Establishment of a new law school in Chicago When the University of Chicago was founded in 1892, its president
William Rainey Harper expressed a desire to establish a law school for the university that would improve democratic government. At the time, Harper observed that, "[t]hus far democracy seems to have found no way of making sure that the strongest men should be placed in control of the country's business." Harper took advice from a number of his contemporaries. One such adviser, a professor at the
University of Cambridge, suggested that the object of the new law school should be to train students to become "leaders of the bar and ornaments of the bench, inspiring teachers, scientific writers and wise reformers" and emphasising public law and comparative law. Another adviser, a member of the
Chicago bar, suggested that
Harvard Law School, led by
Christopher Columbus Langdell and influenced by the
casebook method at the time, had "lost touch with great leaders among jurists and lawyers" and that the new law school in Chicago should focus on "social economics" or "principles of statesmanship" for lawyers. Ultimately, Harper settled with the view that the study of law should not occur in a vacuum, and that it should take into account "the whole field of man as a social being". and Freund. At the time of its opening, the law school consisted of 78 students (76 men and two women). It offered courses in contract law, torts, criminal law, property law, agency, and pleading, with electives in administrative law, corporations law, federal jurisdiction, Roman law, international law, and legal ethics. Its library, which was established in short order, housed some 18,000 volumes of law reports. In 1903, a year after the law school opened, enrollment at the law school grew rapidly as its student body increased to 126.
Floyd R. Mechem, a professor at the
University of Michigan Law School and pioneer in empirical legal studies at the time, joined the faculty and remained at the law school for 25 years until his death in 1928. The law school prospered in its early years and fostered relationships with scholars in other fields, including economics, political science, psychology, and history. The law school also established its first alumni association in this period. The law school faced considerable change in the years leading up to
World War I and shortly thereafter. Beale returned to Harvard after his two-year leave of absence. In 1909, the eminent jurist
Roscoe Pound taught at the law school for a year. Following the war, in 1926, enrollment reached 500 students for the first time. In 1927, the law school began to offer its first seminars. Its longest-serving dean,
James Parker Hall, who played a significant role in recruiting numerous distinguished faculty members to the law school, died in office in 1928.
Growth in interdisciplinary approach and the leadership of Edward Levi In the 1930s, new dean
Harry A. Bigelow built on the interdisciplinary foundations laid by Freund and introduced classes in accounting, economics, and psychology. The law school's curriculum was shaped by the emerging influence of the
law and economics movement.
Aaron Director and
Henry Simons began offering economics courses in 1933. Faculty member
Edward Levi also introduced economics in the antitrust course, permitting Director to teach one of every five classroom sessions. The first volume of the
University of Chicago Law Review was also published in 1933. The law school established a legal writing program in 1938 and the Law and Economics Program in 1939. The LL.M. program was established in 1942, while Harry A. Bigelow Teaching Fellowships were established in 1947. As was the case during World War I, enrollment at the law school, like at many of the other top law schools in the country, declined and its academic calendar was adjusted to meet military needs. In the 1950s and 1960s, the law school experienced a period of profound growth and expansion under the leadership of
Edward Levi, who was appointed Dean in 1950. In 1951,
Karl Llewellyn and
Soia Mentschikoff joined the law school, the latter being the first woman on the faculty. Other notable scholars, widely regarded as institutional figures and leading thinkers in their respective areas, were
Walter J. Blum and
Bernard D. Meltzer, who studied and taught at the law school for their entire academic careers. Between 1953 and 1955, Supreme Court justice
John Paul Stevens taught antitrust at the law school. In 1958, Director founded the
Journal of Law and Economics. In 1959, the law school moved to its current building on 60th Street, designed by
Eero Saarinen. In 1960, constitutional law scholar
Philip Kurland founded the
Supreme Court Review. Levi later served as the provost (1962–1968) and the president (1968–1975) of the University of Chicago, before becoming the
United States Attorney General under president
Gerald Ford. During his time at the law school, Levi also supported the
Committee on Social Thought graduate program.
Late 20th century By the 1970s and 1980s, the law and economics movement had attracted a series of scholars with strong connections to the social sciences, such as
Nobel laureates Ronald Coase and
Gary Becker and scholars
Richard A. Posner and
William M. Landes. In 1972, Posner founded the
Journal of Legal Studies. The law school also established joint degree programs with the Committee on Public Policy Studies and the Department of Economics, complementing
Max Rheinstein's Foreign Law Program, which was established in the 1950s with a bequest from the
Ford Foundation. The Legal History Program was established in 1981. In 1982, the
Federalist Society was established by a group of students at the law school, together with students from
Harvard Law School and
Yale Law School. In 1989, the D'Angelo Law Library exceeded 500,000 volumes. joined the faculty in 1973 and continues to serve as emeritus professor and senior lecturer.
Geoffrey R. Stone, a leading
First Amendment scholar and alumnus and former dean of the law school, joined the faculty in the same year.
Douglas G. Baird, a luminary in bankruptcy law, has been on the faculty since 1980 and served as dean between 1994 and 1999.
Cass Sunstein, regarded as "the most cited legal scholar in the United States and probably the world", began his teaching career at the law school in 1981 and served as a faculty member for 27 years. Former
U.S. Supreme Court justice
Antonin Scalia served as a professor between 1977 and 1982. His future colleague on the Supreme Court,
Elena Kagan, began her career at the law school too, as did noted legal scholars
Lawrence Lessig and
Adrian Vermeule. The 44th president of the U.S.
Barack Obama taught at the law school between 1992 and 2004 in the areas of constitutional law, racism and the law, and voting rights before he was elected to the
U.S. Senate. ==Academics==