Law school has its centennial anniversary

The Santa Clara University School of Law is celebrating its centennial anniversary through next October.

The school started in 1911 with a faculty of four teaching part-time in the afternoons and evenings. That first class went on to produce the founder of a San Francisco law firm was 200 lawyers strong, a federal food commissioner, two state district attorneys, and a San Francisco city attorney.

Today enrollment tops 900 with women accounting for 48 percent of the student body. Ethnic minorities routinely represent more than a third of the class, including those identifying themselves as having Asian, Hispanic and Pacific Islander heritages. The school is a model of diversity and produces lawyers much more attuned to today's world as a result.

Since the 1960s, no less than one-third of Santa Clara County's Superior Court judges have been Santa Clara Law alumni. Also among the school's graduates are the current CIA director, a former chief justice of the California Supreme Court, numerous members of Congress, leaders of state and federal government agencies and judges in the state and federal judiciary.

Past presidents of the Hispanic National Bar Association and the African-American group the National Bar Association also hail from Santa Clara Law.

"Since its founding in 1911, Santa Clara University's law school has been providing a quality legal education for bright and engaged men and women who seek to inspire change in the national and local corridors of power and to represent their clients' interests and needs," said Santa Clara Law Dean, Donald Polden.

"Today, Santa Clara Law prides itself on providing a rigorous education for some of the country's most promising lawyers who lead their fields with a commitment to professional excellence, ethical lawyering, and community service, all with one of the most vibrant business centers in the world as our backyard," he said.

"A Santa Clara Law education emphasizes the full range of legal, moral and ethical principles that form the bedrock of American law," said CIA Director Leon Panetta, a 1963 J.D. alumnus. "SCU Law also stresses the importance of service to the nation and our local communities. I drew personal inspiration from that calling when I was a student, and it's something I strongly value to this day."