Yale Law School

In the first decade of the nineteenth century, Seth P. Staples (Yale 1797) opened a school for law students in New Haven. In 1824 the school became affiliated with Yale College. The college conferred its first law degrees in 1843. The course of study originally extended for two years, and in 1896 it was lengthened to three years. Subsequently a college degree became a prerequisite for the Bachelor of Laws degree. Graduate courses leading to advanced degrees began in 1876. In 1926 honors courses appeared and the school adopted a selective admission process. In 1971, the Yale Corporation authorized the Juris Doctor degree; all candidates for the first professional law degree were awarded the J.D. degree rather than the L.L.B. in 1971. The first Master of Studies in Law degrees were awarded in 1974. The School is housed in its own Gothic-style quadrangle, the Sterling Law Buildings. Completed in 1931, the quadrangle was the g

From the guide to the Yale Law School records, 1820-1961, (Manuscripts and Archives)

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