In the postwar era, the School of Law tapped into the ambition and diversity of its city, its students, and its leaders. The school welcomed its first female faculty members, Harriet French and Jeannette Ozanne Smith, introduced its first Master of Laws (LL.M.) program in taxation, built a dedicated home for the law school, and published the first law review. This laid the foundation for other signature programs that built on Miami’s increasing importance as the gateway to the Americas, such as LL.M. programs in international law and inter-American law.
The 1960s and 1970s were transformative. The School of Law graduated its first Black students, hired its first Black faculty member in Robert H. Walters, and offered a unique program for Cuban refugee lawyers. Soia Metchnikoff’s arrival as dean in the 1970s marked a period of unprecedented growth and innovation: She led curricular reform, expanded the law library, and enhanced the school’s national reputation. Her leadership paved the way for future female deans and highlighted the role of women in legal education and the profession. Her tenure also attracted a dynamic intellectual community that fostered major interdisciplinary schools of legal thought, such as the Law and Economics Center, founded by professor Henry G. Manne and designed to apply the tools of economics to better understand the legal system. The first Heckerling Institute on Estate Planning was held in 1967.
The 1980s and 1990s brought increased intellectual gravitas with the establishment of the Robert B. Cole Lecture Series, which has hosted nine U.S. Supreme Court justices. This era also welcomed the therapeutic jurisprudence movement, co-developed by professor Bruce Winick to employ the field of psychology to understand the role of lawyers and judges in the legal system; and LatCrit, the Latina and Latino Critical Legal Theory, introduced by professors Francisco Valdes and Elizabeth Iglesias, which continues to play a pioneering role in the critical legal studies movement. The Center for Ethics and Public Service, the genesis of the school’s clinical education programs, opened in 1997 and was followed by nine clinics that offer legal services to clients from Miami’s most under-resourced communities. The HOPE Public Interest Resource Center began to connect students with public interest opportunities.
Adding to the stellar Litigation Skills Program, the School of Law has since launched initiatives like LawWithoutWalls, the Transactional Skills Program, and the Miami Law and AI (MiLA) Lab that aim to equip students with the skills and mindsets needed for a rapidly changing legal landscape. And Charles C. Papy, Jr. Moot Court Board, the International Moot Court Program, and the Yvette Ostolaza Mock Trial Team build practice-ready lawyers.
As the School of Law looks ahead, it remains focused on providing scholarships, fostering a community of belonging and academic rigor, and embracing technological advances while enhancing the power of legal education to meaningfully impact society and democracy.
