Suffolk University Law School (also known as Suffolk Law School) is the private,
non-sectarian
Nonsectarian institutions are Secularity, secular institutions or other organizations not affiliated with or restricted to a particular religious group.
Academic sphere
Examples of US universities that identify themselves as being nonsectarian i ...
law school of
Suffolk University located in downtown Boston, Massachusetts, across the street from the Boston Common and the Freedom Trail, two blocks from the State House, and a short walk to the financial district. Suffolk Law was founded in 1906 by
Gleason Archer Sr. to provide a legal education for those who traditionally lacked the opportunity to study law because of socio-economic or racial discrimination.
Suffolk Law school has full-time, part-time evening, hybrid online, accelerated and dual-degree JD programs. It has been accredited by 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 aca ...
since 1953 and the
Association of American Law Schools
The Association of American Law Schools (AALS), formed in 1900, is a non-profit organization of 176 law schools in the United States. An additional 19 schools pay a fee to receive services but are not members. AALS incorporated as a 501(c)(3) n ...
since 1977.
The school's legal skills programs (clinics, legal writing, trial advocacy, and dispute resolution) are ranked among the top 25 in the country by ''
U.S. News & World Report'' (2023 guide). The legal writing program is ranked #4 in the nation by ''US News''. In 2021, the school was ranked the nation's #1 "Technology Leader" by ''PreLaw'' magazine, which noted students' access-to-justice innovations during the pandemic.
The institution publishes five student-run
law reviews
A law review or law journal is a scholarly journal or publication that focuses on legal issues. A law review is a type of legal periodical. Law reviews are a source of research, imbedded with analyzed and referenced legal topics; they also pr ...
, to which students, faculty, and other scholars contribute.
According to Suffolk's Office of Professional and Career Development 2021 ABA-required disclosures, 82.8% of the Class of 2021 obtained full-time, long-term, bar admission required or JD advantage employment nine months after graduation.
History
One of
New England
New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...
's oldest law schools, Suffolk was founded in 1906 by lawyer
Gleason Leonard Archer as the "Suffolk School of Law." The school was named after its location in
Suffolk County, Massachusetts. Archer's goal was to provide immigrants and the working class with the opportunity to study law. In 1907, Archer moved the school from
Roxbury, Massachusetts
Roxbury () is a neighborhood within the City of Boston, Massachusetts.
Roxbury is a dissolved municipality and one of 23 official neighborhoods of Boston used by the city for neighborhood services coordination. The city states that Roxbury se ...
to downtown Boston. Suffolk Law School's first student passed the bar in 1908. By 1930, Archer developed Suffolk into one of the largest law schools in the country, and the law school received full accreditation from 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 aca ...
(ABA).
[Suffolk University Centennial Celebration](_blank)
. Accessed June 21, 2008. Originally an all-male school, with the
New England School of Law
New England Law , Boston (formerly New England School of Law) is a private law school in Boston, Massachusetts. It was founded as Portia School of Law in 1908 and is located in downtown Boston near the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, Fina ...
serving as a
sister school
A sister school is usually a pair of schools, usually single-sex school, one with female students and the other with male students. This relationship is seen to benefit both schools. For instance, when Harvard University was a male-only school, Rad ...
, Suffolk became co-educational in 1937.
In 1999, Suffolk Law School opened its new building at 120 Tremont Street, near the
Boston Common
The Boston Common (also known as the Common) is a public park in downtown Boston, Massachusetts. It is the oldest city park in the United States. Boston Common consists of of land bounded by Tremont Street (139 Tremont St.), Park Street, Beac ...
.
Curriculum and programs
Suffolk Law has full-time, part-time evening, hybrid online, accelerated and dual-degree JD programs. Academic concentrations are available in intellectual property, international law, business law & financial services, health & biomedical law, legal innovation & technology, and trial & appellate advocacy. Dual degree options include: JD/MBA; Accelerated JD/MBA (three years for both degrees); JD/Master of Public Administration; JD/Master of Science in finance; JD/Master of Science in crime & justice studies; JD/Master of Sciences in law: life sciences; and the Accelerated JD/LL.M. in Taxation (three years for both degrees). The school also offers the Doctor of Juridical Science (SJD).
Accelerated JD students begin first year (1L) classes in May and attend classes year-round so they can earn their degrees one year faster than traditional JD students (two years full time; three years part-time). Accelerated students have the same required coursework, take the same number of credits, and pay the same per-semester cost as traditional JD students— but graduate one year earlier.
