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New England Law Boston

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New England School of Law
File:Neslseal.png
MottoJus et Auctoritas
Established1908
School typePrivate
Endowment40.5 Million USD[1]
DeanJohn O'Brien
LocationBoston, Massachusetts, USA
Enrollment1,077[2]
Faculty157[3][4]
USNWR rankingTier 4[5]
Bar pass rate80%[6]
Websitewww.nesl.edu
ABA profileNew England School of Law Profile
File:Nesllogo.png

New England School of Law, commonly referred to as NESL or New England Law, is a private law school in Boston, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1908 as a law school for women. New England Law is the fifth oldest law school in New England and the fourth oldest in Massachusetts.

New England Law is a medium sized law school with approximately 1,100 students, with a majority of its students in the full-time program.[8] New England Law also has three specializations in environmental law, international law, and tax law.[9] In addition to offering a JD NESL also offers an LL.M. in advanced legal studies.[10]

History

Main academic building on Stuart Street

In 1908, two women from Boston decided to sit for the Massachusetts bar examination. A lawyer named Arthur Winfield MacLean agreed to tutor them, and other students followed over the next few years. MacLean's wife called the school Portia Law School after the heroine of Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice. From 1908 to 1938, Portia Law School was the sister school to the then all male, Suffolk University Law School. This partnership fostered because MacLean was a law partner with Suffolk founder, Gleason Archer, Sr. MacLean also served as the school's first Dean from 1908-1943.[11]

President Bush honoring the 75th Anniversary of NESL.

Beginning in 1920, Portia graduates received the LL.B. degree.[12] In 1922, the school moved into its first permanent building in Boston's Beacon Hill neighborhood, when enrollment had reached 228.[12] In 1926, Portia was awarded the authority to award LL.M. degrees to both men and women.[12] A few years later, in 1938, Portia Law School became a fully integrated coeducational institution. As the school entered the 1950s it saw its student body shift from a student body that had a majority female population to a predominately male student body.[13] 1963 saw Portia Law School begin the process of applying for American Bar Association accreditation,[13] and some of the steps the school took included restructuring its board of governors and launching the schools first law review.[13] In 1969, the school changed its name to New England School of Law to coincide with its accreditation granted by the ABA.[14]

Dean Tenure
Arthur W. MacLean 1908–1943
W. Chesley York 1943–1952
Margaret H. Bauer 1952–1962
Guy V. Slade 1962–1966
Walter J. Kozuch, Jr. 1966–1971
Robert E. O’Toole 1971–1974
Colin W. Gillis 1974–1978
Thomas C. Fischer 1978–1983
Timothy J. Cronin 1983–1988
John F. O’Brien 1988–Present

As New England Law neared its 75th anniversary new programs were started, the first was the creation of Law Day in 1970 and then the opening of its clinical law services office in 1971.[15] The clinical law services program is performed by the law students to those who did not have the economic means to seek paid legal assistance.[15] In 1980, New England moved into its current location; which is located in the Boston Common neighborhood.[15] To honor the 75th anniversary of New England Law the 41st President, George H. W. Bush, was the keynote speaker for the celebration.[15]

As New England Law entered the 1980s it saw growth in its opportunities internationally. The school set up a program which allowed students to study abroad and work with former Soviet Bloc nations develop their own legal systems.[16] New England Law also became a co-founder of the Consortium for Innovative Legal Education; which allows students to study aboard at countries throughout the world and learn about foreign law and put their current education to work through externships.[16] In 1996, New England Law students worked with Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunals by providing legal research and analysis for war crimes in Rwanda and the former nation of Yugoslavia.[16] New England Law received membership from the Association of American Law Schools in 1998.[17] In 2002, New England Law expanded its campus by buying adjacent buildings around the schools current location.[16] Also, in 2008, New England School of Law began a new campaign to rebrand itself as New England Law|Boston, with the purpose to put an emphasis on its location in New England.[16]


