Boston University School of Law
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Boston University School of Law (BU Law) is the law school affiliated with Boston University. Located in the heart of Boston University's campus on Commonwealth Avenue in Boston, Massachusetts, BU Law is housed in the tallest law school building in the United States. It was founded in 1872 by a group of educators, lawyers, law teachers and jurists united by two beliefs. Firstly, a superior legal education requires instruction in the theory, analysis and practice of law. Secondly, the founders believed that educational opportunities should be available to anyone, with merit as the only test. BU Law is ranked as a top tier law school by US News & World Report. BU Law was named “The Best Teaching Faculty in America” in The Princeton Review's annual guide, The Best Law Schools. BU Law admission is highly selective, with 6,201 applicants for 294 first year places in 2005[1]. BU Law students come from 46 states, 14 foreign countries and more than 238 colleges and universities around the world. BU Law's student to faculty ratio is 12:1. BU Law is ranked 22nd by U.S. News and World Report, ranking it third in New England, and 29th in the country by Brody, fourth in New England. [2] [3]
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[edit] History
The Boston University School of Law was established in 1872. BU Law is a member of the Association of American Law Schools and a charter member of the American Bar Association. BU Law's first homes were 36 Bromfield Street, 18-20 Beacon Street and 10 Ashburton Place. In 1895 the Trustees acquired 11 Ashburton Place, which was refurbished and named Isaac Rich Hall in honor of the third founder of Boston University. The dedication speaker was Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. whose historic speech "The Path of Law" was delivered in 1897. Issac Rich Hall housed BU Law until 1964, when the School moved to the bottom half of the current building, 765 Commonwealth Avenue on the Charles River Campus, which it shared with the School of Education for some years. BU Law now occupies the entire building overlooking the Charles River.
[edit] Curriculum
Boston University School of Law offers one of the nation's broadest selections of legal classes and seminars (approximately 150). In addition to J.D. programs, Boston University School of Law offers LL.M. programs in American Law, Banking and Financial Law, Intellectual Property, and Taxation, as well as several J.D./LL.M. programs. BU Law also offers joint degrees with the Boston University Graduate School of Management (J.D./M.B.A.), the Boston University College of Communication (J.D./M.S.), the Boston University School of Public Health (J.D./M.P.H.), and the Boston University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (J.D./M.A.)
[edit] Centers and Institutes
- American Society for Law, Medicine, and Ethics
- Institute for Business Law and Technology
- Institute of Jewish Law
- The International Distance (Internet) Legislative Drafting Program
- Morin Center for Banking and Financial Law
- N. Neal Pike Institute on Law and Disability
[edit] Scholarly Journals
- Boston University Law Review
- American Journal of Law & Medicine
- Annual Review of Banking & Financial Law
- Boston University International Law Journal
- Journal of Science & Technology Law
- Public Interest Law Journal
[edit] Rankings
- #22 in US News and World Report's 2006 Law School Ranking [usnews.com]
- #5 in Health Law in US News and World Report's 2006 Law School Ranking
- #7 in Tax Law in US News and World Report's 2006 Law School Ranking
[edit] Notable alumni
- Nathan Abbott, LLB 1881, founding Dean of Stanford Law School
- Lincoln C. Almond 1961, Governor of Rhode Island
- Armand Arabian, JD 1961, Associate Justice of the California Supreme Court
- Consuelo Northrup Bailey, LLB 1925, first woman elected as lieutenant governor in the United States
- Jennie Loitman Barron, LLB 1913, LLM 1914, first woman appointed associate justice of the Massachusetts Superior Court
- Robert T. Belton JD 1965 Professor of Law, Vanderbilt. Nationally prominent civil rights attorney, Assistant Counsel with the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund partner in one of the first racially integrated law firms in the South
- Carolyn Berger, JD 1976, first woman Justice of the Delaware Supreme Court
- Albert Brown, JD, Governor of New Hampshire
- Fred Brown, JD, Governor of New Hampshire, U.S. Congressman
- Edward W. Brooke, LLB 1948, LLM 1949, Attorney General of Massachusetts; first African American elected to the Senate by popular vote; one of only five African Americans to serve in the US Senate; awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
- Thomas E. Burke, LLB 1896, Olympic gold medalist in the 100- and 400-meter running events.
