does not qualify a student to take the California Bar Examination or satisfy the requirements for admission to practice law in California. It may not qualify a student to take the bar examination or to satisfy requirements for admission to the practice of law in any other jurisdiction. A student intending to seek admission to practice law should contact the admitting authority in the jurisdictions where the student intends to qualify to sit for the bar examination or to be admitted to practice for information regarding their legal education requirements.

At Thomas Jefferson School of Law, we are all about our students.

Our commitment to you as a student is to give you the knowledge, skills, tools and support you need to be successful from the moment you set foot on campus until the moment you walk across the stage to get your diploma – and beyond.

You will be part of a highly diverse, technologically-advanced campus with an intellectually stimulating curriculum and the most innovative academic success program to be found at any law school.

Thomas Jefferson is renowned for our highly-accessible, world-class faculty. We also have an amazing array of hands-on opportunities for our students to gain real-world legal experience.

You’ll get all of that and the paradise that is San Diego - a unique city that has so much to offer professionally, economically and recreationally.

Please explore our dynamic website to find out what makes Thomas Jefferson different from other law schools and how we can be your gateway to a fulfilling legal career.