Law School News, 0820 WYBJ, Vol. 43 No. 4. 50
| Author | Klint W. Alexander, Ph.D., J.D., M.Phil. University of Wyoming College of Law Laramie, Wyoming |
| Position | Vol. 43 4 Pg. 50 |
The College of Law and its Centennial Anniversary
Klint W. Alexander, Ph.D., J.D., M.Phil. University of Wyoming College of Law Laramie, Wyoming
This year marks the Centennial Anniversary of the University of Wyoming College of Law. As the state’s only law school, the College of Law and its graduates have helped shape the political, economic and cultural landscape of Wyoming since the end of The Great War.
The College of Law’s beginnings in Laramie can be traced to Thurmond W. Arnold, the prominent attorney and former mayor of Laramie, who recognized that the absence of a law school in Wyoming caused many aspiring judges, attorneys and political leaders to leave the state to obtain a law degree. Thurmond Arnold created the first small law class of 14 students at Science Hall on UW’s campus where he taught Property and Torts, and he offered the students access to the library at his law office in downtown Laramie. The first class of law students graduated in 1923, the year the College of Law obtained its accreditation from the American Bar Association.
During the College of Law’s first 50 years, several prominent figures led the law school and brought national prominence to the College in several fields. After leaving Laramie in the late 1920s, Thurmond Arnold was appointed Assistant Attorney General by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to direct the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division. To this day, Thurmond is known as the “Godfather of Antitrust Law” for his trust-busting campaign during the early years of the Sherman Act. Thurmond Arnold’s brother, Carl Franklin Arnold, served as Dean of the College of Law from the tail end of the great Depression to the outset of World War II (1933-1941). During the 1940s and 1950s, the nation’s leading expert on Public School Law, Robert S. Hamilton, served as Dean, and it was during this time that the College of Law moved to the basement of the old Anthropology building on campus. From 1960 to 1971, Dean Frank J. Trelease led the College of Law and brought international recognition to the University of Wyoming in the area of Water Law
During its second 50-year run, the College of Law grew in size, became more integrated, and emerged as a national leader in several new areas. In 1977, to accommodate an increase in students, both men and women, the College moved...
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