Soaring Higher: the Campaign for Boston College Boston College Law School
EMPOWERING TOMORROW’S LEGAL LEADERS
Nearly every problem the world faces today is informed by law. From climate threats to humanitarian crises, from banking collapses to the quest for racial and economic justice, from global public health to AI and biotechnology challenges—laws touch and shape everyone, everywhere. A law school grounded in academic excellence and serious ethical inquiry—one that is committed to using law in service of others—is crucial for realizing a world of equal human dignity.
Boston College Law School provides students with the tools and the guidance to ethically face tomorrow’s most important legal questions. BC Law develops dynamic leaders, litigators, negotiators, and problem solvers. Its cutting-edge curriculum, dedicated faculty, and expansive experiential learning opportunities are informed by the Jesuit, Catholic values of discernment and care for the whole person. And its intimate, engaging classes and close-knit community are among the qualities that make it truly special.
With an impressive record of service and scholarship—from its work aiding immigrants and the wrongly convicted to its groundbreaking research in areas such as international law, business law and innovation, and land and property rights—BC Law forms top attorneys, sought after in the profession, who understand the crucial role that law plays in the world.
LEGACY AND EVOLUTION
Founded in April 1929, Boston College Law School was conceived as more than a center for legal education. Its first dean, Dennis Dooley, S.J., envisioned a law school that not only fostered analytical thinking, but also operated with a social conscience.
That fall, BC Law welcomed its first cohort of 54 ambitious students— selected from an applicant pool of nearly 700—to a multi-story building located at 11 Beacon Street.
Despite the stock market crash and subsequent economic downturn, BC Law pressed on, adapting to accommodate its enrollees, and living out its mission by creating policies for those experiencing newfound hardship: Students could pay for their education in installments; hungry students were invited for the evening meal; and a fully accredited night school opened doors so working students could “one day realize their ambitions to leave their daily jobs to practice law.”
“We are preparing top-notch lawyers, in an ethic of service, to be ready for the challenges of the next generation.”
From those earliest days, Boston College Law School was known for its high academic standards, and its reputation continued to grow. In 1932, just three years after its founding, the school received American Bar Association accreditation, becoming one of only four law schools in New England to attain that distinction. By the fall of 1937, the school’s enrollment had grown to 350 students. By 1940, its ranks included women.
With enrollment soaring, BC Law moved to Chestnut Hill in 1954, occupying the newly constructed St. Thomas More Hall on the edge of the BC campus. When Boston College acquired the Newton College of the Sacred Heart in the early 1970s, the Law School found its permanent home in what is now known as the Newton Campus.
Today, Boston College Law School’s 700 students are taught by some of the nation’s best law faculty, in a community unique in legal education.
ODETTE LIENAU
Inaugural Marianne D. Short, Esq., Dean and Professor of Law
SOARING TOWARD THE CENTENNIAL
As it approaches its landmark 100th anniversary in 2029, BC Law is a school on the move. Under the leadership of Odette Lienau, the inaugural Marianne D. Short, Esq., Dean, and professor of law, the community is energized and active, and its markers of excellence are rising rapidly. A cohort of dynamic newcomers has joined the faculty. Still, there are significant needs in areas of student financial support, academics, and campus life that will impact the Law School’s ability to build upon its strengths and amplify its growing reputation.
Soaring Higher: the Campaign for Boston College aims to raise $100 million for BC Law’s centennial and to cement its legacy for the next one hundred years—an ambitious effort to write the next chapter in the Law School’s history and impact future generations of young attorneys called to use the law to serve others.
“Scholarships
are not just financial assistance.
They are beacons of hope. They provide life to our dreams, to our potential, and importantly, to this career.”
ALBERTO CABRERA RIVERA, JD’24
FINANCIAL AID
Passionate, well-prepared lawyers of all backgrounds are vital to our nation’s legal community and to our society as a whole. But for many gifted students, a quality law school education feels out of reach.
