Michi­gan Law History

Three Native Amer­i­can nations — the Ojib­wa (Chippe­wa), Odawa (Ottawa), and Bode­wa­di­ni (Potawato­mi) — sub­se­quent­ly grant­ed cer­tain lands for use of the Uni­ver­si­ty of Michi­gan and by the end of the 19^th cen­tu­ry, Michi­gan was the largest and most gen­er­ous­ly sup­port­ed pub­lic uni­ver­si­ty in Amer­i­ca and already a leader in grad­u­ate education.

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Michi­gan Law School, one of the old­est law schools in the nation, was found­ed in 1859. But unlike oth­er high­ly selec­tive law schools estab­lished in that era, admis­sion was nev­er restrict­ed to the priv­i­leged. When Gabriel Har­go grad­u­at­ed from the Law School in 1870, Michi­gan — then the largest law school in the coun­try — became the sec­ond Amer­i­can uni­ver­si­ty to con­fer a law degree on an African American. 

That same year, Michi­gan was the first major law school to admit a woman, and in 1871, grad­u­ate Sarah Kill­go­re became the first woman with a law degree in the nation to be admit­ted to the bar; by 1890, Michi­gan had grad­u­at­ed more women than any oth­er law school. That com­mit­ment to access and diver­si­ty joined an equal­ly pow­er­ful com­mit­ment to excel­lence, which con­tin­ues to this day.

The Law School has long held an inter­na­tion­al rep­u­ta­tion. In 1878, the first Japan­ese stu­dents grad­u­at­ed. Dur­ing Cooley’s dean­ship, the School took pride in being open to all per­sons lit­er­ate in Eng­lish, includ­ing over 80 sub­jects of the Emper­or of Japan, who were sent to Ann Arbor as a part of the open­ing of that empire to exter­nal influence.

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Michi­gan is one of the world’s largest and finest pub­lic uni­ver­si­ties. Gen­er­ous sup­port from the peo­ple of Michi­gan over many years was essen­tial to cre­at­ing this out­stand­ing insti­tu­tion, and Michi­gan Law’s thou­sands of grad­u­ates have sup­port­ed the School since the ear­ly 20^th Cen­tu­ry, when Pres­i­dent Har­ry Hutchins devel­oped a nation­al alum­ni net­work. Nowa­days the Law School is now fund­ed almost entire­ly through tuition and pri­vate giving.