Cambridge Law School for Women: The Evolution and Legacy of the Nation\u27s First Graduate Law School Exclusively for Women

Although several scholars have briefly discussed CLSW in conjunction with work on other subjects, this Article presents the first comprehensive history of the school. The Article begins in Section Two by exploring how and why CLSW came into being in 1915 after two young Radcliffe suffragists led an unsuccessful campaign for admission to Harvard Law School. Section Three examines the design, pedagogical foundations, and day-to-day workings of the school during its first two years. Sections Four and Five explore the historical events that led to CLSW\u27s closure in 1917. These sections also document and discuss the school\u27s subsequent, and previously undocumented, reopening in 1921. In Section Six, the Article traces the careers of eight of the students who attended CLSW. Finally, it concludes with a discussion of the school\u27s legacy and what its history reveals about American legal education in the early part of the twentieth century. In doing so, it debunks the gender-influenced myths that have arisen about the school. Throughout, the Article explores how the idea and desire for CLSW grew out of the women\u27s suffrage movement and its accompanying emphasis on professional roles for women, while the school\u27s form was largely dictated by the increasing emphasis on the elite model of legal education championed by Harvard Law School