A Centennial History of Rutgers Law School in Newark: Opening a Thousand Doors

Founded in 1908 as New Jersey Law School, Rutgers School of Law, Newark possesses a distinctive spirit of excellence, opportunity and innovation. From the beginning, the school welcomed women and the children of immigrants. For the past forty years, its student body has embraced racial, ethnic and socioeconomic diversity, literally changing the face of the legal profession. Rutgers Law has pioneered clinical legal education, instilled in its students a commitment to social justice and public service and counted numerous top scholars and practitioners among its faculty. Not infrequently in its first one hundred years, Rutgers Law has overcome societal, governmental and economic upheavals. Now, new challenges confront it. Distinguished professor of law Paul Tractenberg chronicles the first century and looks with optimism to the future.