While many factors go into selecting a law school, students consistently cite financial aid as the top reason for choosing one school over another.
BC Law provides financial aid to nearly 90 percent of each class. Yet in a fiercely competitive market, the average aid package—$24,000 per student—makes it more challenging to enroll the most highly qualified students, particularly those from underrepresented backgrounds, even when BC Law is their top choice.
While BC Law still remains behind its better-resourced peers, the community has fueled much-needed growth in financial aid, more than doubling the number of endowed scholarships in the past two decades. The more financial aid BC Law offers, the more effectively it can compete with other top law schools to attract the best students—students who will achieve their potential through BC Law’s unique education and go on to change the world.
With increased support through Soaring Higher, BC Law can expand access for highly qualified students and live up to its mission of forming the next generation of stellar lawyers serving the greater good.
ACADEMICS
Nearly 100 years ago, most of the required courses at BC Law were similar to today’s: Property, Civil Procedure, Criminal Law, Torts, Contracts, and others. Yet there are remarkable differences that reflect important changes in U.S. politics, economics, and social values.
In 1968, BC Law was among the first schools in the country to establish the Legal Assistance Bureau (now Legal Services LAB), which enables collaboration across legal disciplines through clinics and externships. Beginning in the 1980s, additional clinics, externships, and advocacy programs were offered. When the Center for Experiential Learning opened in 2014, it brought all of BC Law’s experiential programs —from clinics to externships to advocacy programs to skills-based courses—under one roof.
More recently, several new classes have been added to the 1L curriculum. One includes the choice of more than a dozen specialized electives in the spring semester of the 1L year. Another is Critical Perspectives, a required course on law and professional identity for 1Ls. Launched in 2021, it aims to introduce students to frameworks for thinking carefully about the structures of inequality in the law, legal education, and their own professional formation.
Some of BC Law’s greatest impact is led through institutes, programs, and initiatives. These include the:
Innocence Program in which students study the problem of erroneous convictions, work to remedy and prevent these injustices, and represent individuals wrongly convicted in Massachusetts for crimes they did not commit.
Rappaport Center for Law and Public Policy, which hosts dynamic discussions on critical public policy issues and provides funded summer internships for law students committed to public policy careers.
Program on Innovation and Entrepreneurship which draws upon the intellectual capital of its faculty and students to build strong bridges between BC Law and the innovation and entrepreneurship communities in Boston and beyond.
Initiative on Land, Housing and Property Rights which seeks to preserve and expand property rights for disadvantaged communities through research, legal reform and policy solutions, community outreach, law student training, and other strategies.
RENOWNED FACULTY
Evolving viewpoints and changing laws require experts to teach these cutting-edge subjects.
BC Law’s faculty members are more than instructors. They are researchers and clinicians. They have argued before the U.S. Supreme Court, testified before Congress, counseled Fortune 500 companies, and championed human rights around the globe. They consistently publish leading scholarship and provide expert commentary on current legal topics in major media outlets. On campus, they help students develop intellectually, personally, and ethically—which has created the distinctive BC Law experience for generations.
Professor and Dr. Thomas F. Carney Distinguished Scholar Renee Jones served as the director of the Division of Corporation Finance at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Professor and Dean’s Distinguished Scholar Kent Greenfield has played a key role in several civil rights and corporate accountability cases, including those brought against Unocal Corporation and Hershey Corporations for alleged human rights violations.
Liberty Mutual Insurance Professor of Law
Patricia A. McCoy helped form the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and served as its first assistant director for mortgage markets during her tenure at the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
Work conducted by Associate Professor and McHale Faculty Research Scholar Hiba Hafiz, analyzing how antitrust law can help laborers strengthen their bargaining power, led to an appointment as an expert advisor to the Federal Trade Commission.
Thomas W. Mitchell, Robert F. Drinan, S.J., Endowed Chair at BC Law and director of the Initiative on Land, Housing and Property Rights, won a MacArthur “Genius Grant” for his work on property issues facing disadvantaged communities. He was the principal drafter of the influential Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act.