Part-time evening JD students take a reduced schedule with all classes offered after 6 p.m. Evening students can choose the traditional or accelerated track, to graduate in as few as 2.5 years (including two summers) or up to four years (classes in the fall and spring semesters only).
Hybrid Online JD students earn a JD with a mix of in-person and online classes. They take their first 30 credit hours in-person at Suffolk Law in Boston then enroll in the remaining JD coursework (54 credits) online or a mix of in-person and online. The Hybrid Online JD is available for full- or part-time evening students who achieve a 3.0 during their first year of law school.
Students at ABA-accredited law schools can enroll in summer courses at Suffolk Law. All summer classes are offered after 6 p.m.
Foreign-educated attorneys may enroll in up to 15 non-degree credits at Suffolk Law to satisfy the requirements of Massachusetts Rule 6 and sit for the Massachusetts Bar Exam.
Admissions
In 2022, Suffolk received 2,835 applications for its entering class of 446 students, which included 351 full-time students and 95 part-time evening students. The median
GPA
Grading in education is the process of applying standardized measurements for varying levels of achievements in a course. Grades can be assigned as letters (usually A through F), as a range (for example, 1 to 6), as a percentage, or as a numbe ...
for incoming 2022 Suffolk Law students was 3.5, and the median
LSAT
The Law School Admission Test (LSAT; ) is a standardized test administered by the Law School Admission Council (LSAC) for prospective law school candidates. It is designed to assess reading comprehension as well as logical and verbal rea ...
score was 154.
The 25th-75th percentile GPA was 3.2-3.7 and the 25th-75th percentile LSAT was 150–158.
Incoming Suffolk Law School students in 2021 came from 34 states, 13 countries and 192 colleges and universities. The incoming class of 2022 remained among the most diverse since 2014, with 23% of incoming students identifying as ethnically diverse.
In addition, 27% of incoming students identified as being
first-generation college students.
Academic rankings and honors
In its 2023 guide, ''
U.S. News & World Report'' ranked Suffolk as the 122nd Best Law School. In the ''US News'' Best Law Schools guides from 2017 to 2023, Suffolk's clinics, legal writing, trial advocacy, and dispute resolution programs have all ranked in the top 35 (top 20 percent)--the only law school with this distinction.
Suffolk's legal writing program (No. 4 in 2023 Guide) has ranked in the U.S. News top 10 for eleven consecutive years. The clinical program (No. 15) has placed in the top 20 for seven consecutive years. Trial advocacy (No. 21) has been ranked in the top 25 for seven years in a row. Dispute Resolution is ranked #22 and was in the top 25 from 2013-2021. Intellectual Property is ranked #28.
In 2021 (the most current ranking), Suffolk Law's legal technology program was named No. 1 in the nation by ''PreLaw'' magazine.
Suffolk's National Trial Team has won the New England regional championships in the American Association of Justice Student Advocacy Competition or the National Trial Competition 29 times in the last 37 years (as of 2022).
Libraries and archives
In 1999, after construction of the new law school building was completed, the
John Joseph Moakley Library moved to its new home, on the fifth through seventh floors, in Sargent Hall. The library contains over 450,000 volumes, and budget of new acquisitions reaching approximately $2 million, covering
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 omnipresen ...
and
statutes from all major areas of American law in each of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and with primary legal materials from the
U.S. federal government
The federal government of the United States (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the national government of the United States, a federal republic located primarily in North America, composed of 50 states, a city within a fed ...
, Canada, the United Kingdom, the United Nations, and the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
.
The library also features a substantial treatise and periodical collection and houses the John Joseph Moakley Archive and Institute. Some of the collections in the Archive include the Congressman John Joseph Moakley Papers, a collection of the late
U.S. Representative
The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...
's papers which he gave to the school in 2001; the Gleason L. Archer Personal Papers, founder of the Law School and University; the Harry Hom Dow Papers a 1929 Law School graduate; the Jamaica Plain Committee on Central America Collection; and the Records of Suffolk University. The Library also houses
law review
A law review or law journal is a scholarly journal or publication that focuses on legal issues. A law review is a type of legal periodical. Law reviews are a source of research, imbedded with analyzed and referenced legal topics; they also pr ...
journals from all ABA accredited law schools in the United States as well as numerous journals from European and Canadian law schools. Suffolk also records and broadcasts
oral arguments
Oral arguments are spoken presentations to a judge or appellate court by a lawyer (or parties when representing themselves) of the legal reasons why they should prevail. Oral argument at the appellate level accompanies written briefs, which also a ...
for the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court and has archives of those proceedings available in the library and online.
