- Cumberland Law School is unrelated to the University of the Cumberlands
University of the Cumberlands is a private, liberal arts college located in Williamsburg, Kentucky, with an enrollment of approximately 2,200 students...
in Williamsburg, KentuckyWilliamsburg is a city in and the county seat of Whitley County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 5,143 at the 2000 census. The city was founded in 1818 and named after William Whitley. The Cumberland River flows through the city.-History:...
.
Cumberland School of Law is an
ABAThe 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...
accredited
law schoolA law school is an institution specializing in legal education.- United States:...
at
Samford UniversitySamford University is a private, coeducational, Alabama Baptist-affiliated university located in Homewood, a suburb of Birmingham, Alabama, United States, and is home to the Howard College of Arts and Sciences, Cumberland School of Law, McWhorter School of Pharmacy, Brock School of Business, Ida V....
in
Birmingham, AlabamaBirmingham is the largest city in the state of Alabama in the United States. It is the county seat of Jefferson County and includes part of Shelby County. According to a 2007 estimate, the city had a population of 229,800 The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area, as of the 2008 census estimates,...
and is the 11th oldest law school in the U.S. It is 160 years old and has more than 11,000 graduates. Historically, the school has the distinction of having trained two United States Supreme Court Justices,
Nobel Peace PrizeThe Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes bequeathed by the Swedish industrialist and inventor Alfred Nobel.-Background:...
recipient
Cordell HullCordell Hull was an American politician from the U.S. state of Tennessee. He is best-known as the longest-serving Secretary of State, holding the position for 11 years in the administration of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt...
, the father of the
United NationsThe United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and the achieving of world peace...
, over fifty U.S. Representatives, and numerous Senators, governors, and judges.
In 2005, 2006 and 2007 the Princeton Review featured Cumberland in its "Best 170 Law Schools" ranking it in two top ten lists for three years in a row. In 2009, U.S. News and World Report ranked Cumberland's Trial Advocacy Program as 9th in the nation. In 2007 Cumberland ranked 6th in the country for faculty performance and accessibility and 7th in the country for overall quality of life.
In 2008, Cumberland placed first out of two hundred and fifty-six other teams in the American Association for Justice National Student Trial Advocacy Competition and in 2009 placed second, losing by one point.
In 2009, a Cumberland team won the regional round of the National Trial Competition in Tallahassee, Florida and advanced to the national championship round in San Antonio. Cumberland was the only school in the competition to have both of its teams advance to the semi-final round. Cumberland also won the American Association for Justice Mock Trial Competition regional championship advancing to the national championship round in West Palm Beach, FL.
In 2007, student teams from Cumberland won both the Criminal Justice Trial Competition held in
Hamden, ConnecticutHamden is a town in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States. The town's nickname is "The Land of the Sleeping Giant." Hamden is home to Quinnipiac University. The population was 58,180 according to the Census Bureau's 2005 estimates...
and the Lone Star Classic Mock Trial Competition in
San Antonio, TexasSan Antonio is the second-largest city in the state of Texas and the seventh-largest city in the United States. The city is characteristic of other Southwest urban centers in which there are sparsely populated areas and a low density rate outside of the city. It was the fourth-fastest growing...
. Also in 2008, Cumberland made the finals of the ABA National Appellate Advocacy competition. It was 1 of 4 from 30 teams in its region that went to the national finals. Cumberland won 3rd best brief in the region.
The school offers two degree programs: the 90 hour
Juris DoctorJuris Doctor is a first professional degree.The degree was first awarded by Harvard University in the United States in the late 19th century as a degree similar to the old European doctor of law degree...
(J.D.), and the Master of Comparative Law (M.C.L.), which is designed to instruct foreign lawyers on the basic legal principles of the United States. The school also offers six dual-degree programs, and is building a
biotechnology law emphasis through its research centerThe Center for Biotechnology, Law and Ethics is a bioethics, biotechnology, and biotechnology law research center of Cumberland School of Law located on the Samford University campus in Birmingham, Alabama...
.
Current Facts
The Fall 2007 entering class consisted of 159 students selected from an applicant pool of over 1200. The class has an average
LSATThe Law School Admission Test is an examination in the United States, Canada, and Australia administered by the Law School Admission Council for prospective law school candidates. It is designed to assess logical and verbal reasoning skills...
of 157 and average GPA of 3.27. The top 75th percentile of the class has an LSAT of 159 and 3.52 GPA. The incoming class also has the distinction of having highest percentage of women (48%) in school's 160 year history history.
Cumberland has two publications: the
Cumberland Law ReviewThe Cumberland Law Review was founded in 1970 at Cumberland School of Law in Birmingham, Alabama. The Law Review publishes three issues a year. Each issue averages between 150 and 200 pages...
and the
American Journal of Trial Advocacy.
The law library is a 42,500 net square foot building with over 300,000 volumes and microform volume equivalents.
The school also has four research centers.
Cumberland's Center for Biotechnology, Law and Ethics studies the ethical implications of
biotechnologyBiotechnology is technology based on biology, agriculture, food science, and medicine. Modern use of the term usually refers to genetic engineering as well as cell- and tissue culture technologies...
and has attracted speakers such as atmospheric scientist
John ChristyJohn R. Christy is a climate scientist whose chief interests are global climate change, satellite sensing of global climate, and paleoclimate. He is best known, jointly with Roy Spencer, for his version of the satellite temperature record....
