The Ohio State and Union Law College, was an independent law school in
Cleveland, Ohio that operated from 1855 to 1876.
Founding
The college was founded in 1855 in
Poland, Ohio
Poland is a village in eastern Mahoning County, Ohio, United States. A suburb about southeast of Youngstown, the population was 2,463 at the 2020 census. It is a part of the Youngstown–Warren metropolitan area.
History
In 1796, Poland To ...
, by the law firm of Judge Chester Hayden, Marcus King, and MD Legett as the Poland Law College. In 1856
or 1857
it moved to Cleveland and was incorporated under its official name.
Hayden served as dean, with 2 full-time instructors until 1863, when he sold the school to
John Crowell, a Cleveland lawyer who became president of the College 1n 1862.
The College closed when Crowell retired in 1876.
The College had about 500 students while it operated and awarded about 200 LL.B. degrees. At the start, the course only lasted one year, but this was extended to two years around 1870.
In 1871 the College had 2 professors, 28 students, and a library of 2,500 volumes.
Approach
According to its 1872-73 prospectus, the college aimed to given the student a thorough practical as well as a theoretical legal education. It did this by focusing on practical exercises such as the preparation of legal questions and motions for argument, weekly debates, and trials of causes, in addition to lectures. The prospectus expected that the students attending the course would get as much actual practice in all parts of the profession than lawyers generally have during their first ten year of practice.
Notable alumni
*
William Wellington Corlett
William Wellington Corlett (April 10, 1842 – July 22, 1890) was a Delegate from the Territory of Wyoming.
Biography
Corlett was born April 10, 1842 in Concord, Ohio. He attended the district schools and graduated from the Willoughby (Ohio) Co ...
, U.S. House of Representatives delegate from
Wyoming Territory, graduated in 1866
*
William B. Crew
William Binford Crew (April 1, 1852 – January 25, 1911) was a United States Republican Party, Republican politician in the U.S. State of Ohio who was in the Ohio House of Representatives, and a judge on the Ohio Supreme Court 1902–1911.
Will ...
, judge of the Ohio Supreme Court
*
John Patterson Green, prominent African American attorney, graduated in 1870
*
John W. Rowell, Chief justice of the Vermont Supreme Court
References
{{authority control
Defunct private universities and colleges in Ohio
1855 establishments in Ohio
Universities and colleges established in 1855
1876 disestablishments in the United States
Educational institutions disestablished in 1876
Mahoning County, Ohio