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Notre Dame Law School is the professional graduate law school of the
University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin founded the school in 1842. The main c ...
. Established in 1869, it is the oldest continuously operating
Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
law school in the United States. ND Law is ranked 22nd among the nation's "Top 100 Law Schools" by '' U.S. News & World Report'' and 14th by Above The Law in their annual Top 50 Law School Rankings. It is ranked 8th in graduates attaining federal judicial clerkships and 7th in graduates attaining Supreme Court clerkships. According to Notre Dame's 2018 ABA-required disclosures, 86% of the Class of 2019 obtained full-time, long-term, JD-required employment ten months after graduation. 41.5% of the Class of 2019 accepted positions at Large Firms, while 11.9% accepted Federal Clerkships, and 17.6% of the Class of 2019 Graduates accepted public service positions. The school enrolls about 600 students and in addition to the
J.D. degree The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice la ...
it also offers dual JD–MBA and several a dual J.D. and Masters combined degrees (including JD/MS, JD/MA, JD/M.Eng.). It also offers the only American Bar Association–approved, year-long, study-abroad program, which is based in
London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
.


History


Beginnings

Notre Dame Law School opened in February 1869. It was the second Catholic law school opened in the United States, and the oldest in continuous operation. The first was the law school of Saint Louis University, which opened in 1843 but closed soon after in 1847 (it was then re-opened in 1908). Despite its humble beginning, right from the start, the Law School required law students to have completed previous education in a thorough course in the liberal arts. This was uncommon at the time when Law School applicants only had to be 18. The first “principal” of the law department and Professor of Law was Matthew F. Colovin. Other law faculty in the early years included Lucius Tong and Timothy Howard. The first class graduated in 1871 and consisted of three students.


"Colonel" Hoynes era

One of the most important names in the history of the school was "Colonel"
William J. Hoynes William James Hoynes (18461933) was an Irish-American professor and academic who was the dean of the law department at the University of Notre Dame. He was also a veteran of the American Civil War, newspaper editor, lawyer, and was "famed as a p ...
. He was born in County Kilkenny,
Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...
in 1847 and emigrated with his parents at age seven. He fought for the Union Army during the
American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and t ...
. After the war, he was a student at Notre Dame from 1867 to 1872, and later went to Brunswick, New Jersey where he was editor of the Daily Times. Hoynes later attended the University of Michigan Law School where he obtained his LL.B. In 1882, Rev. Walsh, then the president of the university, invited Hoynes to take control of the Law School, which was in demise. Hoynes accepted Rev. Walsh's offer in 1883, and taught classes in the Main Administration Building and in Sorin Hall where a large room permitted him to set up a "Moot Court". The course of study was extended from two to three years. Hoynes was assisted in various subjects by John Ewing and Lucius Hubbard of South Bend. Under his tenure, enrollment in the law school began to rise immediately. The university restored the old building of the Institute of Technology after it was damaged by fire in 1916, and renamed it Hoynes Hall in honor of Dean William Hoynes. It was given to the exclusive use of the law students who moved there from Sorin Hall. After the Law School moved to its own building, Hoynes Hall housed the Architecture Department until 1963 and the Psychology Department until 1974, and then was renamed Crowley Hall and became the house of the Music Department since 1976. In 1925 John Whitman was appointed by Dean Thomas Konop as the first Law School librarian, and the collection grew to 7,000 volumes. In 1921 Maxine Evelyn Ryer became the first woman to study law at Notre Dame and the first woman to practice law in St. Joseph County, Indiana. In 1944, statues by Eugene Kormendi were added to the building as part of a campus beautification project.


