Hastings College of the Law

The University of California Hastings College of the Law is a law school located in downtown San Francisco, California. It was founded in 1878 by Serranus Clinton Hastings, the first Chief Justice of California, as the first law school of the University of California (UC), and it remains affiliated with UC today. Hastings is one of the few university-affiliated law schools in the United States which does not sit on a general university campus.

History

Throughout much of the 20th century, Hastings' reputation as one of the better law schools in the United States was due largely to its shrewd tactic of hiring faculty who had been forced into mandatory retirement (due to age) from other elite institutions. While these "65 Club" faculty would often only give a few years of service to the school, the culture and climate of San Francisco kept a steady stream of graying law professors coming through Hastings' doors. When laws against age discrimination came into existence in the 1970s, however, most universities abandoned their mandatory retirement policies, eliminating Hastings' major advantage. Today, while still a fine institution, it is no longer considered to be the most prestigious law school in the UC system, as the Boalt Hall School of Law at Berkeley and the School of Law at UCLA are generally held in higher esteem. It is still a "First-Tier" law school, however, that is consistently ranked in the top-50 of all law schools nationwide.

Related Topics:
Age discrimination - Boalt Hall School of Law - Berkeley - UCLA

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Hastings does have the distinction of having supplied a plurality of California lawyers currently practicing. According to the State Bar of California, Hastings alumni form the largest proportion of the Bar's members. Also, as of 2005, the school's large size means that more Hastings graduates (about 340) take the California bar exam than graduates of any other law school.

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