Professor and Dean’s Distinguished Scholar Frank J. Garcia serves as a book review editor and board member of the Journal of International Economic Law In the past, he served as the vice chair of the ASIL International Economic Law and International Legal Theory Interest Groups.
Professor and Dean’s Distinguished Scholar Vlad Perju, a scholar of post-war EU constitutional law, was appointed by the president of Romania to serve on the Presidential Commission on Constitution Reform.
and Latin America.
Professor and Dean’s Distinguished Scholar Daniel Kanstroom is the faculty director of BC Law’s Rappaport Center for Law and Public Policy. He studies the effects of deportation on families and, together with students, he has won many immigration and asylum cases and provided counsel to hundreds of clients.
Professor and Dean’s Distinguished Scholar Katharine Young is a leader in comparative constitutional law, international human rights law, economic and social rights, and law and gender. She has practiced law in Australia, Africa, Europe, and the U.S.
What attracts outstanding faculty to BC Law and then keeps them here? The promise that they can do their best work— including through faculty support and endowed professorships. When BC Law invests in the very best faculty, the student experience becomes richer and the school’s reputation grows. Soaring Higher will carry this tremendous momentum forward, allowing the Law School to add and retain top talent while creating mission-driven resources to support the intersection of ideas and opportunity.
Assistant Professor Felipe Ford Cole is a rising comparative legal historian who studies the evolution of the balance of sovereign power and private capital in the U.S.
STUDENT LIFE
BC Law challenges students with intensive academics, but it also offers what today’s students hope their law school experience will be: an inspiring, supportive, and collaborative environment. Students study together and share notes, professors mentor students far beyond group office hours, and academic and social events draw large crowds. BC Law faculty, staff, and alumni all are all dedicated to helping students thrive, advocating for them in and out of the classroom.
And BC Law’s vibrant student groups reflect the diverse interests and backgrounds of the student body and enhance the sense of belonging found at the Law School. It is an inclusive environment that respects and cherishes individual differences.
Yet the Law School campus was not built with the needs of the 21st century in mind. For example, a lack of common student areas can undermine community building— something that has become even more important in recent years. Improvements to academic buildings and gathering spaces, as well as enhancements to student life programs and opportunities, will augment the overall wellbeing of the student body at BC Law.
“BC Law has an incredibly strong sense of community and a commitment to treating people with compassion.”
ODETTE LIENAU
Inaugural
Marianne D. Short, Esq., Dean and Professor of Law
Philanthropic support through Soaring Higher is critical to maintaining BC Law’s reputation. It also boosts the Law School’s competitiveness and excellence; fosters a rich, vibrant campus that is strengthened by its diversity of experiences and perspectives; and ultimately increases the value of a BC Law degree for all alumni.
#28
best law schools, U.S. News and World Report, 2023–2024
#8
best professors, Princeton Review 2023
#15
top-50 Law Schools for placing graduates in the nation’s largest 100 law firms, National Law Journal, 2023
98%
ultimate bar passage rate
$215K
median private practice starting salary
97.9%
employment rate (Class of 2023)
35%
students of color
The Jesuit, Catholic heritage of Boston College and Boston College Law School stresses the importance of giving as a gift what has been received as a gift, and urges all BC graduates to live lives marked by integrity, conviction, engagement, and generosity of spirit.
34%
first-generation college students or professionals
Following in the footsteps of the benefactors whose legacy built the University, Boston College launched Soaring Higher, a comprehensive fundraising campaign, in September 2023. This $3 billion effort, including $100 million for BC Law, aims to further solidify BC’s status as the preeminent Jesuit, Catholic university in the United States by bolstering resources in financial aid, student life, and academics.
The campaign includes a goal of raising $100 million specifically for Boston College Law School to attract and retain top-tier faculty, provide scholarships, and enhance the student experience on the Newton Campus.