20th century

On October 7, 1930, the Law School was transferred to the new building located on Notre Dame Avenue. The beautiful Gothic building, which still stands today, has a large reading room. The second librarian, Lora Lashbrook, and the third, Marie Lawrence, grew the library's collection to 20,000 volumes by 1952, and 55,000 volumes by 1960. The increase of both the library collection and student population reduced the available space. Regardless, this was balanced by the expansion of the law school funded by a donation from
S. S. Kresge Sebastian Spering Kresge (July 31, 1867 – October 18, 1966) was an American businessman. He created and owned two chains of department stores, the S. S. Kresge Company, one of the 20th century's largest discount retail organizations, and the ...
, the namesake of the Kresge Law Library. Under the guidance of Dean Lawless the school started one of the nation's first programs allowing law students to study abroad, with a year-long program in London to study the roots of
common law In law, common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law created by judges and similar quasi-judicial tribunals by virtue of being stated in written opinions."The common law is not a brooding omniprese ...
. In 1986 a further expansion added the East Reading Room and created the reference librarian offices. In 1990 alumnus John F. Sandner donated funding for the acquisition of the entire 120,000 volume collection of the Chicago Bar Association Library. In 1970,
Graciela Olivarez Graciela Gil Olivárez (March 9, 1928 – September 19, 1987) was a lawyer and advocate for civil rights and for the poor. When Olivárez's family moved to Phoenix, Arizona in 1944, she dropped out of high school and then proceeded to hold a pos ...
became the first woman and Latina to graduate from Notre Dame Law School. The next class to graduate women would be 1973.


21st-century


New resources for scholarship

In 2004, the Kresge Law Library became one of the few academic law libraries to own more than 600,000 volumes. This was accomplished mainly under the tenure of the fifth law librarian, Roger Jacobs, who also served as head librarian of the Library of the United States Supreme Court. Between 2007 and 2008, a new building, the Eck Hall of Law, was constructed to provide the Law School with an additional 85,000 square feet of classroom and office space. In 2010
Robert Biolchini The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, ho ...
, alumnus and entrepreneur from Tulsa, Oklahoma, funded the renovation of the Kresge Law Library, located in the renamed Biolchini Hall of Law. The renovated Biolchini Hall is 106,500 square feet, has two 50-seat classrooms, a seminar room, 29 group study rooms, and holds 300,000 book volumes and more than 300,000 volumes in microfilm. The total cost of renovations and expansions was approximately 58 million dollars.


Faculty hiring momentum

In recent years, the expanding Notre Dame Law faculty has attracted several accomplished scholars from other top law schools. In 2009,
University of Virginia Law School The University of Virginia School of Law (Virginia Law or UVA Law) is the law school of the University of Virginia, a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson as part of his "academical v ...
Professor Stephen Smith left a tenured position to join the Notre Dame Law faculty. In 2012, Professor Barry Cushman, the James Monroe Distinguished Professor of Law and Professor of History at the University of Virginia, joined the ND Law faculty. In 2017, it was announced that private law theorist Paul Miller from
McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill Univer ...
would join the Notre Dame faculty. Samuel Bray, a remedies theorist previously teaching at UCLA law, joined the faculty in 2018. During the same period, long-time Notre Dame professors have been invited for visiting faculty positions at Harvard, the University of Michigan and the University of Chicago law schools.


Expanded urban presence in DC and Chicago

In 2013, new space was secured for the ''Notre Dame Law in Chicago'' program, which allows ND Law students to pursue their studies from an urban campus in downtown Chicago ("in the Loop"). In 2015, in partnership with Kirkland & Ellis, the law school debuted its ''Notre Dame Law in DC'' program, which allows students to spend a semester studying in Washington, DC. In recent years, the school has hosted talks and events by many prominent legal figures, including Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Sonia Sotomayor, William Barr, and Amy Coney Barrett.


