History
Though it would be decades before George Washington’s namesake university would be established by an Act of Congress, the George Washington University Law School—founded in 1825, closed in 1826 due to financial difficulty, and then reorganized in 1865—was the first law school in the District of Columbia.
In 1865, the president of Columbian College (now The George Washington University) facilitated the purchase of a building owned by Trinity Church for the purpose of holding law classes. In 1867, the school graduated its first class, who represented twenty two of the then thirty seven states. The Master of Laws degree program was adopted by the school in 1877. In 1900, the school was one of the founding members of the Association of American Law Schools.
Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas, William Strong, David J. Brewer, Willis Van Devanter and John Marshall Harlan were among those who served on its faculty. Chief Justice John Roberts, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Justice Samuel Alito, Justice Antonin Scalia, and Justice Elena Kagan presided over its moot court in 2006, 2007, 2009, and 2012 respectively.
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