Louis Arthur Grimes School of Law
Encyclopedia
Louis Arthur Grimes School of Law is the law school
Law school
A law school is an institution specializing in legal education.- Law degrees :- Canada :...

 of the University of Liberia
University of Liberia
The University of Liberia is a publicly funded institution of higher learning located in Monrovia, Liberia. Authorized by the national government in 1851, the school opened in 1863 as Liberia College and became a university in 1951. The school is one of the oldest institutions of higher learning...

 in Monrovia
Monrovia
Monrovia is the capital city of the West African nation of Liberia. Located on the Atlantic Coast at Cape Mesurado, it lies geographically within Montserrado County, but is administered separately...

, Liberia
Liberia
Liberia , officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Sierra Leone on the west, Guinea on the north and Côte d'Ivoire on the east. Liberia's coastline is composed of mostly mangrove forests while the more sparsely populated inland consists of forests that open...

. Founded in 1951, it is named after former Chief Justice of the Liberian Supreme Court, Louis Arthur Grimes
Louis Arthur Grimes
Louis Arthur Grimes served as the 10th Chief Justice of Liberia and is considered one of the most important jurists in the history of Liberia. He was appointed Attorney General by President Charles D. B. King and served in this position from 1922 to 1932 when he was appointed Secretary of State by...

. The school offers a three-year program leading to the granting of the Bachelor of Laws
Bachelor of Laws
The Bachelor of Laws is an undergraduate, or bachelor, degree in law originating in England and offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree...

 degree. Publicly supported, it is the only law school
Law school
A law school is an institution specializing in legal education.- Law degrees :- Canada :...

 in the West Africa
West Africa
West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of the African continent. Geopolitically, the UN definition of Western Africa includes the following 16 countries and an area of approximately 5 million square km:-Flags of West Africa:...

n nation.

History

In 1862, Liberia College was founded with the national legislature
Legislature of Liberia
The Legislature of Liberia is bicameral, consisting of a Senate and House of Representatives , in the same manner as the Congress of the United States....

 creating the University of Liberia in 1951. In addition to the transition to a university, the legislature created the Louis Arthur Grimes School of Law and Government that same year at the university. In 1954, the law school began offering classes. Joseph Rudolph Grimes
Joseph Rudolph Grimes
Joseph Rudolph Grimes was a leading politician in Liberia. A trained lawyer, he served as Secretary of state from 1960 to 1971.-Early life:...

 founded the school, named it after his father Louis Arthur Grimes, and served as the law school’s first dean.

In 1956, Anthony Barclay succeeded Grimes as dean and remained until 1961 when the school closed after conferring a total of 21 degrees. In September of the next year the school re-opened with former Attorney General Joseph W. Garber as the dean and enrollment of 20 students. For 1963 the school employed two full-time instructors and six part-time faculty for a program that held only afternoon and evening classes. At that time the law school was housed in J. J. Roberts Hall, tuition was $27 per term, and the library contained approximately 500 volumes. The Liberian Law Journal, a law review
Law review
A law review is a scholarly journal focusing on legal issues, normally published by an organization of students at a law school or through a bar association...

 journal, began at the school in 1965.

By 1966 the law school had grown to 49 students enrolled in either the full-time or part-time programs with a department of 13 faculty members overseeing the students and the publication of the twice yearly Liberian Law Journal. About half the professors were visiting professors, including some from the Peace Corps. The law journal temporarily stopped publication from 1970 to 1974, resumed for a few editions, and then paused again until a final publication in 1986 with a total of eight volumes printed.

Since its founding, the law school along with the university have closed on several occasions due to civil strife including in 1979, 1984, and 1990. The United Nations Mission in Liberia
United Nations Mission in Liberia
The United Nations Mission in Liberia is a peace-keeping force established in September 2003 to monitor a ceasefire agreement in Liberia following the resignation of President Charles Taylor and the conclusion of the Second Liberian Civil War....

 donated USD $17,000, computers, and law text books to the law school in May 2005. In 2007, the American Bar Association
American Bar Association
The American Bar Association , founded August 21, 1878, is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students, which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. The ABA's most important stated activities are the setting of academic standards for law schools, and the formulation...

 paid for renovations to the law school. In April 2007, the school participated in an international moot court
Moot court
A moot court is an extracurricular activity at many law schools in which participants take part in simulated court proceedings, usually to include drafting briefs and participating in oral argument. The term derives from Anglo Saxon times, when a moot was a gathering of prominent men in a...

 competition in neighboring Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone , officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Guinea to the north and east, Liberia to the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west and southwest. Sierra Leone covers a total area of and has an estimated population between 5.4 and 6.4...

