Harvard University is one of the most prominent academic institutions in the world. Harvard is famous for its exceptionally high academic standards and its numerous distinguished alumni. Harvard Law School is among the university’s most prominent departments. Situated in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard Law School is the second oldest law school in the US and has the world’s largest academic law library with around two million books. (1) Harvard Law School pioneered the standard first-year course program for US law schools in the 1870s during the tenure of Dean Christopher Columbus Langdell. (2) Dean Langdell also pioneered the case method of teaching law which eventually became the primary teaching method of US law schools.
Harvard Law School has very stringent admission standards. Only 11.7% out of 6,984 total applicants were admitted for the 2007-2008 academic year. Half of the 2007 class had GPAs that ranged between
3. 75 and
3. 95 and LSAT scores between 170 and 175. (3) The admissions committee of Harvard Law School also conducts telephone interviews of prospective Harvard Law degree students.
Harvard law degree students are equipped to be successful in the practice of law and in the fields of business, public service, and teaching. Harvard law degrees include the J.D (Juris Doctor), LL.M. (Master of Laws), and the S.J.D. (Doctor of Juridical Science). (4) Harvard Law School also provides its students with a rich variety of activities outside the classroom environment including involvement in student practice organizations, professional interest groups, social groups, and student journals.
Harvard Law School alumni and faculty have figured prominently in US politics and culture. Fourteen Harvard law degree graduates have served on the US Supreme Court. (5) The list includes Harry Blackmun, Louis Brandeis, Felix Frankfurter, Lewis Powell, and Oliver Wendell Holmes. Rutherford Hayes, the 19th US president, was a graduate of Harvard Law School as well as presidential candidates such as Pat Schroeder, Michael Dukakis, Mitt Romney, and Barack Obama. The list of prominent Harvard Law School faculty includes Alan Dershowitz, Felix Frankfurter, Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., Charles Fried, John Chipman Gray, Paul A. Freund, Arthur R. Miller, Laurence Tribe, Alvin Warren, and Jonathan Zittrain.
(1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvard_Law_School
(2) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Columbus_Langdell
(3) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvard_Law_School
(4) http://www.law.harvard.edu/about/
(5) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvard_Law_School