Martin Shell

Stanford University, located between San Francisco and San Jose in the heart of California's Silicon Valley, is one of the world's leading teaching and research universities. Since its opening in 1891, Stanford has been dedicated to finding solutions to big challenges and to preparing students for leadership in a complex world.

Stanford began offering a curriculum in legal studies in 1893, when the university engaged its first two law professors. One was Benjamin Harrison, former President of the United States, who delivered a landmark series of lectures on the Constitution. The other was Nathan Abbott, who served as head of the nascent law program. Abbott assembled a small faculty to which he imparted a standard of rigor and excellence that endures to this day.In an effort to acknowledge the emerging professional nature of the department, Stanford's Board of Trustees passed a resolution in 1908 to substitute the term 'law school' for 'law department,' though technically the law program remained a department within the university.The law school was at the forefront of efforts to institute the California Bar exam, which was added to the requirements to practice law in California in 1919. The law school was accredited by the American Bar Association in 1923, the year the ABA began certifying law schools.

The University of Pennsylvania Law School, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is the law school of the University of Pennsylvania. A member of the Ivy League, it is among the oldest and most selective law schools in the nation. It is currently ranked 7th overall by U.S. News & World Report, and 1st in terms of career prospects by the Princeton Review, a rank awarded also by the National Law Journal based on placement of graduates in top law firms.It offers the degrees of Juris Doctor (J.D.), Master of Laws (LL.M.), Master of Comparative Laws (LL.C.M.), and Doctor of the Science of Law (S.J.D.).