The Litchfield Law School

There are three law schools in Connecticut today, and they share a tradition that goes back to the first such institution in the United States, Tapping Reeve's Litchfield Law School. The lovely little building in which Reeve conducted the school he founded in 1784 still stands and is maintained as a museum. There are articles about it:

Coleman, Ronald L. "Learning the Law at Litchfield." Connecticut Bar Journal 34(September, 1960)3:270-76. Coleman, a new Yale graduate, discusses the curriculum at Reeve's School in 1808 and later.

Farnum, George R "Historical New England Shrines of the Law: Litchfield, Connecticut and its Claim to Fame." Journal of the American Bar Association 22(April 1936)4:238-41. A short illustrated sketch by a former United States Assistant Attorney General.

Fisher, Samuel H. The Litchfield Law School, 1775-1833.  Tercentenary pamphlet XXI (1933). Fisher was a practicing lawyer of considerable note and president of the Litchfield Historical Society.

-Litchfield Law School 1774-1833: Biographical Catalog of Students. Yale Library Publications No. 11. New Haven, 1946. Short biographies of 903 graduates.

Goetsch, Charles C. The Litchfield Law School: A Modern View. Hartford: University of Connecticut Law School Press, 1981. This was a paper delivered to the American Society of Legal Historians.

Hill, Burton S. "Litchfield, First American Law School." Michigan Alumnus Quarterly Review 56(May, 1950).

King, John Hamilton. "Influence of Litchfield Law School on American Law," Connecticut Bar Journal 40(September, 1966)3:446-47. Derivative, popular piece, but expresses the views of the chief justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court.

Swindler, William F. "America's First Law Schools: Significance or Chauvinism?" Connecticut Bar Journal 41(March, 1967)1:1-15. Bet you didn't know the issue was controversial! But here's this professor from the Marshall-Wythe School of Law of William and Mary College telling us that George Wythe, who became the first professor of jurisprudence at William and Mary in 1779, deserves consideration as the founder of the first law school in the United States. It all depends on how you define "law school" Swindler says.