Legal Education at Minnesota
From its beginnings, legal education at the University of Minnesota Law School has been characterized by innovation and excellence. The history of legal education at Minnesota can be discovered most readily in the Law Library’s rich archives, which preserves historical coursebooks and other pedagogical tools, exams, Law School bulletins and publications, and a collection of law student notebooks, among other material. This digital exhibit showcases some of that history, found in a diversity of documents and publications from the Law School’s earliest days. The text below provides a short history of legal education at Minnesota.
In 1888, the University of Minnesota Law School opened its doors in a single basement room where the newly appointed Dean and only faculty member, William S. Pattee, lectured to a class of thirty-two young men. Dean Pattee’s method of teaching was traditional and familiar for the time: lectures on subjects including property, contracts, and torts.
A dedicated law school building, the old Pattee Hall, was completed in 1889. Night courses were added and non-degree-seeking students were allowed to attend, leading to a period of rapid growth for the self-sufficient school. With the appointment of Dean William Vance in 1911, the case method was fully adopted in the classroom and a new focus was placed on legal practice and professional preparation. In 1913, Vance established a relationship between the law school and the Legal Aid Society of Minneapolis, one of the first clinical law programs in the nation. Students were required to work through the clinic several times a year to gain exposure to real case work and professional responsibility.
Under Dean Everett Fraser, from 1920 to 1948, the Law School gained a prestigious national reputation, due to the excellence of the faculty and the quality of education that was offered. Fraser tightened admissions requirements and assigned first-year students to faculty advisors. In 1930, he initiated the Minnesota Plan, a major reform that featured two years of undergraduate study followed by four years of law school. Other schools adopted the 2-4 plan in Minnesota’s footsteps.
Although World War II brought severe disruption, the post-war years saw a boom in legal education nationally and at Minnesota. At the Law School, enrollment jumped with returning veterans, in particular, bringing an increase of nearly 500%. In 1948, Maynard Pirsig assumed the deanship. Leading the law school through the period of post-war growth and transition, Pirsig was noted for faculty recruitment and hired scholars, like Kenneth Culp Davis and Charles Alan Wright, who became leading experts in their fields.
In the late 1950s and 1960s, the Law School was reinvigorated by debates about the form and purpose of legal education. Dean Lockhart and the faculty continued to push for higher academic standards, rigor, and diversity. The Minnesota Plan was left behind in favor of a standard and more intense three-year law program. The clinical programs were also reevaluated and revitalized: the Legal Aid Clinic opened in 1957 and grew each year. The Law School saw exciting changes to its student body, faculty, and building as well. Although women and students of color had been among the law school’s earliest graduates, only a very small number were enrolled in any given year. In the 1970s and 80s that began to change with a new tradition of diversity and equality that remains robust today. In 1978, a new Law School building, dedicated as Walter F. Mondale Hall in 2001, ushered in new programs and centers that are integral to the Law School.
Today the University of Minnesota Law School is a thriving institution ranked among the nation's top law schools. Dedicated to academic excellence and public service, the Law School prepares its students to be lawyer-leaders who will address the most complex issues in their communities, the nation, and the world. What began as a small department in a college basement has become a vibrant community that boasts world-class instruction, rich experiential learning opportunities, an extraordinary body of students, and an extensive network of national and global alumni.
William S. Pattee, Illustrative Cases in Contracts, 2nd ed., Pattee Series (Philadelphia: T. & J. W. Johnson, 1896).
Dean William S. Pattee began publishing his own casebooks, Pattee’s Series of Illustrative Cases, for use in his courses. These were quickly adopted as textbooks by other law schools. By 1896, the series had been adopted in over 30 law schools around the country. Particularly notable are his casebooks on contracts and personal property, which were some of the earliest outside of the casebooks used at Harvard Law School.
In Pattee’s series, students did not have to infer what the cases illustrated. Instead, the casebooks gave the law in question in boldface type, followed by cases illustrating the law, making a direct link that would be readily understandable. Later editions of these casebooks included lined pages for student notes, interspersed through the text.
George Wood Buffington, Notes on Domestic Relations (1891-1892)
The oldest student notebook in the Law Library’s archives is this volume containing lecture notes for a course on domestic relations taught by James Paige. The student notebook collection offers an up-close look at how University of Minnesota Law School students have taken notes and learned the law through the school’s history.
University of Minnesota, College of Law Bulletin (1889).
The Law School’s bulletin for the 1889-1890 academic year includes typical information found in a course catalog: courses, instructors, admissions requirements, tuition and registration procedures. The yearly tuition was $40 for Minnesota residents. Candidates for the Law School program would take an examination and were expected to know grammar and the history “of the United States, of England, and of Rome.” They could also present a high school diploma to be considered for admission. The bulletin even describes the new Law School building, what would become Pattee Hall, the Law School’s first dedicated home, to be completed by the start of the fall semester.
James Paige, The Law of Torts Diagrammed (1898).
James Paige, Analysis of Blackstone’s Commentaries (circa 1890s).
Professor James Paige (class of 1890) was the Law School’s second full-time faculty member. Affectionately known as “Jimmy,” he was fondly remembered many years later. Carl Meixner (’13) recalled Professor Paige’s informality and open door policy in particular, calling him a father figure and confidant to many students. Not regarded as the most demanding instructor, Paige nevertheless cared deeply about legal education and found visual aids useful. He self-published these collections of diagrams for his students’ benefit. Notably, the highly influential Commentaries (1765-69) of William Blackstone still guided property discussions.
James Paige, Examination in Criminal Law (1918).