Deans

*1883–1919:
William J. Hoynes William James Hoynes (18461933) was an Irish-American professor and academic who was the dean of the law department at the University of Notre Dame. He was also a veteran of the American Civil War, newspaper editor, lawyer, and was "famed as a p ...
*1918–1923: Francis J. Vurpillat *1923–1941: Thomas F. Konop *1941–1952: Clarence Manion *1952–1968: Joseph O'Meara *1968–1971: William B. Lawless Jr. *1971–1975: Thomas L. Shaffer *1975–1999: David T. Link *1999–2009: Patricia A. O'Hara *2009–2019: Nell Jessup Newton *2019–Present: G. Marcus Cole


Admissions and rankings

Admission to Notre Dame Law School is highly selective. For the class entering in the fall of 2022, the median LSAT score was 168 and the median undergraduate GPA was 3.81. Notre Dame Law School is ranked 25th among the nation's "Top 100 Law Schools" by '' U.S. News & World Report'' for 2023 and 14th by Above The Law in their annual Top 50 Law School Rankings for 2022. The law School is a top 10 runner-up for Elite Litigation boutique hiring.


Degrees

The law school grants the professional Juris Doctor, Master of Laws and Doctor of Juridical Science degrees. The Master of Laws program can be pursued either at the main campus in South Bend or at the Law School's London Law Centre in the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...
. The law school also offers a Master of Science in Patent Law, Certificate in Patent Prosecution, and LL.M. in International Human Rights Law.


Job and clerkship placement

In the class of 2019, 167 out of 193 graduates (86%) secured full-time, long-term employment requiring passage of the bar exam within ten months of graduation. The top 3 most popular destinations for graduates in the class of 2018 were Illinois (21.7%), New York (10.6%), and California (9.5%). Furthermore, 41.5% of graduates in the class of 2019 found employment in large law firms (100+ attorneys) and 11.9% pursued federal clerkships. Notre Dame has been recognized as a feeder school for federal clerks and in recent years has placed a higher percentage of its graduates as federal clerks than other top law schools, such as the University of Pennsylvania Law School and Columbia Law School.


Costs

The total cost of attendance (indicating the cost of tuition, fees, and living expenses) at Notre Dame Law School for the 2020–2021 academic year is $84,230.


Facilities

Notre Dame Law School is located in the heart of Notre Dame's campus and it housed in the Eck and Biochini Halls, two buildings connected by a suspended walkway. Biolchini Hall was designed by architect Charles Donagh Maginnis in 1930 and serves as a prominent example of collegiate Gothic architecture. It was renovated in 2010 thanks to a gift from
Robert Biolchini The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, ho ...
and renamed to its current name. The Kresge Law Library is located in Biochini Hall, while most of the classrooms are in Eck Hall. Funding for the law library was provided by businessman S.S. Kresge, the founder of what is now Sears Holding Corporation. In 2004, the Kresge Law Library became one of the few academic law libraries to own more than 600,000 volumes. This was accomplished mainly under the tenure of the fifth law librarian, Roger Jacobs, who also served as head librarian of the Library of the United States Supreme Court. Eck Hall was built in 2010. The $57-million, 85,000-square-foot building was connected to the original building through a suspended walkway that constitutes a common area. Eck includes both classrooms and faculty and administrative offices, as well as space for student services and activities. In addition to a 205-seat moot courtroom, the Patrick F. McCartan Courtroom, there are four lecture halls, five seminar rooms, and three skills training rooms available for classes and events. The construction of Eck and the connecting walkway to Biolchini also allowed for the creation of a new chapel dedicated to St. Thomas More. The building was named in honor of school graduate, benefactor, and advisor Frank E. Eck. The Law School also hosts a legal aid clinic in South Bend.


