Since 1817 Harvard Law School has operated without interruption, the oldest such school in the United States, here in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, HLS is the oldest law school in continuous operation in the United States, though its founding is also traced to the establishment of a “law department” at Harvard in 1819. This is a place where a three-year JD program enrolls each class at approximately 560 students; the first-year class is broken into seven sections of approximately 80 students who take most first-year classes together.
Beyond the JD, the school also awards both LLM and SJD degrees. Inside these buildings sits the world's largest academic law library, and around you work an estimated 115 full-time faculty members. Recent records show 99% of 2019 graduates passed the bar, and HLS graduates accounted for more than one-quarter of all Supreme Court clerks between 2000 and 2010.
Stand here for a moment and imagine the flow of students and faculty across more than two centuries of legal education. Notice the world's largest academic law library inside, home to roughly 115 full-time faculty.