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Timeline

History of Cornell Law School

A.D. White 1866 Laying plans for the new university, Cornell University president-to-be A.D. White proposes establishing a department of law

1887
  • First law faculty members appointed
  • Department of Law opens in Morrill Hall; Judge Douglas Boardman is department's first dean

1888 First graduating law class (nine students)
G.W. Fields 1890 George Washington Fields graduates; one of the nation's first law-school-graduates of color

1891 Charles Evans Hughes joins faculty

1892 Construction of Boardman Hall completed, will later house Law School
M.K. Brown 1893
  • Myron C. Taylor becomes a student at Cornell
  • Mary Kennedy Brown graduates; first woman graduate of the Department of Law
Studying in Boardman 1915 Cornell Law Quarterly established (Professor George G. Bogert is first faculty editor)

1916 Cornell Law Quarterly now edited by student board

1924 Trustees approve College of Law as a graduate school

1925 Renamed Cornell Law School
Building Myron Taylor Hall 1929
  • Graduate programs leading to J.S.D. and LL.M. degrees introduced
  • Myron Taylor, class of 1894 provides $1,500,00 for new building
west view 1932 Myron Taylor Hall dedicated October 15

1948 Program of specialization in international affairs established; LL.B. degrees established

1954 Combined four-year programs leading to LL.B. and M.P.A. or M.B.A. degrees established

1958 $1,000,000 gift from Myron Taylor for new residence center, to be named for his professor/mentor, Charles Evans Hughes

1960 Cornell Legal Aid Clinic opens
Legal Aid Clinic in '68 1966 Cornell Law School becomes first law school to receive permission to permit court appearances by third-year students working at its Legal Aid Clinic

1967 Cornell Law Quarterly becomes Cornell Law Review

1968 First issue of Cornell International Law Journal

1978 Law Library designated U.S. Government Depository

1988 Opening ceremonies for new Jane Foster addition and remodelled Myron Taylor Hall
LII Graphic 1992
  • First edition of the Cornell Journal of Law and Public Policy
  • Legal Information Institute established

1993 Cornell Death Penalty Project created

1994 Cornell Law School and University of Paris I law faculty launch Summer Institute of International and Comparative Law

2002 Clarke Program in East Asian Law and Culture established

2004 First edition of the Journal of Emperical Legal Studies

2005 First edition of electronic newsletter, the e-Forum sent to alumni, friends of the Law School

2006
  • Summer Law Institute in Suzhou China begins
  • Labor Law Clinic starts

2007 Seventy-fifth anniversary of Myron Taylor Hall; coincides with 120th anniversary of Cornell Law School

The Deans of Cornell Law School

Douglas Boardman 1887-1891
Francis Miles Finch 1891-1903
Ernest Wilson Huffcut 1903-1907
Frank Irvine 1907-1916
Edwin Hamlin Woodruff 1916-1921
George Gleason Bogert 1921-1926
Charles Kellog Burdick 1926-1937
Robert Sproule Stevens 1937-1954
Gray Thoron 1956-1963
William Ray Forrester 1963-1973
Roger Conant Cramton 1973-1980
Peter William Martin 1980-1988
Russell King Osgood 1988-1998
Charles W. Wolfram 1998-1999 (Interim Dean)
Lee E. Teitelbaum 1999-2003
John A. Siliciano 2003 (Interim Dean)
Stewart J. Schwab 2004-present