Notable alumni

Despite having smaller graduating classes than most of America's top law schools, Notre Dame's alumni roster includes a range of distinguished jurists, advocates, politicians, and business leaders. * Tae-Ung Baik – a legal scholar of international human rights law and Korean law; Professor of Law at the University of Hawaii at Manoa
William S. Richardson School of Law The William S. Richardson School of Law is the professional graduate law school of the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Located in Honolulu, Hawaii, the school is named after its patriarch, former Hawaii State Supreme Court Chief Justice William S ...
; former Prisoner of Conscience * Amy Coney Barrett – associate justice of the United States Supreme Court * William Beauchamp – former president of the University of Portland *
G. Robert Blakey George Robert Blakey (born January 7, 1936) is an American attorney and law professor. He is best known for his work in connection with drafting the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act and for scholarship on that subject. Educa ...
– author of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act *
Joseph Cari Jr. Joseph A. Cari Jr. is an American merchant banker, public policy expert, and philanthropist currently residing in New York, NY, New York. Cari's professional career has spanned the worlds of merchant banking, media, public policy, politics, law a ...
– private equity investor, policy analyst, and philanthropist * Tom Clements
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coach for the Green Bay Packers *
N. Patrick Crooks Neil Patrick Crooks (May 16, 1938September 21, 2015) was an American lawyer. He was a justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court from 1996 until his death in 2015. He was appointed as a county judge by a Democratic governor, later professing conserva ...
– Justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court * John Crowley – biotechnology executive and inspiration for the film '' Extraordinary Measures'' *
Lucille Davy Lucille Davy was the Commissioner of Education in New Jersey. She was named acting commissioner on September 9, 2005, by former Governor of New Jersey Richard Codey. She was named commissioner by Governor Jon Corzine as of July 11, 2006. When ...
– Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Education. * Samuel L. Devine – former United States congressman ( R- OH) * John V. Diener – Mayor of Green Bay, Wisconsin *
Andy Dillon Andrew Dillon is a Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party politician from the U.S. state of Michigan. While Dillon is a Democrat, he was appointed by Governor Rick Snyder, a Republican, to be the state's treasurer. Before serving in th ...
– former speaker of the Michigan House of Representatives, gubernatorial candidate, and former
Michigan State Treasurer The State Treasurer of Michigan functions as the chief financial officer for the U.S. state of Michigan. The State Treasurer In the state governments of the United States, 48 of the 50 states have the executive position of treasurer. New Yo ...
* Larry Dolan – owner and President of the
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* Joe Donnelly – former United States senator ( D- IN) * Clark Durant – CEO and founder of Cornerstone Schools (Michigan); political activist * David Campos GuaderramaUnited States district judge for the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas * Patricia Anne Gaughan – United States district judge for the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio * John M. Gearin – former United States senator ( D- OR) * Mark Gimenez – author of legal thrillers (his book ''The Color of the Law'' was a ''New York Times'' bestseller) *
William J. Granfield William Joseph Granfield (December 18, 1889 – May 28, 1959) was a United States representative from Massachusetts. Granfield was born in Springfield on December 18, 1889. He attended elementary and high school in Springfield, and graduated ...
– former United States congressman ( D- MA) *
Robert A. Grant Robert Allen Grant (July 31, 1905 – March 2, 1998) was a United States representative from Indiana and later a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Indiana. Education and career Born nea ...
– former United States congressman ( R- IN) and Chief Judge for the United States District Court for the Northern District of Indiana * Michael Fansler – justice of the Indiana Supreme Court * José Reyes Ferriz – Mexican politician, affiliated to the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), former Municipal President (mayor) of Ciudad Juárez * Nora Barry Fischer – United States district judge for the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania *
Peter F. Flaherty Peter Francis Flaherty (June 25, 1924 – April 18, 2005) was an American politician and attorney. He served as assistant district attorney of Allegheny County from 1957 to 1964, a member of the Pittsburgh City Council from 1966 to 1970, the 54t ...
– former mayor of Pittsburgh and deputy attorney general in the Carter administration *
