Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School (HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, Harvard Law School is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States.
Harvard Law School
Lex et Iustitia
(Latin for 'Law and Justice')
1817
John C. P. Goldberg (interim)[1]
Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States
1,990 (2019)[2]
135[3]
4th (tie) (2024)[4]
99.4% (2021)[5]
Each class in the three-year JD program has approximately 560 students, which is among the largest of the top 150 ranked law schools in the United States.[6] The first-year class is broken into seven sections of approximately 80 students, who take most first-year classes together. Aside from the JD program, Harvard also awards both LLM and SJD degrees.
HLS is home to the world's largest academic law library.[7][8] The school has an estimated 115 full-time faculty members.[3] According to Harvard Law's 2020 ABA-required disclosures, 99% of 2019 graduates passed the bar exam.[9][10][11] The school's graduates accounted for more than one-quarter of all Supreme Court clerks between 2000 and 2010, more than any other law school in the United States.[12]
History[edit]
Founding[edit]
Harvard Law School's founding is traced to the establishment of a 'law department' at Harvard in 1819.[13] Dating the founding to the year of the creation of the law department makes Harvard Law School the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. William & Mary Law School opened first in 1779, but it closed due to the American Civil War, reopening in 1920.[14] The University of Maryland School of Law was chartered in 1816 but did not begin classes until 1824, and it also closed during the Civil War.[15]
Reputation[edit]
HLS was ranked as the fifth best law school in the United States by U.S. News & World Report in its 2023 rankings.[42][43] HLS was ranked first in the world by QS World University Rankings in 2023.[44] It is ranked first in the world by the 2019 Academic Ranking of World Universities.[45]
HLS has graduated the largest number of U.S. Supreme Court justices and U.S. attorneys general. HLS is the best represented law school in the current U.S. Congress and among the law faculty at U.S. law schools.
In November 2022, the law school made a joint decision along with Yale Law School to withdraw from the U.S. News & World Report Best Law Schools rankings, citing the system's "flawed methodology."[46]
Costs[edit]
The cost of tuition for the 2022–2023 school year (9 month term) is $72,430. A Mandatory HUHS Student Health Fee is $1,304, bringing the total direct costs for the 2022–2023 school year to $73,734.[49]
The total cost of attendance (indicating the cost of tuition, fees, and living expenses) at Harvard Law for the 2021–2022 academic year is $104,200.[50]
In popular culture[edit]
Books[edit]
The Paper Chase is a novel set amid a student's first ("One L") year at the school. It was written by John Jay Osborn, Jr., who studied at the school. The book was later turned into a film and a television series (see below).
Scott Turow wrote a memoir of his experience as a first-year law student at Harvard, One L.
Film and television[edit]
Several movies and television shows take place at least in part at the school. Most of them have scenes filmed on location at or around Harvard University. They include:
Many popular movies and television shows also feature characters introduced as Harvard Law School graduates. The central plot point of the TV series Suits is that one of the main characters did not attend Harvard but fakes his graduate status in order to practice law.