Since 1908
A Century of Firsts.
And Counting.
New England Law Boston traces its roots to 1908, when Portia Law School was founded to educate women at a time when most law schools and much of the legal profession remained closed to them.
New England Law began with a first. Its graduates kept making them.
Our History
A Century of Firsts
Across more than a century, Portia and New England Law graduates have broken barriers in the courts, legal practice, government, law enforcement, international public service, and civic leadership.
A national first in legal education
Portia Law School is founded as the nation’s first and only law school established exclusively for the education of women.
Blanche E. Braxton ’21
Becomes the first Black woman admitted to the Massachusetts bar.
Ethel E. Mackiernan
Becomes the first woman appointed to a presiding judgeship in Massachusetts.
Joyce London Alexander ’72
Becomes the nation’s first Black woman U.S. magistrate judge.
Kathleen O’Toole ’82
Becomes Boston’s first woman police commissioner.
Amy L. Blake ’92
Becomes the first woman to lead the Massachusetts Appeals Court.
Danica Dayian Iacoi ’88
Becomes the first woman chief of staff to a Rhode Island House speaker.
Explore Our History
The Complete Timeline
Explore more than a century of milestones and New England Law graduates who opened doors across the legal profession and beyond.
1908 A national first in legal education
Portia Law School is founded in Boston as the nation’s first and only law school established exclusively for the education of women.
The school grew from attorney Arthur W. MacLean’s decision to tutor two women preparing for the Massachusetts bar examination. At a time when women had few realistic paths into legal education, Portia offered one built expressly for them. Many of its earliest students were working women and daughters of immigrant families who attended classes while supporting themselves.
1920 Portia awards its first law degrees
Thirty-nine women receive Portia Law School’s first Bachelor of Laws degrees, forming the school’s first graduating class and beginning a new generation of women lawyers.
1921 Portia graduates sweep the women’s bar results
Every woman who passed the December 1921 Massachusetts bar examination was a Portia graduate, an early demonstration that the school was not merely offering access to legal education. It was preparing women to enter the profession successfully.
1923 Blanche E. Braxton ’21 breaks a barrier
Blanche E. Braxton ’21 becomes the first Black woman admitted to the Massachusetts bar.
Braxton’s admission marked a historic breakthrough at the intersection of race and gender. She went on to practice law in Boston and continued breaking barriers in the federal courts.
1926 Margaret M. McChesney ’21 appears before the SJC
Margaret M. McChesney ’21 becomes the first woman lawyer to argue before the full bench of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.
McChesney’s appearance before the Commonwealth’s highest court represented another important advance for women in Massachusetts legal practice.
1932 Dorothy R. Crockett ’31 breaks a Rhode Island barrier
Dorothy R. Crockett ’31 becomes the first Black woman admitted to the Rhode Island bar.
Crockett was also only the seventh woman admitted to practice law in Rhode Island. Her achievement extended Portia’s barrier-breaking influence beyond Massachusetts and into the broader New England legal profession.
1932 Boston’s first all-women law firm
Three Portia classmates establish Curry, Mowles & Murdock, Boston’s first all-women law firm.
After encountering firms willing to employ women as secretaries but not as lawyers, the three classmates created their own opportunity.
1933 Braxton breaks another barrier
Blanche E. Braxton ’21 becomes the first Black woman admitted to practice before the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts.
1935 Ethel E. Mackiernan enters judicial leadership
Ethel E. Mackiernan, who studied at Portia, becomes the first woman in Massachusetts appointed to serve in a presiding judicial position.
1952 Margaret H. Bauer becomes Portia’s first woman dean
A Portia graduate, Bauer became the first woman to lead the school as dean. Her appointment was an important institutional milestone for a law school founded to advance women in the profession.
1952 Anna E. Hirsch ’28 becomes the school’s first woman president
Anna E. Hirsch ’28 becomes the school’s first woman president and the first graduate to hold the office.
1965 Students publish the first Portia Law Journal
The student publication established in 1965 evolved into today’s New England Law Review, extending the school’s contributions into legal scholarship.
1973 Justice William O. Douglas visits the school
Justice William O. Douglas becomes the first of eight U.S. Supreme Court justices to visit New England Law.
His visit began a distinguished tradition of engagement between New England Law students and members of the nation’s highest court. The tradition flourished during the deanship of John F. O’Brien ’77.