Kevin Hasson Kevin J. "Seamus" Hasson is Founder and President Emeritus of The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, a non-profit, public interest law firm that represents persons of all faiths. The Becket Fund is well known for successfully representing the Litt ...
– founder and President of
The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty Becket Law (formerly the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty) is a non-profit public interest law firm based in Washington, D.C., that describes its mission as "defending the freedom of religion of people of all faiths." Becket promotes accommodat ...
*
Donna Jean Hrinak Donna Jean Hrinak (born March 28, 1951) is an American lawyer and former diplomat who has been the president of Boeing Latin America & Caribbean since September 2011. Early life and education Hrinak was born in Pennsylvania on March 28, 1951. ...
– American diplomat, former U.S. Ambassador to Brazil (2002–2004), Venezuela (2000–2002), Bolivia (1997–2000), and the Dominican Republic (1994–1997). * Harry Kelly39th Governor of
Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and t ...
from 1943 to 1947 *
John Kilkenny John Francis Kilkenny (October 26, 1901 – February 17, 1995) was a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and previously was a United States district judge of the United States District Court fo ...
– former judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit * Peter King – United States Congressman ( R- NY) *
David G. Larimer David George Larimer (born March 3, 1944) is a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of New York. Education and career Born in Rochester, New York, Larimer received a Bachelor of Art ...
– a federal judge on the United States District Court for the Western District of New York *
Edward Leavy Edward Leavy (born August 14, 1929) is a Senior United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and a former judge for the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review. Prior to these pos ...
– Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review * Paul M. Lewis – American diplomat (appointed by President
Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, Obama was the first Af ...
to serve as
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's Special Envoy for Guantanamo Closure) * Brendan Loy – a blogger who gained fame for his coverage of Hurricane Katrina *
Maureen Mahoney Maureen E. Mahoney (born August 28, 1954) is a former deputy solicitor general and an appellate lawyer at the law firm of Latham & Watkins in Washington, D.C., Bazelon, Emily (November 26, 2007On the Advice of Counsel ''Slate.com'' who has arg ...
– former deputy solicitor general and well-known appellate lawyer, reported to have been among George W. Bush's Supreme Court candidates *
Eduardo Malapit Eduardo Enabore Malapit (April 6, 1933 – August 27, 2007) was an American Democratic politician who served as Mayor of Kauai, Hawaii. Elected for four consecutive two-year terms as mayor of Kauai beginning in 1974, he was the first Filipi ...
– Hawaiian politician,
Mayor of Kauai The Mayor of Kauai is the chief executive officer of the County of Kauai in the state of Hawaii. The mayor has municipal jurisdiction over the islands of Kauai and Ni’ihau. Derek Kawakami was elected on November 6, 2018, as the mayor of Kauai ...
(1974–1982), first Filipino American mayor of any United States municipality * John E. Martin – former chief justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court *
Greg Marx Gregory Allen Marx (July 18, 1950 – October 5, 2018) was an American football defensive end who played one season with the Atlanta Falcons of the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted by the Falcons in the second round of the 1973 NFL ...
– NFL player *
Romano L. Mazzoli Romano Louis "Ron" Mazzoli (November 2, 1932 – November 1, 2022) was an American politician and lawyer from Kentucky. He represented Louisville, Kentucky, and its suburbs in the United States House of Representatives from 1971 through 1995 as ...
– former United States congressman ( D- KY) and immigration reform advocate * James McCament – senior policy advisor, U.S. Customs and Border Protection * Judith A. McMorrow – torts scholar and law professor at
Boston College Law School Boston College Law School (BC Law) is the law school of Boston College. It is situated on a wooded campus in Newton, Massachusetts, about 1.5 miles from the university's main campus in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. With approximately 800 stud ...
* John Henry Merryman – Nelson Bowman Sweitzer and Marie B. Sweitzer Professor of Law at Stanford Law School * Carol Ann Mooney – president of Saint Mary's College * Brian Moynihan – president and CEO of
Bank of America Corporation The Bank of America Corporation (often abbreviated BofA or BoA) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered at the Bank of America Corporate Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. The ban ...