Law review and journal publications
Suffolk University Law School maintains five student-run publications.
Employment
According to Suffolk Law's office of Professional and Career Development 2021 ABA-required disclosures, 82.8% of the Class of 2021 obtained full-time, long-term, bar admission required or JD advantage employment ten months after graduation.
Costs
The tuition at Suffolk Law for the 2022–2023 academic year is $53,920 for the day division and $40,440 for the night division.
Notable people
Throughout Suffolk's history, faculty and alumni have played prominent roles in many different fields. Its 24,000 alumni are found in high-level judicial, political, and private positions throughout the United States.
Judiciary
Several
State Supreme Court
In the United States, a state supreme court (known by other names in some states) is the highest court in the state judiciary of a U.S. state. On matters of state law, the judgment of a state supreme court is considered final and binding in b ...
judges, including associate justices of the
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Elspeth B. Cypher,
Frank Gaziano
Frank M. Gaziano (born September 8, 1963) is an associate justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.
Early life and education
Born in Quincy, Massachusetts, Gaziano received his Bachelor of Arts from Lafayette College in 1986 and his J ...
, and
Serge Georges Jr., graduated from from Suffolk Law. Other alumni include Chief Justice
Paul Suttell
Paul Suttell (born January 10, 1949) is the chief justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court.
Suttell graduated from the Moses Brown School in Providence, Rhode IslanHe then attended Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, from which he gr ...
and senior justice
Maureen McKenna Goldberg
Maureen McKenna Goldberg is an American jurist who is currently the senior justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court.
Education
Goldberg attended St. Mary Academy – Bay View, a college preparatory school in Riverside, Rhode Island, where sh ...
of the
Rhode Island Supreme Court
The Rhode Island Supreme Court is the Supreme court, court of last resort in the U.S. State of Rhode Island. The Court consists of a Chief Justice and four Associate Justices, all selected by the Governor of Rhode Island from candidates vetted by ...
, and Chief Justice
Paul Reiber
Paul L. Reiber (born June 20, 1947) is the Chief Justice on the Vermont Supreme Court. Reiber graduated from Hampden-Sydney College in 1970 and from Suffolk University Law School in Boston, Massachusetts in 1974. Reiber was in private practice in ...
of the
Vermont Supreme Court
The Vermont Supreme Court is the highest judicial authority of the U.S. state of Vermont. Unlike most other states, the Vermont Supreme Court hears appeals directly from the trial courts, as Vermont has no intermediate appeals court.
The Court ...
.
As of March 2021, 27% of active judges in Massachusetts had graduated from Suffolk Law School, more than any other law school. Out of a total of 440 judges at that time, including 41 federal and 399 state, 118 or more than one out of four sitting judges, were Suffolk Law alumni. As of 2021, more than 40% of all judges in Rhode Island were Suffolk Law graduates.Several federal judges graduated from Suffolk Law, including:
* Frank Bailey, Chief Judge of the
U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Massachusetts.
* Marianne Bowler, Magistrate Judge of the
District Court for the District of Massachusetts
*
Gustavo Gelpí
Gustavo Antonio Gelpí Jr. (born December 11, 1965) is an American lawyer who serves as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. He is a former chief United States district judge of the United Sta ...
,
circuit judge of the
Court of Appeals for the First Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit (in case citations, 1st Cir.) is a United States federal court, federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the United States district court, district courts in the following United St ...
.
*
Timothy S. Hillman,
Senior United States district judge
The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district, which each cover one U.S. state or, in some cases, a portion of a state. Each district cou ...
of the
District Court for the District of Massachusetts.
*
Richard J. Leon,
Senior United States district judge
The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district, which each cover one U.S. state or, in some cases, a portion of a state. Each district cou ...
of the
District Court for the District of Columbia
The United States District Court for the District of Columbia (in case citations, D.D.C.) is a federal district court in the District of Columbia. It also occasionally handles (jointly with the United States District Court for the District ...
.
*
Mary S. McElroy,
United States district judge
The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district, which each cover one U.S. state or, in some cases, a portion of a state. Each district cou ...
of the
District Court for the District of Rhode Island.
