Suffolk University Law School (also known as Suffolk Law School) is the private,

non-sectarian Nonsectarian institutions are 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 include Adelp ...

law school of

Suffolk University Suffolk University is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. With 7,560 students (includes all campuses, 7,379 at the Boston location alone), it is the eighth-largest university in metropolitan Boston. It was founded as a l ...

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. Gleason Archer Sr. (October 29, 1880 – June 28, 1966) was the founder and first president of Suffolk University and Suffolk Law School in Boston, Massachusetts. Archer was also an extensive writer and radio broadcaster. Early life and educ ...

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 acad ...

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) no ...

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 province ...

's oldest law schools, Suffolk was founded in 1906 by lawyer

Gleason Leonard Archer Gleason Archer Sr. (October 29, 1880 – June 28, 1966) was the founder and first president of Suffolk University and Suffolk Law School in Boston, Massachusetts. Archer was also an extensive writer and radio broadcaster. Early life and educ ...

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 ser ...

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

(ABA).Suffolk University Centennial Celebration
. 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, Fin ...

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, Ra ...

, 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, ...

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 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 re ...

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 omniprese ...

and

statutes A statute is a formal written enactment of a legislative authority that governs the legal entities of a city, state, or country by way of consent. Typically, statutes command or prohibit something, or declare policy. Statutes are rules made ...

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 feder ...

, 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 ...

. 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 ...

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 i ...

judges, including associate justices of the

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) is the highest court in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Although the claim is disputed by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, the SJC claims the distinction of being the oldest continuously functi ...

Elspeth B. Cypher Elspeth B. Cypher (born February 26, 1959) is an associate justice of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts and the former justice of the Massachusetts Appeals Court. Early life, education and legal career Cypher was born in Pittsburgh, Pen ...

, Frank Gaziano, and

Serge Georges Jr. Serge Georges Jr. (born April 1970) is an American lawyer who has served as an associate justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. He previously served as a judge of the Boston Municipal Court from 2013 to 2020. Education Georges ...

, 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 she ...

of the

Rhode Island Supreme Court The Rhode Island Supreme Court is the 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 the Judicial N ...

, and Chief Justice Paul Reiber 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 Cou ...

. 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, 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 federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts: * District of Maine * District of Massachusetts * ...

. *

Timothy S. Hillman Timothy Spafard Hillman (born March 13, 1948) is a Senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts. Biography Hillman was born in 1948 in Chicago, Illinois. He received his Bachelor of ...

Senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

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,

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 of ...

. *

Mary S. McElroy Mary Susan McElroy (born 1965) is a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Rhode Island. Education McElroy received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1987 from Providence College. She received a Juris D ...

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 The Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth is the principal public information officer of the government of the U.S. state of Massachusetts. The Secretary of the Commonwealth oversees the Corporations Division, the Elections Division, the ...

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

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 medi ...

), and the late

Congressman A Member of Congress (MOC) is a person who has been appointed or elected and inducted into an official body called a congress, typically to represent a particular constituency in a legislature. The term member of parliament (MP) is an equivale ...

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 ...

(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 K. Joseph Shekarchi (born May 17, 1962) is an American politician currently serving as the Speaker of the Rhode Island House of Representatives. A Democrat, he has represented District 23 in Warwick since January 1, 2013. He was chairman of the Ho ...

and Senate Majority Leader

Michael McCaffrey Michael J. McCaffrey (born December 18, 1963) is an American politician and a Democratic member of the Rhode Island Senate representing District 29 since January 2003. He has been the Rhode Island Senate Majority Leader since March 23, 2017. McCa ...

. 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, ...

, 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 bo ...

, and Thomas Quinn of

Bristol County, Massachusetts Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in S ...

. Anthony J. Benedetti, Chief Counsel of the Committee for Public Counsel Services, and former Massachusetts Secretary of Public Safety and Security

Andrea Cabral Andrea J. Cabral (born 1959) is an American lawyer and former Massachusetts Secretary of Public Safety and sheriff of Suffolk County, Massachusetts. Background Cabral is a native of East Providence, Rhode Island. She is a graduate of Boston C ...

are also alumni.

Military

Suffolk alumni have served in a variety of roles in the military. Notable examples include: *

Mike Dumont Michael Joseph Dumont is a retired American flag officer, naval aviator and vice admiral in the United States Navy who last served as deputy commander of United States Northern Command and Vice Commander, U.S. Element, North American Aerospace ...

(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, and Vice Commander of the U.S. Element of the

NORAD North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD ), known until March 1981 as the North American Air Defense Command, is a combined organization of the United States and Canada that provides aerospace warning, air sovereignty, and protection ...

. * Carol M. Lynch (Ret.)

Rear Admiral Rear admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, equivalent to a major general and air vice marshal and above that of a commodore and captain, but below that of a vice admiral. It is regarded as a two star " admiral" rank. It is often rega ...

, 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 and Strategic Plans & Policy Officer of the

Massachusetts National Guard The Massachusetts National Guard is the National Guard component for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Founded as the Massachusetts Bay Colonial Militia on December 13, 1636, it contains the oldest units in the United States Army. What is t ...

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 th ...

, 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 (Philippin ...

