Princeton Law School at Princeton University began instruction in 1847 as a modest effort consisting of three professors. Only seven students would obtain a law degree before the school closed in 1852. The short-lived experiment at establishing a law school would be the farthest headway the university would make in a recurring ambition and effort of varying toil. Previously, in the 1820s, an attempt was made to organize teaching in law, but this plan ended with the death of the designated professor. In 1835, the university once again formed appreciable plans for the start of a law school but was unable to secure a faculty. The desire remained after these unsuccessful efforts but aspirations would be relegated to thirsting words rather than material preparations. In 1974, then president of Princeton, William Bowen, selected a committee to investiage and advise on the achievability of a law school. The committee recommended plans for a law school be deferred after citing high construction costs.
Existence as a Fictional School
The general public and even members of the law community often assume Princeton Law School is operational. This misconception may be explained by the highly recognized law schools institutions peer to Princeton such as Yale and Harvard maintain. At a press conference of law school deans in 1998 decrying the annual US News law school rankings, then NYU School of Law dean, John Sexton, quipped, "If they were asked about Princeton Law School, it would appear on the top 20 -- but it doesn't exist" . (Sexton was denouncing the US News usage of reputation survey results from judges, lawyers, and law school deans in its ranking formula, and implying doubt over the expertise of some surveyed)
The National Review Online, the online operation of a conservative weekly, blundered in a April 7, 2003 commentary, "Liberate the Universities", by Candace de Russy where Princeton was identified as possessing a constituent law school:
- "These yearnings are embodied in a doctrine called “transnational progressivism,” which is gaining prominence in law schools, for example, at Princeton and Rutgers." (The article has since been modified, but an archive is located here)
In the Cosby Show, the eldest daughter, Sondra, is a drop out of Princeton Law School.
Notes
- Jan Hoffman, "Judge Not, Law Schools Demand Of a Magazine That Ranks Them", New York Times, February 19, 1998.
Reference
External Links
Law School Excerpt from A Princeton Companion