Government
Graduates of the school include the U.S. Ambassador to Ireland
Claire D. Cronin,
Massachusetts Secretary of State William F. Galvin, General Counsel for the
United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence
The United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (sometimes referred to as the Intelligence Committee or SSCI) is dedicated to overseeing the United States Intelligence Community—the agencies and bureaus of the federal government of ...
Brett Freedman, as well as
U.S. Representative
The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...
s
Bill Keating and
Martin "Marty" Meehan (Meehan served in the House from 1993-2007, and is currently president of
University of Massachusetts
The University of Massachusetts is the five-campus public university system and the only public research system in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The university system includes five campuses (Amherst, Boston, Dartmouth, Lowell, and a medical ...
), and the late
Congressman Joe Moakley
John Joseph Moakley (April 27, 1927 – May 28, 2001) was an American politician who served as the United States representative for Massachusetts's 9th congressional district from 1973 until his death in 2001. Moakley won the seat from incumbent L ...
(1973-2001). Several members of the
Rhode Island House of Representatives
The Rhode Island House of Representatives is the lower house of the Rhode Island General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Rhode Island, the upper house being the Rhode Island Senate. It is composed of 75 members, elected ...
are Suffolk Law alumni, including current Speaker of the House
Joe Shekarchi and Senate Majority Leader
Michael McCaffrey.
Alumni of the school also serve as district attorneys, including Jonathan Blodgett of
Essex County, Massachusetts
Essex County is a county in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of Massachusetts. At the 2020 census, the total population was 809,829, making it the third-most populous county in the state, and the eightieth-most populous in the countr ...
, Timothy Cruz of
Plymouth County, Massachusetts
Plymouth County is a county in the U.S. state of Massachusetts, south of Boston. As of the 2020 census, the population was 530,819. Its county seats are Plymouth and Brockton. In 1685, the county was created by the Plymouth General Court, t ...
, Michael Morrissey of
Norfolk County, Massachusetts
Norfolk County is located in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. At the 2020 census, the population was 725,981. Its county seat is Dedham. It is the fourth most populous county in the United States whose county seat is neither a city nor a bor ...
, and Thomas Quinn of
Bristol County, Massachusetts.
Anthony J. Benedetti, Chief Counsel of the Committee for Public Counsel Services, and former Massachusetts Secretary of Public Safety and Security
Andrea Cabral are also alumni.
Military
Suffolk alumni have served in a variety of roles in the military. Notable examples include:
*
Mike Dumont (Ret.)
Vice Admiral of the
U.S. Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...
, Deputy Commander of the
U.S. Northern Command
United States Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) is one of eleven unified combatant commands of the United States Department of Defense. The command is tasked with providing military support for non-military authorities in the U.S., and protect ...
, and Vice Commander of the U.S. Element of the
NORAD.
* Carol M. Lynch (Ret.)
Rear Admiral, Deputy Judge Advocate General of the Navy for Reserve Affairs and Operations, and Deputy Commander of the
Naval Legal Service Command
* Philip McGovern,
Lieutenant Colonel
Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colone ...
and Strategic Plans & Policy Officer of the
Massachusetts National Guard and the
Joint Staff
The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) is the body of the most senior uniformed leaders within the United States Department of Defense, that advises the president of the United States, the secretary of defense, the Homeland Security Council and the ...
, Strategy, Policy & Plans for Pol-Mil Affairs: Europe, NATO and Russia,
Department of Defense Department of Defence or Department of Defense may refer to:
Current departments of defence
* Department of Defence (Australia)
* Department of National Defence (Canada)
* Department of Defence (Ireland)
* Department of National Defense (Philipp ...
* Robert E. Reed (Ret.) Chief of the
United States Military Justice Division,
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Aerial warfare, air military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part ...
.
Corporate and nonprofit
Many alumni are in-house counsel at notable companies and organizations. These include Scott Gerwin, senior counsel for
Google, Inc
Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. I ...
; C.M. Tokë Vandervoort, chief legal officer of the
Environmental Defense Fund
Environmental Defense Fund or EDF (formerly known as Environmental Defense) is a United States-based nonprofit environmental advocacy group. The group is known for its work on issues including global warming, ecosystem restoration, oceans, and hu ...
; Debra Milasincic, senior vice president of Intellectual Property for
Moderna
Moderna, Inc. ( ) is an American pharmaceutical and biotechnology company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts that focuses on RNA therapeutics, primarily mRNA vaccines. These vaccines use a copy of a molecule called messenger RNA (mRNA) to pro ...
