The University of San Francisco School of Law (USF Law) is the law school of the private University of San Francisco. Established in 1912, it received American Bar Association accreditation in 1935 and joined the Association of American Law Schools (AALS) in 1937.
History
The institution that eventually became the University of San Francisco School of Law was formally established in 1912 as the St. Ignatius College of Law; it was then part of the institution of the same name that would eventually be reorganized as the University of San Francisco in 1930. The school was first located on the fifth floor of the Grant Building located on the corner of 7th and Market Street. Although not formally established as an autonomous department until over three decades later, St. Ignatius began to offer law courses to students in 1880 under the direction of Fr. Aloysius Brunengo, S.J. However, by the beginning of the 20th century, as the city began to rapidly expand, and to particularly meet the growing desires of young Irish and Italian Americans interested in practicing law, it was determined that a more formal institution be inaugurated.
The St. Ignatius College of Law was thus founded in September 18, 1912 as an evening program with 29 students. Among the students of this founding class was twenty-two year old Chan Chung Wing, who would become a prominent civil rights and immigration lawyer as well as the first Chinese American to practice law in California. Another student of this original class was twenty-two year old Vincent Hallinan, who would become a noted labor lawyer and be the Progressive Party candidate in 1952 Presidential Election, garnering the third highest number of votes. The law school’s first dean was Matthew I. Sullivan, who would serve as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of California from 1914 to 1915. Among the school’s original faculty were: Fr. John J. Ford, S.J.; George A. Connelly; Joseph Farry; Joseph W. Beretta; John O’Gara; and John J. O’Toole- who would eventually go on to serve as the City Attorney of San Francisco (1926-1949). Professor Farry would go on to teach at the law school for nearly half a century, retiring in 1957. Dean Sullivan’s brother, Jeremiah F. Sullivan, who would later serve as a Justice of the Supreme Court of California (1926-1927), was also a professor at the law school during its earliest years.
Five years after its founding, in 1917 the school moved to the corner of Hays and Shrader Streets, into a building popularly referred to as the “Shirt Factory.” This was also the location of the rest of St. Ignatius after its original campus was destroyed during the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and subsequent fire. By the same year the student population would reach 149, although enrollment would quickly drop in half with America’s entry into World War I. Throughout the 1920s, the school saw considerable success and growth. By 1920 the school was home to 109 students, and would further expand to 266 by the end of the decade in 1929. Many of the graduates of this era would go onto practice law in San Francisco and throughout the Bay Area, including fifteen judges. In 1927 the law school relocated once again, however, out of the downtown core and to the upper floor of Campion Hall (now Kalmanovitz Hall) on Lone Mountain, where the university resides today. That same year the law school accepted its first three female students, beginning what would become a long tradition of promoting women in the legal field. Several notable figures graduated from the law school during the 1920s, including future Chief Clerk of the California State Assembly Arthur Ohnimus (1921), Attorney General of California Thomas C. Lynch (1929), and federal judges William Thomas Sweigert (1923) and George Bernard Harris (1926).
Despite the onset of the Great Depression in 1929, the law school and college began to hit their stride. In 1930 St. Ignatius College was reorganized as the University of San Francisco, and the law school opened a day-time program the following year. In 1935 the law school was accredited by the American Bar Association, and joined the Association of American Law Schools in 1937. Lewis Cassidy would succeed Matthew Sullivan as the law school’s second dean in 1934, and would himself be succeeded by Charles H. Kinnane in 1936. In 1939 Edward A. Hogan would be installed as the fourth dean, and would serve until 1951. The era saw numerous graduates make considerable contributions to the rapidly growing city and state, including California Supreme Court Justice Raymond L. Sullivan (1930) and Congressman and Mayor of San Francisco John F. Shelley (1932).