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Historical Highlights – LSU Law Center

  • 1906 – LSU Law School created by LSU Board of Supervisors; originally located with main LSU campus in downtown Baton Rouge site (current grounds of the State Capitol)
  • 1908 – LSU Law School moved to basement of the LSU Chemistry Building
  • 1926 – Law School followed the University to its present campus
  • 1937 – Law School moved to current, permanent campus on Highland Road. Building created by Leon Weiss, architect of the State Capitol. Designed in the style of the U.S. Supreme Court; additional building added to campus in 1969
  • School named for Paul M. Hebert, Dean of the Law School from 1937 – 1977, a former Acting President of LSU, and a Civilian Judge in the Nuremberg Tribunal
  • 1977 – LSU Law School created as an autonomous campus of the Louisiana State University System
  • 1977 –The school became a true Law Center, locating on its campus the Juris Doctor (J.D.) program, the foreign and graduate Master of Civil Law (LL.M.) program, the Center of Civil Law Studies, the Louisiana Law Institute (created by the Louisiana Legislature in 1938), Mineral Law Institute, the Louisiana Judicial College, and the Center of Continuing Professional Development (CLE).
  • 1983 – LSU Law Center creates first LSU Law endowment fund
  • 1999 – Louisiana Legislature authorizes increase in the Law Center tuition and adds substantial supplemental appropriations to operational budget
  • 2002 – LSU Law Center became the sole U.S. law school, and one of only two in the Western Hemisphere, to award both the Juris Doctor (J.D.) and the Bachelor of Civil Law (B.C.L.) degrees reflecting its students’ education in both the Common and Civil Law traditions (Note: degree changed to Diploma in Civil Law (D.C.L.) in 2008)
  • 2004 – LSU Law Center marked the completion of $17 million in major renovations to the Law Center campus, resulting in an expanded, modern complex that includes state-of-the-art technology and a Law Library that holds one of the richest comparative law collections in the nation.
  • 2006 – LSU Law Center marks its 100th year
  • Fall 2007 – Spring 2008 – Law Center plans and begins implementation of a major expansion of its clinical legal education program, incorporating live client clinics and field placements; hires director of Clinical Legal Education Program
  • 2008 – Legislature approves three-year, phased-in tuition increase and provides additional opportunities to support expanded clinical program
  • 2009-10 – LSU Law faculty adopted programmatic changes designed to enhance the competitiveness of our students in an increasingly competitive legal employment market.
  • 2012 – LSU Board of Supervisors and the Louisiana Board of Regents granted formal approval of LSU Law’s John P. Laborde Energy Law Center, the first such center in Louisiana and one of a handful operating in law schools nationwide.
  • 2015 – On February 26, the LSU Law faculty approved the recommendation of a faculty committee that the Graduate Deiploma in Comparative Law (D.C.L.) be an option, rather than a requirement for students, beginning with the class graduating in 2016.
  • 2015 – On April 1, the LSU Law Center was officially realigned with the LSU main campus following approval of the LSU Board of Supervisors.