; Deborah Marson, executive vice president, general counsel and secretary of
Iron Mountain; Matt Penarczyk, head of legal (Americas) for social media platform
TikTok
TikTok, known in China as Douyin (), is a short-form video hosting service owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which can range in duration from 15 seconds to 10 minutes.
TikTok is an international version ...
; John "Jay" Tangney, executive vice president and general counsel,
Suffolk Construction Company; and Michelle M. Garvin, executive vice president and system general counsel and chief of staff at
Boston Children's Hospital
Boston Children's Hospital formerly known as Children's Hospital Boston until 2012 is a nationally ranked, freestanding acute care children's hospital located in Boston, Massachusetts, adjacent both to its teaching affiliate, Harvard Medical Scho ...
.
Health Law Advocates' executive director Matt Selig, and
Setti Warren
Setti David Warren (born August 25, 1970) is an American politician. He served as Mayor of Newton, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston, and is a former Democratic candidate for United States Senate in 2012. He is the first popularly elected African ...
, executive director of the
Harvard Kennedy School Institute of Politics and former mayor of
Newton, Massachusetts
Newton is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is approximately west of downtown Boston. Newton resembles a patchwork of thirteen villages, without a city center. According to the 2020 U.S. Census, the population of Ne ...
, are also graduates of Suffolk Law. Warren was the first African-American to be elected mayor in Massachusetts through the popular vote.
Sports industry lawyers
Suffolk law graduates working in the sports industry include Larry Ferazani, General Counsel for the
National Football League
The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...
; R. Stanton Dodge, Chief Legal Officer of
DraftKings
DraftKings is an American daily fantasy sports contest and sports betting company. The company allows users to enter daily and weekly fantasy sports–related contests and win money based on individual player performances in five major American ...
; David Duquette, Director of Basketball Strategy and Team Counsel for the
Charlotte Hornets; Jill Kelley, Vice President of Legal Affairs for the
New York Jets; Mandy Petrillo, Senior Club Counsel for the
Boston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight ...
; Kim Miale,
Roc Nation Sports
Roc Nation Sports is the sports management division of Roc Nation.
History
Roc Nation Sports was founded by Shawn "JAY-Z" Carter in Spring 2013 in partnership with Creative Artists Agency, a prominent talent agency based in Los Angeles. Roc Nat ...
NFL agent and general counsel; Kristen Kuliga, Principal and Founder of K Sports & Entertainment LLC.
Academia
Many alumni of Suffolk Law have become heads of universities, such as
Marty Meehan
Martin Thomas Meehan (born December 30, 1956) is an American academic administrator, politician, and attorney. Since July 2015, Meehan has served as the President of the University of Massachusetts after serving as Chancellor of the University of ...
, president of
University of Massachusetts
The University of Massachusetts is the five-campus public university system and the only public research system in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The university system includes five campuses (Amherst, Boston, Dartmouth, Lowell, and a medical ...
,
John D. Keenan, president of
Salem State University
Salem State University (Salem State or SSU) is a public university in Salem, Massachusetts. Established in 1854, it is the oldest and largest institute of higher education on the North Shore and is part of the state university system in Massa ...
, and
Jo Ann Rooney
Jo Ann Rooney (born March 23, 1961) is an American educator with a background in higher education, law, business, health care, and public service. On May 23, 2016, she was named the 24th president of Loyola University Chicago, a Jesuit, Catholic ...
, president of
Loyola University Chicago.
David Sargent served as president of Suffolk University.
Suffolk Law professor and legal scholar
Joseph Glannon authored the nationally famous Glannon Guide to Civil Procedure.
Historical alumni
Many alumni were historically notable for breaking boundaries in the legal field. Suffolk University founder Archer Gleason wanted to "open the doors to higher education to all capable students," and as a result the school was more inclusive of students from marginalized backgrounds.
Thaddeus Alexander Kitchener, a Jamaican immigrant, was the first
person of color to graduate from Suffolk Law, earning his degree in 1913. Louis Eugene Pasco, who earned his degree in 1914, was the first Latino to graduate from the school. In 1922, Shichiro Hayashi became the first Asian alumnus of Suffolk Law. In 1925,
Nelson D. Simons, future chief of the
Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe
The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe (formerly Mashpee Wampanoag Indian Tribal Council, Inc.) is one of two federally recognized tribes of Wampanoag people in Massachusetts. Recognized in 2007, they are headquartered in Mashpee on Cape Cod. The other Wa ...
