History
The Law School was founded in 1927 and was originally named the Detroit City Law School as part of the City Colleges of Detroit. Allan Campbell served as the Law School’s founding dean, which graduated its first class with the Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) degree in 1928.
The City Colleges of Detroit thrived and was subsequently renamed Wayne University in 1933. In 1956, the University joined Michigan State University and the University of Michigan as one of the state’s three major public research institutions, and was renamed Wayne State University.
The Law School received full American Bar Association (ABA) accreditation in 1939. The School’s Moot Court program (originally called the Case Club) was established in 1938, and the Wayne Law Review began publication in 1954. As an additional honor, members of the Wayne Law Review were awarded Juris Doctor (J.D.) degrees rather than LL.B. degrees (J.D. degrees were awarded to all law students with an undergraduate degree beginning in 1965). In 1965, the Law School’s students founded the Free Legal Aid Clinic, which is now operated in conjunction with the Elder Law & Advocacy Center and Lakeshore Legal Aid.
At the urging of the ABA and the State Bar of Michigan Board of Commissioners, Wayne State University Law School and the University of Michigan Law School joined to form the Institute for Continuing Legal Education (ICLE) in 1960. ICLE provides Michigan lawyers with accessible continuing legal education and resource materials that enable them to practice law more effectively, and is now one of the largest organizations of its kind in the nation.
Deans of the Law School have included Allan Campbell (1927–1937), Arthur Neef (1937–1966), Charles Joiner (1968–1975), Donald Gordon (1975–1980), John Roberts (1980–1987), John Reed (1987–1993), James Robinson (1993–1998), Joan Mahoney (1998–2004; first female law school dean in Michigan history), Frank Wu (2004–2008), and Robert Ackerman (2008–present).
Read more about this topic: Wayne State University Law School
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