Harvard Law School
Law school of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States.[6][7]
| Harvard Law School | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Motto | Veritas (Truth)[1] Lex et Iustitia (Law and justice) |
| Parent school | Harvard University |
| Established | 1817 |
| School type | Private law school |
| Dean | John F. Manning |
| Location | Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States |
| Enrollment | 1,990[2] |
| Faculty | 135[3] |
| USNWR ranking | 4th (2023)[4] |
| Bar pass rate | 99% (2019)[5] |
| Website | hls |
 | |
Each class in the three-year JD program has approximately 560 students, among the largest of the top 150 ranked law schools in the United States.[8] 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. Harvard's uniquely large class size and prestige have led the law school to graduate a great many distinguished alumni in the judiciary, government, and the business world.
According to Harvard Law's 2020 ABA-required disclosures, 99% of 2019 graduates passed the bar exam.[9][5][10] 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.[11]
Harvard Law School's founding is traditionally linked to the funding of Harvard's first professorship in law, paid for from a bequest from the estate of Isaac Royall Jr., a colonial American landowner and slaveowner. HLS is home to the world's largest academic law library.[12][13] The school has an estimated 135 full-time faculty members.[3]