, was the first Native American to graduate from the school.
After graduating from Suffolk Law in 1929, Harry Hom Dow went on to become the first Chinese-American to pass the Massachusetts Bar Exam. The first woman to graduate from Suffolk Law was Marian Archer MacDonald in 1937.
Charlotte Anne Perretta
Charlotte Anne Perretta (1942-April 10, 2015) was the first woman to sit on the Massachusetts Appeals Court.
Early life and education
Perretta was born in 1942 and grew up in Hartford, Connecticut, to Lois ( Gubtil) and Armando Perretta, a homem ...
, the first woman to sit on the
Massachusetts Appeals Court as an associate justice, graduated from Suffolk Law in 1967.
Linda Dalianis
Linda Stewart Dalianis (born October 1, 1948) is the former Chief Justice of the New Hampshire Supreme Court and the first woman to serve on that court.
Background
Linda Stewart Dalianis is a 1974 graduate of Suffolk University Law School in Bos ...
became the first female appointee to the
New Hampshire Superior Court The New Hampshire Superior Court is the statewide court of general jurisdiction which provides jury trials in civil and criminal cases. There are 11 locations of the Superior Court, one for each county and two in Hillsborough County.
Jurisdictio ...
(1980) and the
New Hampshire Supreme Court
The New Hampshire Supreme Court is the supreme court of the U. S. state of New Hampshire and sole appellate court of the state. The Supreme Court is seated in the state capital, Concord. The Court is composed of a Chief Justice and four Associat ...
(2000), and chief justice of the New Hampshire Supreme Court in 2010.
Notable faculty and trustees
Karen Blum professor of law, co-author of Police Misconduct: Law and Litigation
*
Steven Ferrey, professor of law, author of The Law of Independent Power
*
Joseph Glannon, professor of law, author of Examples & Explanations: Civil Procedure
John Infranca professor of law, co-editor of the Cambridge Handbook on the Law of the Sharing Economy
Robert C. Lamb, Jr, chair of trustees, former chairman and CEO of Allied International Holdings, Inc
Renée Landers professor of law, former Deputy General Counsel for the
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Sharmila Murthy professor of law, senior counsel,
White House Council on Environmental Quality
The Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) is a division of the Executive Office of the President that coordinates federal environmental efforts in the United States and works closely with agencies and other White House offices on the developmen ...
Amy L. Nechtem trustee, chief justice of the Massachusetts Juvenile Court Department
Mark Sullivan trustee, former general counsel of Bose Corp.
David Yamada professor of law, co-editor of Workplace Bullying and Mobbing in the United States
Honorary degree recipients and speakers
*
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...
, 35th President of the United States
*
Calvin Coolidge, 30th President of the United States
*
William Rehnquist
William Hubbs Rehnquist ( ; October 1, 1924 – September 3, 2005) was an American attorney and jurist who served on the U.S. Supreme Court for 33 years, first as an associate justice from 1972 to 1986 and then as the 16th chief justice from ...
,
Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court
*
Stephen Breyer, Justice U.S. Supreme Court
*
Antonin Scalia, Justice U.S. Supreme Court
*
Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Joan Ruth Bader Ginsburg ( ; ; March 15, 1933September 18, 2020) was an American lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1993 until her death in 2020. She was nominated by Presiden ...
, Justice U.S. Supreme Court
*
Andrew Card
Andrew Hill Card Jr. (born May 10, 1947) is an American politician and academic administrator who was White House Chief of Staff under President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2006, as well as head of Bush's White House Iraq Group. Card served as ...
, Chief of Staff to
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...
*
Ralph Nader
Ralph Nader (; born February 27, 1934) is an American political activist, author, lecturer, and attorney noted for his involvement in consumer protection, environmentalism, and government reform causes.
The son of Lebanese immigrants to the U ...
, consumer advocate,
Green Party
A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence.
Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation f ...
Presidential nominee
*
Edward Kennedy
Edward Moore Kennedy (February 22, 1932 – August 25, 2009) was an American lawyer and politician who served as a United States senator from Massachusetts for almost 47 years, from 1962 until his death in 2009. A member of the Democratic ...
,
U.S. Senator
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States.
The composition and powe ...
from Massachusetts
*
Coretta Scott King
Coretta Scott King ( Scott; April 27, 1927 – January 30, 2006) was an American author, activist, and civil rights leader who was married to Martin Luther King Jr. from 1953 until his death. As an advocate for African-American equality, she ...