* Joseph P. O'Hara – former United States congressman ( R- MN) *
Graciela Olivarez Graciela Gil Olivárez (March 9, 1928 – September 19, 1987) was a lawyer and advocate for civil rights and for the poor. When Olivárez's family moved to Phoenix, Arizona in 1944, she dropped out of high school and then proceeded to hold a pos ...
– the first female and Latina graduate; Director of the Community Services Administration under
Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he previously served as th ...
* Clifford Patrick O'Sullivan – former judge United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit *
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,
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senior judicial analyst and former judge *
Paul V. Niemeyer Paul Victor Niemeyer (born April 5, 1941) is a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and a former United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Maryland. ...
– Judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit * Jerry Pappert – United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and former
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* Renee Rabinowitz – psychologist and lawyer * Keith James Rothfus – former United States congressman ( R- PA) *
Margaret A. Ryan Margaret Ann "Meg" Ryan (born May 23, 1964) is a senior judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces. She joined the court in 2006 after being nominated by President George W. Bush. Her term expired on July 31, 2020. Early ...
– judge on the
United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces The United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces (in case citations, C.A.A.F. or USCAAF) is an Article I court that exercises worldwide appellate jurisdiction over members of the United States Armed Forces on active duty and other perso ...
*
Yara Sallam Yara Sallam ( ar, يارا رفعت سلّام; born November 24, 1985) is a prominent Egyptian feminist and human rights advocate. She has worked as a lawyer and researcher for several Egyptian and international human rights organizations, as wel ...
– Egyptian feminist and human rights activist * Janis Lynn Sammartino – United States district judge for the United States District Court for the Southern District of California * John F. Sandner – former chairman of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange *
Lisa M. Schenck Lisa M. Schenck (née Thibault) is an American attorney, academic, and Judge of the United States Court of Military Commission Review. She has served as the associate dean for academic affairs at the George Washington University Law School sin ...
– military law scholar and judge of
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* Thomas D. Schroeder – United States district judge for the United States District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina * Thomas L. Shaffer – professor of legal ethics at Washington & Lee University and the
University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin founded the school in 1842. The main c ...
* Theresa Lazar Springmann – United States district judge for the United States District Court for the Northern District of Indiana * Michael A. Stepovich – former governor of Alaska *
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– former judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit * Martha Vázquez – United States district judge on the United States District Court for the District of New Mexico * Pete Visclosky – United States Congressman ( D- IN) * Frank Comerford Walker – former United States Postmaster General and chairman of the Democratic National Committee * Kevin Warren
Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...
commissioner, former CEO of the Minnesota Vikings and the highest-ranking African-American executive working on the business side for an NFL team * Ann Claire Williams – former judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit * Charles R. Wilson – judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit *
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– president and CEO of New York Road Runners (NYRR) * Francis Parker Yockey – American attorney and far-right political philosopher *
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– justice of the
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* William J. Zloch – United States district judge for
United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida The United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida (in case citations, S.D. Fla. or S.D. Fl.) is the federal United States district court with territorial jurisdiction over the southern part of the state of Florida.. Appeals ...
*
Chris Zorich Christopher Robert Zorich (born March 16, 1969) is a former American football defensive tackle who played in college for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and in the National Football League (NFL) for the Chicago Bears and Washington Redskins. Zor ...
– former Notre Dame and Chicago Bears star Defensive lineman


