School of Law Alumni Association records

Content Description

Materials relate to dues and fund raising, including the Golden Gavel Auction (1996-1997). The collection is unprocessed. The Northeastern University School of Law is recognized for training attorneys to practice law in the public sector. Founded by the Boston Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) in 1898 as a series of evening courses, it was the first evening law program in Boston. In 1904, the program was incorporated as the Evening School of Law of the Boston YMCA with the power to grant the Bachelor of Law (LLB) degree. Its primary goal was to prepare students for the Massachusetts Bar Examination. Because of increasing enrollment, divisional campuses were established in Worcester and Springfield in 1917 and in Providence in 1920. In 1922, the school was renamed the Northeastern University School of Law. In that same year, women were admitted for the first time. In 1938, the School of Law began to offer day courses. In the early 1950's the School of Law faced financial hardship and declining enrollment, and it closed in 1953. Northeastern University's Law Alumni Association urged the reopening of the school and conducted fundraising in order to achieve this. The school reopened on May 13, 1966, becoming the first law school in the country to operate on the cooperative education model. In contrast to its predecessor, the new School of Law began as a four-year, daytime graduate program that awarded the Juris Doctor (JD) degree. The School's transition from the Bachelor of Law LLB degree to the JD degree reflected changes in the professional requirements to practice law. In 1970, the School of Law's program was reduced to three years and two summer quarters with rotating cooperative educational studies. The School received full accreditation from the American Bar Association in 1971. Accessioned 2002 Aug 19. 44/4

Restrictions Apply

No

Access Restrictions

Records are closed for 25 years from their date of creation, unless researchers have written permission from the creating office.

Use Restrictions

Requests for permission to publish material from this collection should be discussed with the University Archivist.