Chicago-Kent College of Law

Biography

"None of these [mergers] was more important than the 1969 merger with the historic Chicago-Kent College of Law. Kent traced its origins to 1886, when a number of young Chicago law clerks sought to improve their knowledge by studying informally with experienced local judges and, as a group, eventually assuming a formal name: The Chicago Evening Law Class, incorporated in 1888 as The Chicago College of Law. "A year later it became the law department of Lake Forest University. State regulations at that time called for only two years of study prior to admission to the bar and the beginning of professional practice. Lake Forest asked for more. Its requirement of three years of study before the granting of the Bachelor of Laws degree was the first such advanced stipulation operative in Illinois legal education institutions. "Meanwhile the Kent College of Law, which had been founded in 1892, united with the Lake Forest department in 1900 to form Chicago-Kent College of Law, a name it retained after Lake Forest University became Lake Forest College in 1904 and gave up its several professional departments. Chicago-Kent, operating independently, functioned as an evening school until 1922, when an afternoon division was added. Ten years later it became a full-time day school. "It was accredited by the American Bar Association in 1936 and admitted to the Association of American Law Schools in 1951. Its original home was in the Athenaeum Building on Van Buren Street just east of Wabash Avenue. In 1912 it moved to the Lakeview Building at 116 S. Michigan Avenue, and in 1924 it took over its own six-story building at 10 North Franklin Street." Author: Franz Schultz; for draft of Illinois Institute of Technology Campus Guide (The Campus Guide), © 2005 Princeton Architectural Press Chicago-Kent's first location was in the Athenaeum Building at 18-26 Van Buren St. In 1912 it moved to the Lakeview Building at 116 S. Michigan Avenue. In 1924 it took over its own six-story building at 10 North Franklin Street. It occupied the building as 77 S. Wacker Dr. ca. 1975-1991. Moved to 565 W. Adams Street, a building built by IIT for the law school, in 1992, the building later to be known as IIT's Downtown Campus. Auxiliary space rented by Chicago-Kent over the years included the following locations: 130 N. Wells St; Wells and Randolph; Wells and Madison; 1 S. Wacker.

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