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The New England School of Law (NESL) is located in Boston, Massachusetts in the theater district. NESL is characterized by substantive instruction with a strong foundation in ethics. The school's highly qualified and accessible faculty are committed to both teaching and scholarship. The academic program emphasizes extensive preparation in practical skills, including instruction in legal writing and clinical work. Founded in 1908 as Portia Law School, the only law school established exclusively for the education of women, NESL has been coeducational since 1938. It was renamed New England School of Law in 1969.
New England School of Law is ABA (American Bar Association) accredited and is a member of the Association of American Law Schools. With four other independent law schools, NESL is also a founding member of the Consortium for Innovative Legal Education.
The current NESL student body is 55% women and 13% people of color. Currently, students come from 43 states, 9 countries and territories; further, 66% of full-time students come from a state outside of Massachusetts. NESL faculty members have published more than 70 books and articles over the past five years, the international moot court team won the Richard R. Baxter Award for best brief in the 2001 Jessup moot court competition. NESL's 18 clinics in areas such as areas such as domestic violence, environmental law, family law, federal courts, health and hospital law, immigration law, and mediation offer opportunities for practical legal experience in varied fields, and each clinic has a required classroom component.
NESL's full-time faculty members are top graduates of fine law schools in the United States and abroad. Many hold advanced degrees either in law or other fields, in addition to their juris doctor degrees. Most have practiced law in the fields in which they now teach, and many have served as judicial clerks (including four as Federal Court of Appeals clerks) before beginning their teaching careers. The full-time faculty of 36 includes two African-Americans, one Asian American, and 12 women. NESL also attracts excellent adjunct faculty members from the judiciary, law practice, and government to teach advanced courses in their areas of expertise. Adjunct faculty bring to the classroom their first-hand knowledge of how the law is being applied in the world of practice.
History
In 1908, two Boston women decided to sit for the Massachusetts bar examination. A lawyer named Arthur Winfield MacLean agreed to tutor them, and other students followed over the next few years. From that beginning, a school was established; MacLean's wife dubbed it Portia Law School, after the heroine of Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice." Arthur MacLean became the school's first Dean.
Enrollment grew, and the first commencement was held in 1911. Beginning in 1920, Portia graduates received the LL.B. degree. During the school's early years, most women who passed the Massachusetts bar examination were Portia alumnae. In 1922, when the school moved into its first permanent building in Boston's Beacon Hill neighborhood, enrollment had reached 228, and the results from the December 1921 bar exam showed that all the women who had passed were graduates of the school.
The only law school in the nation founded exclusively for the education of women, Portia Law School became coeducational in 1938. In 1969, the school's name was changed to New England School of Law and accreditation was granted by the American Bar Association. The 1980s began with the school's move to its current location in Boston's Park Square area. In January 1998, the law school was elected to membership in the Association of American Law Schools.
The school's philosophical roots are evident today as it continues to offer a high-quality legal education to qualified students from a broad range of backgrounds.
From its beginnings, NESL has produced alumni whose contributions have enhanced the legal communities of Boston and the region. Early alumnae broke barriers that had impeded the entry of women into the profession, and in doing so, they have paved the way for future generations of women lawyers.
Location and Resources
The law school's five-story main building is located at 154 Stuart Street in Boston's theater district, within walking distance of courthouses, federal and state offices. The facility includes lecture halls, several of which are hardwired for Internet access and feature presentation technology; seminar rooms; faculty offices; a student lounge; a moot courtroom; and the law library. Wireless technology throughout the law school allows Internet access from anywhere in the building.
The library collection contains approximately 335,000 volumes and volume equivalents, an audio and video collection, microform materials, CD-ROM titles with multiple legal databases, and several online research services. Collaboration Room Seating is available for 364 students in carrels and study areas, some of which are private collaboration rooms suitable for student meetings and cooperative learning. More than 120 computer work stations and laptops are available for student use.
Offices for the school's administrative departments, clinical law office, and student publications are located in a two-story building in a residential neighborhood, About three blocks from the main building. The law school recently acquired an additional building adjacent to the main facility for future expansion.
Visitors
NESL has played host to many notable visitors in the past including Dr. Hans Blix, Chief Weapons Inspector to the UN; Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Chief Justice Margaret H. Marshall; Prince Zeid Raad al Hussein, Ambassador of Jordan to the United Nations; U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno; former United States Congresswoman and vice-presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro; U.S. Senator John F. Kerry; Judge Kenneth W. Starr, Kirkland and Ellis partner and former special prosecutor; world-renowned criminal attorney, author, and Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz; and Supreme Court Justice's Sandra Day O'Connor, Harry Blackmun, and Clarence Thomas. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy will visit in April, 2005.
Admission Facts and Figures
For the entering class in fall 2003 NESL received approximately 3500 applications for all divisions. Actual class size on the first day of classes included 253 full-time day division students and 118 part-time day, evening and special part-time divions students. Again with the class of 2003, NESL's top 75% applicants for the full time day division scored a 154 on the LSAT with a 3.42 undergraduate GPA and the bottom 25% scored a 149 with a 2.96 undergraduate GPA.
More information about NESL can be found on their web site, at www.nesl.edu
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