, civil rights activist
*
Edwin Meese III
Edwin Meese III (born December 2, 1931) is an American attorney, law professor, author and member of the Republican Party who served in official capacities within the Ronald Reagan's gubernatorial administration (1967–1974), the Reagan pre ...
,
U.S. Attorney General
The United States attorney general (AG) is the head of the United States Department of Justice, and is the chief law enforcement officer of the federal government of the United States. The attorney general serves as the principal advisor to the p ...
*
Richard Posner
Richard Allen Posner (; born January 11, 1939) is an American jurist and legal scholar who served as a federal appellate judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit from 1981 to 2017. A senior lecturer at the University of Chic ...
, Judge,
U.S. Court of Appeals
The United States courts of appeals are the intermediate appellate courts of the United States federal judiciary. The courts of appeals are divided into 11 numbered circuits that cover geographic areas of the United States and hear appeals fr ...
*
Rudy Giuliani,
Mayor of New York City
*
Robert S. Mueller III, director of the
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, ...
,
Special prosecutor
In the United States, a special counsel (formerly called special prosecutor or independent counsel) is a lawyer appointed to investigate, and potentially prosecute, a particular case of suspected wrongdoing for which a conflict of interest exis ...
for the
United States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United Stat ...
*
Cory Booker
Cory Anthony Booker (born April 27, 1969) is an American politician and attorney who has served as the junior United States senator from New Jersey since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, Booker is the first African-American U.S. se ...
, Senator
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...
*
Mitt Romney, 2012 Republican Candidate for President and former Governor of Massachusetts
*
Chris Matthews, host of MSNBC's
Hardball with Chris Matthews
''Hardball with Chris Matthews'' was an American television talk show that was hosted by Chris Matthews. The program premiered on the now-defunct America's Talking network in 1994 (as ''Politics with Chris Matthews'') before moving on CNBC, and t ...
Suffolk Law School in television, film and literature
*''
The Practice
''The Practice'' is an American legal drama television series created by David E. Kelley centering on partners and associates at a Boston law firm. The show ran for eight seasons on ABC, from March 4, 1997, to May 16, 2004. It won an Emmy in ...
'', ABC (1997–2004)—
Bobby Donnell is a Suffolk Law alumnus played by
Dylan McDermott
Dylan McDermott (born Mark Anthony McDermott; October 26, 1961) is an American actor. He is known for his role as lawyer and law firm head Bobby Donnell on the legal drama series ''The Practice'', which earned him a Golden Globe Award for Best ...
.
*''
The Departed
''The Departed'' is a 2006 American epic crime thriller film directed by Martin Scorsese and written by William Monahan. It is both a remake of the 2002 Hong Kong film '' Infernal Affairs'' and also loosely based on the real-life Boston Win ...
'' (2006)—In the film,
Matt Damon
Matthew Paige Damon (; born October 8, 1970) is an American actor, film producer, and screenwriter. Ranked among ''Forbes'' most bankable stars, the films in which he has appeared have collectively earned over $3.88 billion at the North Ameri ...
plays a Suffolk Law School night student, Colin Sullivan. Parts of the movie were filmed at Suffolk.
*''
Boston Legal'', ABC (2005–2006)—
Justin Mentell
Justin Michael Mentell (December 16, 1982 – February 1, 2010) was an American artist and actor. He was best known for his role as Garrett Wells on ''Boston Legal''. He died in a car accident in Iowa County, Wisconsin.
Life and career
Ment ...
plays Garrett Wells, a hot-shot attorney who graduated at the top of his class from Suffolk Law.
*''
The Late George Apley
''The Late George Apley'' is a 1937 novel by John Phillips Marquand. It is a satire of Boston's upper class in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The title character is a Harvard-educated WASP living on Beacon Hill in downtown Boston. T ...
—''In this 1937
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...
-winning novel, the gardener's grandson, pensioner of a wealthy family, attends Suffolk Law.
The Late George Apley: A Novel
' by John P. Marquand. Reprint, Back Bay, 2004, pg. 25.
See also
*
Suffolk University
*
North American Consortium on Legal Education
References
External links
Official website
{{authority control
Universities and colleges in Boston
Law schools in Massachusetts
Educational institutions established in 1906
Financial District, Boston
1906 establishments in Massachusetts