Suffolk University Law School

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Suffolk Law School
Suff

Motto: “Honestas et Diligentia"
Established: 1906
Type: Private
President: David Sargent
Dean: Alfred C. Aman, Jr.
Staff: 193
Students: 1,672
Location: Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Campus: Urban
Website: www.law.suffolk.edu
Sargent Hall
Sargent Hall

Suffolk University Law School is a private law school in downtown Boston, Massachusetts, United States. The fourth oldest law school in New England in continuous existence (after Harvard, Yale, and Boston University), Suffolk was founded in 1906 by Gleason Archer, Sr. to provide a legal education for those who traditionally lacked the opportunity to study law because of socio-economic or racial discrimination. Originally an all-male school, Suffolk has been co-educational since 1937.

The law school currently has both day and evening (part-time) divisions. The school is located in the newly built Sargent Hall on Tremont Street in downtown Boston. There are over 200 upper level electives offered at the law school, and the school is consistently ranked one of the most technologically advanced schools in the nation. [1][2] Admission to Suffolk is somewhat competitive. In 2005, 43% of applicants were admitted to the law school.[3] Suffolk regularly publishes five law reviews, to which students, faculty, and other scholars contribute. The school is featured annually in the Princeton Review and U.S. News & World Report rankings. Suffolk has attracted notable scholars and prominent speakers ranging from John F. Kennedy to William Rehnquist to Antonin Scalia to Ruth Bader Ginsberg. Suffolk University alumni are found in high level judicial, political, and private positions throughout the United States. With nearly 17,000 alumni, Suffolk is one of the largest law schools in the Northeast.

Contents

[edit] Admissions

In 2005 the median GPA for incoming Suffolk Law students was 3.30, and the median LSAT score was 157. The admission rate for 2005 was 43%. A breakdown of the various degree programs reveals that for certain programs the selectivity can dramatically increase,such as the LL.M. program.[4]

[edit] Curriculum

Suffolk in the early twentieth century, featuring a neon sign on the roof
Suffolk in the early twentieth century, featuring a neon sign on the roof

Suffolk Law maintains a traditional first-year curriculum which includes the year-long courses of Civil Procedure, Contracts, Property, Torts, and Legal Writing, in addition to the semester-long Constitutional Law and Criminal Law courses. Until recently, students were also required to take a class in their second year, Fiduciary Relations, which concentrated on the law of Agency and Trusts. Beginning with the 2006-2007 school year though, this class was no longer a requirement for the J.D. program. Upon completion of the required curriculum, students at Suffolk choose from over 200 upper-level courses, many of which focus on learning practical skills.

In addition to J.D. and LL.M., Suffolk University Law School offers joint degrees with Suffolk's Sawyer Business School (J.D./M.B.A., J.D./M.S.F., J.D./M.P.A.), and the Suffolk University College of Arts and Sciences (J.D./M.S.C.J., J.D./M.S.I.E.).[5]

Suffolk Law also offers a program abroad: the Semester in Sweden Program with Lund University, a university where Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg conducted research for her book on Swedish Law in the 1960s.[1]

[edit] Libraries

In 1999, after construction on a new law school building was completed, the John Joseph Moakley Library moved to its new home in Sargent Hall. The library contains over 350,000 volumes covering all major areas of American law and primary legal materials from the federal government, Canada, the United Kingdom, the United Nations, and the European Union. The library also features a substantial treatise and periodical collection and houses the John Joseph Moakley Archive (a collection of the late representative's papers which he gifted to the school in 2001).[6]

[edit] Law Review publications

main law library study area
main law library study area

Suffolk University Law School maintains five student-run publications. The Suffolk University Law Review is the oldest scholarly publication at the law school. The Moot Court Honor Board, which runs many of the school's successful mock trial competitions, produces the Suffolk Journal of Trial & Appellate Advocacy, which publishes scholarly work written by leading academics, judges, practitioners, and students covering varied trial and appellate practice issues in the United States. Suffolk's Journal of High Technology Law focuses on providing research articles on issues of copyright, trademark and patent law. The Suffolk Transnational Law Review is one of approximately 30 law reviews in the United States that focus on international legal issues and the second oldest in existence (after the Harvard International Law Journal). Suffolk recently recognized a fifth journal, the Journal of Health and Biomedical Law, which focuses on cutting-edge legal developments in the field of health law.[7]

[edit] Suffolk Law School in literature, film and culture

front lobby to Suffolk Law
front lobby to Suffolk Law

[edit] Prominent alumni

  • Peter Agnes, class of 1975, Superior Court Justice, Massachusetts
  • Gleason Archer Jr., class of 1939, theologian
  • James Bamford, class of 1975, Author
  • James A. Burke, U.S. Representative from Massachusetts (1959-1979)
  • Jonathan W. Blodgett, class of 1983, current District Attorney for Essex County, Massachusetts
  • Judge Frank Caprio, class of 1965, television judge on Caught in Providence on ABC, Chief Judge Providence, RI Municipal Court
  • Daniel F. Conley, class of 1983, District Attorney for Boston (Suffolk County)
  • Michael A. Costello, class of 1996, Legislator, member of the Mass. House of Representatives (served 2002 - present)
Joe Moakley, Class of 1956, former U.S. Congressman
Joe Moakley, Class of 1956, former U.S. Congressman
Marty Meehan, Class of 1983, Chancellor of UMASS, Lowell, former U.S. Congressman
Marty Meehan, Class of 1983, Chancellor of UMASS, Lowell, former U.S. Congressman
James Bamford, Class of 1975, author
James Bamford, Class of 1975, author

[edit] Prominent faculty and trustees

  • Alfred Aman, Jr., Dean of Law School, internationally known legal writer
  • Joseph Glannon, Professor, well known writer of Torts and Civil Procedure texts
  • Joseph P. Hoar, Trustee, Commander of U.S. central command
  • Charles P. Kindregan, Jr. Professor of Law, Author
  • Charles E. Rounds, Jr., Professor of Law, Author
  • Michael Rustad, Lambert Professor of Law, Author

[edit] Honorary degree recipients and speakers

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Linda, Bayer "Ruth Bader Ginsburg"(Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishers, 2000), 46.

[edit] External links and references

[edit] See also