Cleveland State University College of Law
Cleveland State University College of Law is the law school of Cleveland State University, a public research university in Cleveland, Ohio. It traces its origins to Cleveland Law School, founded in 1897, which merged in 1946 with the John Marshall School of Law to become Cleveland-Marshall Law School and was absorbed by the university in 1969.[2] It is accredited by the American Bar Association and is a member of the Association of American Law Schools.
Cleveland State University College of Law
History[edit]
Cleveland Law School, founded in 1897, was Ohio's first evening law school and also the first to admit women.[3] John Marshall School of Law was established by Cleveland attorneys, and classes began in 1916 in the New Guardian Building on Euclid Avenue. Following an affiliation with Ohio Northern University (1917–1923), Marshall received authorization to confer degrees under its own name.
In 1946, the two Cleveland schools merged to form Cleveland-Marshall Law School. From 1963 to 1967, C-M maintained a nominal relationship with Baldwin–Wallace College. After regaining independent status, Cleveland-Marshall began its full-time legal education program. C-M became a state institution affiliated with Cleveland State University in 1969, becoming the Cleveland–Marshall College of Law, the largest law college in Ohio at the time.[4] It was renamed to the Cleveland State University College of Law in 2022 due to namesake John Marshall's history of owning slaves.[5]
CSU Law has a rich history of integrating women and minorities into the American legal field, including Carl Stokes, the first African-American mayor of a major city in the U.S.,[6] Mary Grossman, the first woman in Ohio elected to a Municipal Court Bench as well as one of the first female members of the American Bar Association, Genevieve Cline, the first woman appointed to the U.S. federal bench, and Lillian Walker Burke, the first African-American female judge in Ohio.[3] Louis Stokes, older brother of Carl and Ohio's first elected African American to the House of Representatives. Louis Stokes also argued the landmark United States Supreme Court case of Terry v. Ohio first in the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas, then the United States Supreme Court.
Law library[edit]
The law library is a selective depository library as part of the Federal Depository Library Program under the Depository Library Act of 1962.[12] In addition to the standard legal reference works, its collections include substantial coverage of constitutional law, employment and labor law, Jewish law, Islamic law, law careers, legal research and writing, Ohio law and practice, and urban law.[12]
The library also houses the materials from the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's office relating to the prosecution of Sam Sheppard in the 1954 Marilyn Sheppard murder case.[13] The collection comprises over 60 boxes of photographs, recordings, documents, and trial exhibits. The law school has cataloged and digitized the materials, many of which are available online.[13][14]