Copies of Paige’s criminal law exams provide a look at the level of difficulty early Minnesota Law students faced and some of the crimes that the professor deemed most relevant to lawyers in the early 20th century. The strange, rather humorous, and historically fascinating fact patterns carry their own interest, while some of the underlying principles and the form of the hypotheticals are familiar in questions asked on law exams today.
University of Minnesota, Law School Bulletin (1920).
This 1920 course catalog reflects the development and refinement of the Law School’s curriculum and admissions requirements. Compared to the school’s earliest catalogs an increasing academic rigor, and an emphasis on practical legal experience, are here apparent. In particular, the case method is claimed as the basis of pedagogy, full-time doctrinal faculty is emphasized, and instructors who are skilled in practice as lawyers and judges. The Law School had ended its part-time night program several years before, under Dean William Vance, and was successfully establishing a national reputation.
Maynard Pirsig, Notes on Negotiable Instruments (1923-1924).
Maynard Pirsig (’25) began as a student at the Law School in 1922. After a brilliant career as a student, he was hired onto the faculty in 1929. He soon became a renowned scholar for his pioneering work on legal ethics and judicial administration, among many other subjects. Pirsig taught at the Law School until 1970 and served as Dean from 1948 to 1955. Throughout his career, he was engaged also in important professional service. Pirsig’s notebook here illustrates a common practice among students of the time: pasting in typed or more neatly written case summaries over their hasty lecture notes.
Helen Spink Henton, Notes on Pleading (1924-1925).
In addition to her lecture notes, Helen Spink (’25) crammed her notebook from a course on pleading full of notes between herself and other students, shopping lists, poems, doodles, and a letter from her mother. This ephemeral material opens a unique window onto student life. After graduating, Spink led the Legal Aid Society in St. Paul. While she retired from her law career upon her marriage, Helen remained active in the League of Women Voters and in the women’s guild of the Episcopal Church. Helen and her classmate, and later husband, Robert Henton, themselves became excellent collectors of rare books and archival material over the course of their careers.
Everett Fraser, Training Tomorrow’s Lawyer (1937).
In 1930, Dean Everett Fraser inaugurated the Minnesota Plan, a major reform of the Law School’s curriculum that generated nationwide discussion and study. The new curriculum featured two years of undergraduate study, then four years of law school, with the aim of providing a more well-rounded legal education. Dean Fraser delivered this address at the annual meeting of the Minnesota State Bar Association, discussing the Minnesota Plan’s curricular reforms at length and passionately arguing its merits. In a period when the ABA and AALS were pushing for higher standards in legal education, for admission to Law School and to the profession, Minnesota was at the forefront of reform.
Stanley V. Kinyon, How to Study Law and Write Law Examinations (St. Paul: West Pub. Co, 1940, 1947, 1949, 1951).
Stanley V. Kinyon was a professor and legendary teacher deeply committed to student success. Early in his career, he sensed a need for a clear, non-technical guide to legal education. His noted book, How to Study Law, ended up in the hands of over half a million law students over the next three decades. In 1971, Kinyon produced this up-to-date guide as part of West Publishing’s Nutshell series.
University of Minnesota Law School, Legal Aid Clinic Procedure Manual (1969).
The Law School had established one of the first clinical programs in the nation in 1913. In 1955, faculty reevaluated the program and worked with a small student committee to develop plans for an on-campus clinic that was then authorized by the state bar association. The opening of the on-campus Legal Aid Clinic in 1957 provided new opportunities for practical legal experience. Under the direction of James Hetland (’50), the clinic grew rapidly. By 1960, its caseload had increased by 220%. In 1967, a Minnesota Supreme Court ruling allowed senior law students to represent indigent persons in court, giving the clinic and law students further opportunities for practical legal experience. This procedure manual for the clinic details how to handle clients, write memos, and more, including examples of criminal briefs.
Minnesota Law Alumni News, Vol. 21, no. 1, Fall 1970.
The Fall 1970 alumni newsletter appealed to alumni for help with the Law School’s pressing space issue. The Law School’s home at the time, Fraser Hall, had not kept up with growth for a long time. Even an addition to the building in 1956 could not keep up with the school’s evolving needs. Putting the plans for a new Law School building into action was a massive and expensive undertaking in the 1960s and 70s. This article urges alumni to get in touch with their representatives, and highlights the exciting possibilities of the new Law School design, including outlets for electric typewriters, room for computer equipment (when available in the future), and U-shaped classrooms to support the Socratic method.
Wayne Gilbert, Charlie Wikelius, Clarin Schwartz, and Gordy Schaller, A Survival Handbook (1971).
At Minnesota, faculty and staff support new students through their challenging first year of law school – and so do fellow students. Student newsletters and other student-produced materials in the Library’s archives give evidence of this attitude throughout the years. This humorous and useful guidebook was put together by Minnesota law students for 1Ls navigating the adjustment to law school. Gilbert, Wikelius, Schwartz, and Schaller give the reader a complete picture of the Law School, covering academic and non-academic topics with advice that is both realistic and encouraging, from how to use the library to where to buy liquor.
Robert E. Oliphant (ed.), Trial Techniques with Irving Younger (1978).
Robert Oliphant was the Law School’s first full-time clinical professor, instrumental in evolving the clinical program. He helped the Legal Aid Clinic to expand its services, providing not only civil law aid but help with misdemeanor cases and assistance to prisoners. The clinic served both the students’ educational needs and the needs of the community. In this guidebook, Oliphant captures renowned lawyer Irving Younger’s energetic and straightforward approach to trial techniques in a concise format perfect for the busy student or practicing lawyer. A few years later, in 1984, Younger joined the Law School faculty. Bringing Irving and Judith Younger, a superstar legal duo, to the Law School was one of Dean Stein’s many recruitment successes. Irving Younger delivered his vibrant lectures and witty insights to students at Minnesota until his death in 1988.