Notable faculty

Notable current faculty include: * John Finnis – Australian philosopher, specializing in the philosophy of law (also Professor of Law at University College, Oxford) *
Nicole Stelle Garnett Nicole Stelle Garnett (born January 7, 1970) is the John P. Murphy Foundation Professor of Law at Notre Dame Law School, teaching in the areas of property, land use, urban development, local government law, and education. She has written numerou ...
– legal scholar specializing in the areas of real estate, land use, urban development, local government law, and education *
Richard W. Garnett Richard W. Garnett (born November 6, 1968) is the Paul J. Schierl / Fort Howard Corporation Professor of Law, a Concurrent Professor of Political Science, and the founding Director of the Notre Dame Program on Church, State & Society at Notre Dame ...
First Amendment First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and reco ...
and criminal law scholar * Jimmy Gurulé – former under secretary for enforcement, United States Department of the Treasury and former assistant attorney general for the United States Department of Justice * William K. Kelley – former White House deputy counsel * Mary Ellen O'Connell – international law scholar * Kenneth Francis Ripple – senior circuit judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit * Amy Coney Barrett – associate justice of the United States Supreme Court * Thomas Paprocki – American prelate of the
Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
who serves as bishop of the Diocese of Springfield,
Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rock ...
Notable former faculty include: *
G. Robert Blakey George Robert Blakey (born January 7, 1936) is an American attorney and law professor. He is best known for his work in connection with drafting the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act and for scholarship on that subject. Educa ...
– author of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) (also an alumnus) *
Anton-Hermann Chroust Anton-Hermann Chroust (29 January 1907 – January 1982) was a German-American jurist, philosopher and historian, from 1946 to 1972, professor of law, philosophy, and history, at the University of Notre Dame. Chroust was best known for his ...
– German-American legal historian *
John H. Garvey John Hugh Garvey (born in Sharon, Pennsylvania, September 28, 1948) was the 15th president of the Catholic University of America. Trained as a lawyer, Garvey assumed this position in 2010. Education John H. Garvey attended the University of Notr ...
– a professor at the University of Michigan Law School and Dean of the
Boston College Law School Boston College Law School (BC Law) is the law school of Boston College. It is situated on a wooded campus in Newton, Massachusetts, about 1.5 miles from the university's main campus in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. With approximately 800 stud ...
* Dan Flanagan – Justice of the Indiana Supreme Court *
M. Cathleen Kaveny M. Cathleen Kaveny is an American legal scholar and theologian. She is the Darald and Juliet Libby Professor of Law and Theology at Boston College. She holds a joint appointment at both the Law School and Department of Theology at Boston College, ...
– a scholar of law and theology at Boston College *
Douglas Kmiec Douglas William Kmiec (; born September 24, 1951) is an American legal scholar, author, and former U.S. ambassador. He is the Caruso Family Chair and Professor of Constitutional Law at Pepperdine University School of Law. Kmiec came to prominenc ...
– U.S. Ambassador (ret.), confirmed 2009; assistant attorney general of the United States, confirmed 1988, White House fellow and special assistant to the secretary United States Department of Housing & Urban Development; dean and St. Thomas More Professor of Law, Catholic University of America * Thomas F. Konop – former U.S. representative from Wisconsin * Juan E. Méndez – human rights advocate known for work on behalf of political prisoners * Carol Ann Mooney – president of Saint Mary's College in Notre Dame, Indiana *
John T. Noonan Jr. John Thomas Noonan Jr. (October 24, 1926 – April 17, 2017) was a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Personal and education Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Noonan attended the John D. Runkl ...
senior United States federal judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit * Charles E. Rice – legal scholar specializing in Natural Law Theory * Thomas L. Shaffer – property law scholar * Patrick J. SchiltzUnited States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota *
Larry Soderquist Larry D. Soderquist (July 20, 1944 – August 20, 2005) was a noted author and Professor of Law at Vanderbilt University Law School from 1981 to 2005 and director at Corporate and Securities Law Institute from 1993 to 2005. Biography Soderquist w ...
– securities law scholar * Harris Wofford – former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania and civil rights activist * Dudley G. Wooten – former U.S. representative from Texas.


Law journals

Notre Dame Law School publishes five student-run journals: *'' Notre Dame Law Review'' *'' Journal of Legislation'' *''Notre Dame Journal of Law, Ethics & Public Policy'' *'' Notre Dame Journal of International and Comparative Law'' * ''Notre Dame Journal on Emerging Technologies''


References


External links

* {{authority control Catholic law schools in the United States Law schools in Indiana Educational institutions established in 1869 1869 establishments in Indiana