Law School Commencement

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Commencement Speaker

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A History of the Law School

Lewis & Clark Law School has its earliest roots in the University of Oregon’s original law department, founded in 1884. Thirty-one years later, Dean Calvin U. Gantenbein—declining to relocate the program from downtown Portland to Eugene—led the faculty, administration, and students of the department to form the independent Northwestern College of Law. The 2015–16 academic year marked the centennial of that pivotal event.

After a half century of dedicated leadership by the Gantenbein family, the Northwestern College of Law merged with Lewis & Clark in 1965 and took on its current official name: the Northwestern School of Law of Lewis & Clark College. Soon after, the law school moved to its present location.

Once exclusively a night program, the law school began expanding its offerings in 1970 to include an extensive range of daytime classes. During the subsequent decade, Lewis & Clark Law School, always a highly respected regional institution, rose to a position of national prominence and was recognized for its distinguished legal education, research, and service.

Members of the Class of 2025 join over 10,000 graduates—among them state Supreme Court justices, Federal District Court judges, Oregon’s former governor, and scores of trial judges, legislators, and distinguished practitioners in public service and private practice—who enrich the legal community throughout Oregon, the Pacific Northwest, the nation, and the world. The law school shares the excitement of today’s graduates as they move into the future.