Justice Cole felt that having a law school located in the state capital would be advantageous.

[3][4] In time, Drake Law alumni would fill the ranks of all branches of Iowa local and state government.

In the past few years, the Drake Law Review has published articles by distinguished legal scholars and judges, including: Erwin Chemerinsky, Cass Sunstein, Randy Barnett, Cheryl Harris, Paul Brest, Stephen Carter, Michael Gerhardt, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., and Stephen Rapp (Chief Prosecutor of the United Nations Special Court for Sierra Leone).

Drake Law has graduated numerous significant lawyers, including several state/federal judges and politicians, including: According to Drake's official ABA-required disclosures, 94-95% of the classes of 2022, 2023, and 2024 obtained full-time, long-term, bar passage required jobs 10 months after graduation.

Drake Law School offers both guaranteed and conditional scholarships, that latter of which depend upon the student maintaining a specific grade point average, rather than remaining in good academic standing.