About Us
History of UNMLaw School
Milestones
1947 - The University of New Mexico College of Law enrolls its first class. The school is located on the second floor of the football field's grandstand. The class has 53 students and four faculty. The library has 11,624 volumes.
1948 - After only one year, the school is accredited by the American Bar Association and granted membership in the Association of American Law Schools.
1952 - The college moves into its own two-story building on Roma Avenue. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black is guest speaker at dedication ceremonies.
1954 - Albert G. Simms creates a trust fund that finances the John Field Simms Memorial Lecture, which brings in distinguished national experts.
1961 - The school's name is changed to the University of New Mexico School of Law. The Natural Resources Journal is established.
1965 - The school building is named Bratton Hall.
1966 - The UNM Law School Alumni/ae Association is established.
1967 - The Special Scholarship Program in Law for American Indians is established. Eighteen participants attend the first eight-week pre-law summer session.
1968 - The American Indian Law Center is established to assist tribes and provide research on Indian Law issues.
1969 - The Institute of Public Law is established to provide research for government agencies and short courses for government officials.
1970 - A formal clinical law program is established. A new Bratton Hall is completed on Stanford Drive. Cost of the new 63,000-square-foot split-level building is $1.8 million. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Byron White speaks at dedication ceremonies.
1971 - The New Mexico Law Review is established. A chapter of the Order of the Coif is established.
1978 - A $3 million expansion adds offices and classrooms and doubles the size of the law library to 40,000 square feet.
1982 - Board of Visitors is created.
1989 - Guanajuato Summer Law Institute is established.
1991 - U.S.-Mexico Law Institute and U.S.-Mexico Law Journal are established.
1994 - Southwest Indian Law Clinic is established.
1995 - Indian Law Certificate Program is established.
2000 - Tribal Law Journal is established.
2002 - Frederick M. Hart Wing is completed, adding 32,000 square feet to the law school. The law library has nearly 485,000 volumes. Enrollment is 324. Renovation of Bratton Hall begins.
2003 - Law school begins exchange program with Franklin Pierce Law Center, expanding opportunities for UNM law students to study intellectual property and patent law.
2005 - Economic Development Program begins, expanding the law school's business law curriculum. Henry Weihofen Chair is established. Ramo Lecture on International Justice established, bringing in world-renowned speakers every other year.
2006 - Bruce King Reading Room Opens in the Law Library.