Campus

The law school's main campus consists of five buildings throughout the Boston Common neighborhood.[18] The main academic building is a five-story building on Stuart Street in Boston's theater district, which includes classrooms, faculty offices, and the schools library.[18] Clinic, administrative, and law review offices are in a nearby building in the Bay Village on Church Street.[19] Offices for the school's admissions office, administrative departments, clinical law office, and student publications are located in a two-story building two blocks from the main academic building.[18] New England Law also shares its bookstore facilities with Tufts University.[18]

Academics and rankings

New England Law offers full-time time and part-time (both day and evening) divisions and the student-to-faculty ratio is 23:1.[20] New England Law is American Bar Association (ABA) accredited and is a member of the Association of American Law Schools.[21] It is also a founding member of the Consortium for Innovative Legal Education.[22] According to U.S. News and World Report, New England Law ranks in the "Fourth Tier" of law schools in the United States.[23]

Programs

Center for Law and Social Responsibility

The Center for Law and Social Responsibility, CLSR, works mostly pro bono and public service activities.[24] It is run and supported by students, faculty and alumni.[24] The CLSR serves as a socially responsible organization that works with numerous projects that are representative of its members, as well as issues that public service lawyers are currently working with.[24] The CLSR also works to support classroom projects, scholarship,and other activities that convey current social problems.[24]

Center for International Law & Policy

The Center for Law and International Polic, CILP, is utilized by both students and faculty for research, analysis and produce resource material on numerous topics.[25] Some of the topics include CIA renditions in Europe, intergovernmental peacekeeper accountability and hate speech.[25] Students also have the chance to practice international law in overseas externships. Most students work assist in prosecutions related to war crimes, because of the schools relationships with international criminal courts and tribunals.[25]

CILP also hosts the annual international law conference, by creating more awareness in global legal work, for issues such as Chinese reunification and Taiwanese independence, competition laws, responses to rogue regimes, the Rwandan genocide, and the development of new countries out of the former Yugoslavia.[25]

Center for Business Law

Clincal Law Services

Notable alumni

Notable alumni include Joseph R. Driscoll, Norfolk representative to the Massachusetts House of Representatives, Andrew Vachss, children's lawyer and author of the Burke series of novels, and Leonard P. Zakim, religious and civil rights leader in Boston.

Notes and references

  1. ^ Law School Almanac - 2008 Endowments retrieved on 6-6-2009.
  2. ^ Princeton Review Student Body retrieved on 6-6-2009.
  3. ^ Adjunct Faculty retrieved on 6-6-2009.
  4. ^ Faculty Bios retrieved on 6-6-2009.
  5. ^ http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-law-schools/rankings/page+7
  6. ^ "New England School of Law" (PDF). Official Guide to ABA-Approved Law Schools. Law School Admissions Council & American Bar Association. 2008. p. 835. Retrieved 2009-06-08.
  7. ^ http://www.nesl.edu/admissions/tuition_fees.cfm
  8. ^ US News overview retrieved on 6-7-2009.
  9. ^ Princeton Review overview retrieved on 6-7-2009.
  10. ^ NESL Programs retrieved on 6-7-2009.
  11. ^ Michael Rustad, "Book Reviews," Contemporary Sociology, January 1986, Vol. 15, Number 1, page 102. accessed through JSTOR
  12. ^ a b c "NESL History 1908". Retrieved 2009-06-07.
  13. ^ a b c "NESL History 1943". Retrieved 2009-06-07.
  14. ^ http://www.abanet.org/legaled/approvedlawschools/alpha.html
  15. ^ a b c d "NESL History 1969". Retrieved 2009-06-07.
  16. ^ a b c d e "NESL History 1988". Retrieved 2009-06-07.
  17. ^ http://www.aals.org/about_memberschools.php#n-q
  18. ^ a b c d "NESL Campus". Retrieved 2009-06-07.
  19. ^ Bay Village NESL retrieved 6-6-2009.
  20. ^ http://www.nesl.edu/admissions/ataglance.cfm
  21. ^ http://www.aals.org/about_memberschools.php#n-q
  22. ^ [1]
  23. ^ http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-law-schools/rankings/page+7
  24. ^ a b c d "NESL CLSR". Retrieved 2009-06-07.
  25. ^ a b c d NESL. "CILP". Retrieved 2009-06-08.

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