.

Academics

The School of Law has a course of study that leads to the Bachelor of Laws
Bachelor of Laws
The Bachelor of Laws is an undergraduate, or bachelor, degree in law originating in England and offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree...

 (LL.B.) degree after three years of specialization by students at the university. Like the juris doctorate (JD), the LL.B. requires the completion of an undergraduate degree, which is legal study similar to the JD. Grimes School of Law also offers a part-time evening program that encompasses five years of study.

Courses include civil procedure
Civil procedure
Civil procedure is the body of law that sets out the rules and standards that courts follow when adjudicating civil lawsuits...

, legal research and writing, criminal law
Criminal law
Criminal law, is the body of law that relates to crime. It might be defined as the body of rules that defines conduct that is not allowed because it is held to threaten, harm or endanger the safety and welfare of people, and that sets out the punishment to be imposed on people who do not obey...

, property
Property
Property is any physical or intangible entity that is owned by a person or jointly by a group of people or a legal entity like a corporation...

, torts, constitutional law
Constitutional law
Constitutional law is the body of law which defines the relationship of different entities within a state, namely, the executive, the legislature and the judiciary....

, contracts, evidence
Evidence
Evidence in its broadest sense includes everything that is used to determine or demonstrate the truth of an assertion. Giving or procuring evidence is the process of using those things that are either presumed to be true, or were themselves proven via evidence, to demonstrate an assertion's truth...

, along with other standard law school courses. As the only law school in Liberia
Liberia
Liberia , officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Sierra Leone on the west, Guinea on the north and Côte d'Ivoire on the east. Liberia's coastline is composed of mostly mangrove forests while the more sparsely populated inland consists of forests that open...

, the school also offers a class on African law. Internationally, the school has a partnership with the Indiana University Maurer School of Law
Indiana University Maurer School of Law
The Indiana University Maurer School of Law is located on the flagship campus of Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana. The law school is one of two law schools operated by the Indiana University system, the other being the Indiana University McKinney School of Law...

 in the United States. Graduates are automatically admitted to the country’s bar
Bar (law)
Bar in a legal context has three possible meanings: the division of a courtroom between its working and public areas; the process of qualifying to practice law; and the legal profession.-Courtroom division:...

, and after three years in legal practice may apply to take a test to be admitted to the Supreme Court of Liberia
Supreme Court of Liberia
The Supreme Court of Liberia is the highest judicial body in the West African nation of Liberia. The court consists of the Chief Justice of Liberia and four Associate Justices, who are nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate...

’s bar.

Notable alumni

  • Olubanke King Akerele
    Olubanke King Akerele
    Olubanke King Akerele is a Liberian politician and diplomat who served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs in the cabinet of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf from October 2007 until her resignation on 3 November 2010. She is the granddaughter of Liberia's 16th president, Charles D. B...

    , foreign minister
  • Charles Brumskine
    Charles Brumskine
    Charles Walker Brumskine is a Liberian politician and attorney. He is the Political Leader of the Liberty Party and came third in the 2005 presidential election. He is considered the most popular opposition politician in Liberia, and is challenging Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf for the Presidency in...

    , former President Pro Tem of the Senate
  • Johnnie Lewis
    Johnnie Lewis
    Johnnie N. Lewis is the 18th and current Chief Justice of Liberia. A native of Sinoe County, Lewis was educated at the University of Liberia in Monrovia and at Yale Law School in the United States. Before his appointment to the Supreme Court, he served as a judge in Liberia’s circuit court...

    , Liberian Supreme Court Chief Justice
  • Varney Sherman
    Varney Sherman
    Harry Varney Gboto-Nambi Sherman is a Liberian politician and the current chairman of the ruling Unity Party.-Early life:...

    , 2005 Presidential candidate

External links

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