New England Law Boston
law school in Boston
New England Law Boston (formerly New England School of Law, and styled as New England Law | Boston) is a private law school in Boston, Massachusetts. It was founded as Portia School of Law in 1908 and is located in downtown Boston near the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.
According to New England Law's official 2018 ABA-required disclosures, the class of 2018 had a full-time employment rate of 83.4% with 4% pursuing an additional degree. Eight U.S. Supreme Court justices have visited, lectured, or taught in the summer-abroad programs at New England Law.
History
Portia School of Law
The Portia School of Law started informally in 1908 when Arthur W. MacLean (1880–1943), a graduate of the Boston University School of Law and a professor at Suffolk University Law School, agreed to tutor two young women who were studying for the Massachusetts bar examination. At the time, few options were available to women seeking a legal education in New England. Soon afterwards, MacLean rented space at 88 Tremont Street, began admitting students, and took on a second faculty member. MacLean's wife, Bertha, named the school after the character Portia in Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice. In the play, Portia disguises herself as a young man and impersonates a judge; she also ruins Shylock, the moneylender. The Portia School of Law was the only law school in the country exclusively for women.
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Chronology, provenance and viewpoint should be read together before a broad social or political interpretation is accepted. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 9, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q386348. VIAF identifies the subject as 129016398. The Library of Congress control number is n81090554. Authority coordinates are 42.351, -71.067. 5 of 5 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1908, 2018, 1880 and 1943.
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