The Chattanooga College of Law was a

law school A law school (also known as a law centre or college of law) is an institution specializing in legal education, usually involved as part of a process for becoming a lawyer within a given jurisdiction. Law degrees Argentina In Argentina, ...

Chattanooga, Tennessee Chattanooga ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States. Located along the Tennessee River bordering Georgia, it also extends into Marion County on its western end. With a population of 181,099 in 2020, ...

, from 1898 to 1942. The school began as the law department of

Grant University The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UT-Chattanooga, UTC, or Chattanooga) is a public university in Chattanooga, Tennessee, United States. It was founded in 1886 and is one of four universities and two other affiliated institutions in the ...

(which later became the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga). The first graduate of the school during its existence as a department was

Nathan L. Bachman Nathan Lynn Bachman (August 2, 1878April 23, 1937) was a United States Senate, United States Senator from Tennessee from 1933 until his death. He was a member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party. Biography Bachman was born ...

, who went on to become a United States Senator. In 1906 it was reported that "the new building of the Chattanooga College of Law is one of the finest buildings in the South, located on the block immediately opposite the United States Court House". In 1910, the university decided to discontinue its professional departments, and the dean of the law school, Charles R. Evans, persuaded the state to grant it a charter as an independent institution.Zella Armstrong, ''The History of Hamilton County and Chattanooga, Tennessee, Volume II'' (1940), p. 169-170. Evans died shortly thereafter, and the deanship was then assumed by local judge W. B. Swaney, who remained in that position for many years. The

American Bar Association The American Bar Association (ABA) is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students, which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. Founded in 1878, the ABA's most important stated activities are the setting of acad ...

reported in 1912 that "the Chattanooga College of Law has fifteen instructors, and not one of the number devotes his entire time to the school", and a 1915 description noted that the faculty generally came "from the bench and bar of Chattanooga", and were active practitioners in the law. The school was never accredited by the American Bar Association, and ceased accepting new students in 1942, several years after legislation was passed by the state requiring increased standards for the admission of students to enter law schools in the state. A 1943 article noted that the school, though still in operation, "enters a new term soon, without a single first year student for the first time in its 45 years of operation"."Nary A Freshman", ''The Troy Record'' (December 14, 1943), p. 20. Other notable alumni of the school included T. Grady Head, who served as Attorney General of Georgia, and on the Georgia Supreme Court."Justice T. Grady Head Dies After Brain Surgery", ''The Atlanta Constitution'' (June 8, 1965), p. 1.

References

1898 establishments in Tennessee Defunct law schools 1942 disestablishments in Tennessee {{lawschool-stub