History of the Yale Law School: The Tercentennial Lectures

A fascinating examination of the history of the Yale Law School and its impact on the development of legal education in the U.S.

The entity that became the Yale Law School started life early in the nineteenth century as a proprietary school, operated as a sideline by a couple of New Haven lawyers. The New Haven school affiliated with Yale in the 1820s, but it remained so frail that in 1845 and again in 1869 the University seriously...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0300095643
• ISBN13: 9780300095647
• Release Date: May 2004
• Publisher: Yale University Press
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 1.33 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.1" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

More than just a history of Yale Law School

Law school histories run the gamut in quality. For example, those dealing with Columbia (by Goebel) and Harvard (Charles Warren) add a rich dimension to our understanding of legal education and the role of law schools in the bigger picture. Other histories can be mundane and so narrowly focused upon the school itself that they are of little general interest. This volume, edited by former Yale Law Dean Anthony Kronman, falls into the first category and employs a unique approach in doing so. This is because the book is not a chronological history of YLS, but rather consists of six essays by five different authors focusing upon differing facets of the School's history. However, each author also addresses a broader area of interest than just what was going on at YLS. For example, excellent essays by Robert Stevens and John Langbein place the founding of YLS within the larger context of legal education in 18th and 19th centuries. A second essay by Langbein discusses the unique approaches to legal education YLS developed. Perhaps the strongest essay is by Robert Gordon who focuses upon some of the Legal Realists at YLS during the 1930's (Arnold, Douglas, Frank and Hamilton) who gravitated to the larger stage of the New Deal and became national policymakers. Laura Kalman, who is writing a full-length history of YLS, contributes a perhaps too extensive essay on the so-called "Dark Ages" at YLS in the 1960's and 1970's when student unrest and faculty dissention became notable features of the YLS landscape. Each essays rests upon extensive footnotes, adding an invaluable dimension to the book's value. All told, this book should be of value to anyone interested in the development of legal education, the New Deal, the turbulent 1960's and 1970's, as well as those whose interests are limited to the Yale Law School itself.