1966 Roberta “Bobbi” Gibb ’77 completes the Boston Marathon
Before earning her law degree from New England School of Law, Gibb challenged the assumption that women were physically incapable of running marathon distances.
She entered the Boston Marathon unofficially in 1966 and became the first woman known to have completed the race.
1979 Joyce London Alexander ’72 makes federal judicial history
Alexander becomes the nation’s first Black woman U.S. magistrate judge.
She later became the first Black chief U.S. magistrate judge and the first Black chief judge of any court in Massachusetts.
1984 John R. Simpson ’64 becomes president of INTERPOL
Simpson, a former director of the United States Secret Service, becomes the first American elected president of the International Criminal Police Organization.
1988 John F. O’Brien ’77 becomes dean
John F. O’Brien ’77 becomes dean, a role he holds until 2019, the longest continuous service at a single institution of any law school dean in the country. Under his leadership the school builds a national student body, expands its summer fellowship and clinical programs, and becomes a regular stop for leading figures in American and international public life.
1991 Mary C. Fitzpatrick ’53 leads a major Trial Court department
Fitzpatrick becomes Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Probate and Family Court, making her the first woman to lead one of the Commonwealth’s major Trial Court departments.
1999 Susan J. Crawford ’77 makes military appellate history
Crawford becomes the first woman Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces.
2002 Lee G. Johnson becomes First Justice in Malden
Johnson becomes the first Black First Justice of Malden District Court.
2003 Natashia Tidwell ’03 breaks a Cambridge Police barrier
Tidwell becomes the first woman lieutenant in the history of the Cambridge Police Department.
2004 Kathleen O’Toole ’82 leads the Boston Police Department
O’Toole becomes Boston’s first woman police commissioner.
Her career later extended to senior public-safety leadership in Ireland and Seattle.
2013 Paula M. Carey ’86 becomes Chief Justice
Carey becomes the first person to hold the position of Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Trial Court under the modern court structure created following the Massachusetts Court Reform Act of 2011.
2015 Robert W. Harnais ’89 leads the Massachusetts Bar Association
Harnais becomes the first Hispanic president of the Massachusetts Bar Association.
2019 Patricia A. Coyne-Fague ’93 leads Rhode Island Corrections
Coyne-Fague becomes Rhode Island’s first woman Director of Corrections.
2024 Amy L. Blake ’92 leads the Massachusetts Appeals Court
Blake becomes Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Appeals Court and the first woman to head the court since its establishment in 1972.
2026 Danica Dayian Iacoi ’88 makes Rhode Island legislative history
Iacoi becomes the first woman appointed chief of staff to any speaker in the history of the Rhode Island House of Representatives.
The Legacy
By the Numbers
Women received Portia Law School’s first law degrees in 1920.
Every woman who passed the December 1921 Massachusetts bar examination was a Portia graduate.
U.S. Supreme Court justices have visited New England Law since Justice William O. Douglas made the first visit in 1973.
Years from a law school founded exclusively for women in 1908 to a New England Law graduate making another historic first in 2026.
Our Institution
A Mission Carried Forward
As its graduates continued breaking barriers, the institution itself evolved while carrying forward its longstanding commitment to opportunity.
Portia Law School becomes coeducational, extending its legal education to men while preserving the school’s historic commitment to opportunity.
The school receives American Bar Association accreditation and becomes New England School of Law.
The school expands its facilities to support a growing student body and academic program.
The Charles Hamilton Houston Enrichment Program is established to help students from historically underrepresented backgrounds prepare for law school and the legal profession.
New England School of Law becomes a founding member of the Consortium for Innovative Legal Education.
The school becomes a member of the Association of American Law Schools.
The institution adopts the name New England Law Boston as it enters its second century.
New England Law establishes its First Generation Students Program to support students who are the first in their families to attend law school.
The Legacy Continues
Opening Doors for More Than a Century
Portia Law School was founded because women were being denied a conventional route into legal education. Its graduates responded not only by entering the profession, but by reshaping it.
The school began with a first.
Our graduates kept making them.
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Stories of Success
“Choosing a law school with a part-time program enabled me to pursue my dream of becoming an attorney and provided the flexibility to build my résumé through full-time internships, clinics, and employment.”
“I was able to experience what life is really like as counsel for an international corporation.”
“Our graduates stay, grow their careers, and help build our communities. We’re woven into the fabric of New England.”
“There are hundreds of law schools to choose from, but very few of them leave the impression New England Law does on its students.”