Board Approves New Name for UIC Law

The UIC John Marshall Law School will change its name to the University of Illinois Chicago School of Law after receiving approval from the University of Illinois Board of Trustees today.

With all required approvals and agreements obtained in accordance with university processes and contractual obligations with the Legacy Law School Corporation and the Foundation Legacy Corporation (the successor legal entities that owned and operated the law school, and fund-raised for the school, before it became a part of UIC), the name change will be effective July 1, 2021.

The vote comes after months of review by a task force that gathered input from students, faculty, staff, and alumni, conducted research and proposed principles to guide the institution in evaluating a potential name change.

The task force report noted, “that despite Chief Justice Marshall’s legacy as one of the nation’s most significant U.S. Supreme Court justices, the newly discovered research regarding his role as a slave trader, slave owner of hundreds of slaves, pro-slavery jurisprudence, and racist views render him a highly inappropriate namesake for the Law School.”

Following the task force’s report in February and its 6-1 membership recommendation to rename the school, law school faculty voted in favor of a new official name in March. Approval from the Legacy Law School Corporation and the Foundation Legacy Corporation was received last week by the University of Illinois System.

The John Marshall Law School, formerly an independent law school that was established in 1899, merged with UIC in 2019 to create UIC John Marshall Law School. Since its founding, the school has upheld a tradition of diversity, innovation and opportunity and consistently provided an education that combined an understanding of the theory, philosophy and practice of law.