* Robert E. Reed (Ret.) Chief of the United States Military Justice Division,

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air 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 of the United States Army S ...

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 corporation, multinational technology company focusing on Search Engine, search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, software, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, ar ...

; 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 h ...

; 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, 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

Marty Meehan, President of the University of Massachusetts

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 ma ...

; 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 Americ ...

; David Duquette, Director of Basketball Strategy and Team Counsel for the

Charlotte Hornets The Charlotte Hornets are an American professional basketball team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Hornets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division, and pla ...

; 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 eig ...

; 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 N ...

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

John D. Keenan John D. Keenan (born April 4, 1965) is an American attorney and politician who has served as the president of Salem State University since 2017. He was the Massachusetts State Representative for the 7th Essex district, which consists of his ho ...

, 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 Massac ...

, 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 Loyola University Chicago (Loyola or LUC) is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit research university in Chicago, Illinois. Founded in 1870 by the Society of Jesus, Loyola is one of the largest Catholic Church, Catholic univers ...

David Sargent David J. Sargent (born 1931) was the President of Suffolk University in Boston, Massachusetts from 1989 to 2010.The AALS directory of law teachers (West Pub. Co., 2007) Sargent is a native of Newport, New Hampshire and graduated from the Suffol ...

served as president of Suffolk University. Suffolk Law professor and legal scholar

Joseph Glannon Joseph Glannon, J.D. is a professor at Suffolk University Law School and author of several legal guides. He has taught courses in civil procedure, conflict of laws, and torts at Suffolk since 1980. He received a Bachelor of Arts in English, a ...

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 The term "person of color" ( : people of color or persons of color; abbreviated POC) is primarily used to describe any person who is not considered "white". In its current meaning, the term originated in, and is primarily associated with, the U ...

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 Nelson Drue Simons (also known as Wabum Annug (Morning Star) and Chief Morning Star and Nelson D. Simon) (1885-1953) was a Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe chief from 1916 to 1928 and government official who was also the first known Native American gradua ...

, 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, the first woman to sit on the

Massachusetts Appeals Court The Massachusetts Appeals Court is the intermediate appellate court of Massachusetts. It was created in 1972 as a court of general appellate jurisdiction. The court is located at the John Adams Courthouse at Pemberton Square in Boston, the same ...

as an associate justice, graduated from Suffolk Law in 1967. Linda Dalianis 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 Associ ...

(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 *

, 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 Service The United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is a cabinet-level executive branch department of the U.S. federal government created to protect the health of all Americans and providing essential human services. Its motto is " ...

s
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 Calvin Coolidge (born John Calvin Coolidge Jr.; ; July 4, 1872January 5, 1933) was the 30th president of the United States from 1923 to 1929. Born in Vermont, Coolidge was a Republican lawyer from New England who climbed up the ladder of Ma ...

, 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 Stephen Gerald Breyer ( ; born August 15, 1938) is a retired American lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1994 until his retirement in 2022. He was nominated by President Bill Clinton, and re ...

, Justice U.S. Supreme Court *

Antonin Scalia Antonin Gregory Scalia (; March 11, 1936 – February 13, 2016) was an American jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1986 until his death in 2016. He was described as the intellectu ...

, 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 President ...

, 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 foundati ...

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 pres ...

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 Chicag ...

, Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals *

Rudy Giuliani Rudolph William Louis Giuliani (, ; born May 28, 1944) is an American politician and lawyer who served as the 107th Mayor of New York City from 1994 to 2001. He previously served as the United States Associate Attorney General from 1981 to 19 ...

Mayor of New York City The mayor of New York City, officially Mayor of the City of New York, is head of the executive branch of the government of New York City and the chief executive of New York City. The mayor's office administers all city services, public proper ...

* 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 exi ...

for the

United States Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a United States federal executive departments, federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and a ...

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. sen ...

, Senator

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York (state), New York; on the ea ...

Mitt Romney Willard Mitt Romney (born March 12, 1947) is an American politician, businessman, and lawyer serving as the junior United States senator from Utah since January 2019, succeeding Orrin Hatch. He served as the 70th governor of Massachusett ...

, 2012 Republican Candidate for President and former Governor of Massachusetts *

Chris Matthews Christopher John Matthews (born December 17, 1945) is an American political commentator, retired talk show host, and author. Matthews hosted his weeknight hour-long talk show, ''Hardball with Chris Matthews'', on America's Talking and later on M ...

, 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 ...

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 i ...

'', ABC (1997–2004)— Bobby Donnell is a Suffolk Law alumnus played by Dylan McDermott. *''

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 Amer ...

plays a Suffolk Law School night student, Colin Sullivan. Parts of the movie were filmed at Suffolk. *''

Boston Legal ''Boston Legal'' is an American legal drama and comedy drama television series created by former lawyer and Boston native David E. Kelley, produced in association with 20th Century Fox Television for ABC. The series aired from October 3, 2004 ...

'', ABC (2005–2006)— Justin Mentell 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. Th ...

—''In this 1937 Pulitzer Prize-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.

References

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{{authority control Universities and colleges in Boston Law schools in Massachusetts Educational institutions established in 1906 Financial District, Boston 1906 establishments in Massachusetts

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Suffolk Law School in television, film and literature

See also

References

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