- William M. Butler, 1884, U.S. Senator (MA)
- Clara Burrill Bruce, LLB 1926, first African American woman to join a law review; the first African American Woman to be elected editor-in-chief of a law review
- Norman S. Case, LLB 1912, Governor of Rhode Island and the Providence Plantations
- Martha M. Coakley, JD 1979, Massachusetts Attorney General (2007-Present), District Attorney for Middlesex County, Massachusetts
- William S. Cohen, JD 1965, US Secretary of Defense and US Senator from Maine
- Paul Dever, JD, Governor of Massachusetts
- Judith Nelson Dilday, JD 1974, first African American to serve as a circuit judge on the Massachusetts Probate and Family Court
- Samuel Felker, JD, Governor of New Hampshire
- Michael Flaherty, JD, President of the Boston City Council
- Austin Barclay Fletcher LLB 1879; 1880 Prominent New York lawyer and Boston University Trustee. Namesake of The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.
- Frank H. Freedman, LLB 1949, LLM 1950, Senior Judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts
- Julio Fuentes, JD 1957, member of the United States Court of Appeals
- Judd A. Gregg, JD 1972, LLM 1975, US Senator, Governor of New Hampshire
- Jane Wallis Gumble, JD 1981, director of the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD)
- Emanuel Hewlett, LLB 1877, first African-American graduate of BU Law, argued the Shipp case, the first and only criminal trial at the U.S. Supreme Court (1906)
- Jeff Jacoby, a Boston Globe opinion/editorial columnist since 1994
- Ruby Andrew, JD 1992, Director of USAID Indonesia legislative education project
- Byron B. Johnson, LLB 1873, first mayor of Waltham, Massachusetts
- Dr. Barbara C. Jordan, JD 1959, first African-American woman elected to the U.S. Congress from a southern state, awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1994, first woman to deliver a keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in 1976
- Edwin B. Jourdain LLB 1888, helped found the Niagra Movement, which led to the creation of the NAACP
- David E. Kelley, JD 1983, Emmy winning television producer
- Takeo Kikuchi LLB 1877, founder and first president of Tokyo’s Chuo University
- Gary F. Locke JD 1975, Governor of Washington, and the first Asian-American governor in the mainland US
- Maria Lopez, first Latina appointed a judge in the Massachusetts, current television jurist on the US syndicated television show Judge Maria Lopez.
- J. Gray Lucas LLB 1883, Assistant U.S. Attorney of Cook County (Illinois), the first African-American to serve as assistant corporation counsel of the City of Chicago and assistant recorder of deeds in Cook County
- Sandra L. Lynch, 1971, first woman appointed to the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit
- Elizabeth (Sadie) Holloway Marston, LLB 1918 - co-creator of the comic book character, Wonder Woman
- William C. Matthews LLB 1907, played football and baseball for Harvard University; seen by many as the Jackie Robinson of his day
- J. Howard McGrath, JD, U.S. Senator, Governor of Rhode Island
- Thomas McIntyre, JD, U.S. Senator (NH)
- Howard J. Moore, JD 1960, Civil Rights Attorney, represented Julian Bond and Muhammad Ali, attorney for Angela Davis during the Free Angela campaign of the early 1970s
- F. Bradford Morse, LLB 1949, director of the United Nations Development Program
- Shannon O'Brien, JD 1985, first woman to hold the office of treasurer and receiver general of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts
- Bettina B. Plevan JD 1970, president of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York
- Leila Josephine Robinson, LLB 1881, first female law school graduate in Massachusetts and first woman admitted to Massachusetts bar
- Arthur Prentice Rugg, LLB 1886, chief justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
- William Russell, JD, Governor of Massachusetts
- Emma Fall Schofield, LLB 1908, first female assistant attorney general in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts
- Juan R. Torruella, JD 1957, first Hispanic to serve on the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit
- Robert Upton, JD, U.S. Senator (NH)
- David I. Walsh, JD, U.S. Senator, Governor of Massachusetts
- Clifton R. Wharton, LLB 1920, first African-American Foreign Service Officer in the U.S. Department of State; the first black diplomat to become ambassador by rising through the ranks of the Foreign Service rather than by political appointment; and the first black diplomat to lead a U.S. delegation to a European country.
- Avon Williams, LLB 1947; LLM 1948, prominent civil rights attorney and Tennessee state senator
- Butler Roland Wilson LLB 1883, co-founder of the Boston branch of the NAACP; branch president from 1926 to 1936; national board of directors in the 1920s.
- Myrth York, JD 1972, Rhode Island State Senator, first female chair of the Senate Health, Education and Welfare Committee (RI)
- Owen D. Young, LLB 1896, founder of RCA, 1929 Time Magazine's Man of the Year Chairman and CEO of General Electric