, medical ethicist
Gregory PenceGregory E. Pence is a professor in the department of Philosophy at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He is an expert in the field of medical ethics who has written several books and has testified before the United States Congress and the California Senate about cloning and reproductive...
, and U.S. Representative
Artur DavisArtur Genestre Davis is an American politician who has been a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives since 2003, representing . It encompasses the counties of Choctaw, Sumter, Greene, Perry, Hale, Dallas, Wilcox, and Marengo...
. The Center's location is convenient because of the proximity of the pioneering
UABThe University of Alabama Hospital , is a Level I trauma center hospital located in Birmingham, Alabama....
medical center. Birmingham is also one of the major emerging
biotechnologyBiotechnology is technology based on biology, agriculture, food science, and medicine. Modern use of the term usually refers to genetic engineering as well as cell- and tissue culture technologies...
markets with more than 90 biotech-related businesses in Alabama alone.
The law school is currently located at
Samford UniversitySamford University is a private, coeducational, Alabama Baptist-affiliated university located in Homewood, a suburb of Birmingham, Alabama, United States, and is home to the Howard College of Arts and Sciences, Cumberland School of Law, McWhorter School of Pharmacy, Brock School of Business, Ida V....
in
BirminghamBirmingham is the largest city in the state of Alabama in the United States. It is the county seat of Jefferson County and includes part of Shelby County. According to a 2007 estimate, the city had a population of 229,800 The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area, as of the 2008 census estimates,...
,
AlabamaAlabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States of America. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its...
.
Admissions statistics
The Fall 2007 entering class consists of 159 students selected from an applicant pool of over 1200. The class has an average
LSATThe Law School Admission Test is an examination in the United States, Canada, and Australia administered by the Law School Admission Council for prospective law school candidates. It is designed to assess logical and verbal reasoning skills...
of 157 and average GPA of 3.27. The top 75th percentile of the class has an LSAT of 159 and 3.52 GPA.
The Fall 2006 entering class had an average
LSATThe Law School Admission Test is an examination in the United States, Canada, and Australia administered by the Law School Admission Council for prospective law school candidates. It is designed to assess logical and verbal reasoning skills...
score of 156 and average undergraduate GPA of 3.28. The top quarter of the entering class had an
LSATThe Law School Admission Test is an examination in the United States, Canada, and Australia administered by the Law School Admission Council for prospective law school candidates. It is designed to assess logical and verbal reasoning skills...
score of 159 or higher and a GPA of 3.59 or higher. Candidates are selected based on "LSAT, undergraduate GPA, discipline of study, graduate work, undergraduate grade trends, employment, undergraduate institution, personal statement, and letters of recommendation."
Bar passage and employment rates
- First time takers from the Class of 2006 had a 93.3% passage rate on the July 2006 Alabama Bar exam.
- First time takers from the Class of 2005 had a 94.1% passage rate on the July 2005 Alabama Bar exam.
- 93.7% of the Class of 2004 is currently employed, with 68.9% in private practice, 5.91% in judicial clerkships, 4.1% in business and industry, 11.1% in government, 1.5% in public interest, .7% in academics, and 6.7% pursued advanced degrees.
History
This summary is based on
From Maverick to Mainstream, which is a review of Cumberland's history and the development of the American legal education system. Legal scholar
Kermit L. HallKermit Lance Hall was a noted legal history scholar. He was the author of American Legal History and The Magic Mirror, both on legal history. He served from 1994 to 1998 on the Assassination Records Review Board to review and release to the public documents related to the assassination of U.S....
stated that the work "is not just about the
Cumberland School of Law, but about the significant changes that have reshaped the nature of legal education."
Langum and Walthall summarize the history of
Cumberland Law School as:
"From its very local, Tennessee origins in 1847, Cumberland...emerged as a premier law school with a national status. It excelled in faculty, teaching methodology, and numbers of students. Following the American Civil WarThe American Civil War , also known as the War Between the States and several other names, was a civil war in the United States of America. Eleven Southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America...
, Cumberland rebuilt itself and ultimately succeeded on a grand scale with its single-year curriculum."
Early years and founding
Cumberland School of Law was founded on July 29, 1847 in Lebanon,
TennesseeTennessee is a state located in the Southeastern United States. According to the 2008 census, it has a population of 6,214,888, an increase of nearly 9.5% since 2000. Tennessee is the 14th fastest growing state in the US and is ranked 17th by population. It is ranked 36th by total land area. In...
at
Cumberland UniversityCumberland University is a private university in Lebanon, Tennessee founded in 1842. The current campus was built 1892-1896.-Early history:...
. Founder and first professor Judge Abraham Caruthers said,
"I call it an adventure, I speak of it as an experiment."
At the end of 1847, 15 law schools existed in the country. It is clear, however, that prior to the law school's official founding
Cumberland UniversityCumberland University is a private university in Lebanon, Tennessee founded in 1842. The current campus was built 1892-1896.-Early history:...
not only facilitated the study of law but admitted a diverse student body, evidenced by graduates like
George W. HarkinsGeorge W. Harkins was a prominent chief of the Choctaw tribe during the Indian removals, and his "Farewell Letter to the American People" denouncing the removal of the Choctaws was widely published, and is still widely regarded as one of the most important documents of Native American...
, a
ChoctawThe Choctaw are a Native American people originally from the Southeastern United States . They are of the Muskogean linguistic group...
chief, who received a law degree from Cumberland and became a judge in 1834. Harkins' 1832 "
Farewell Letter to the American PeopleThe "Farewell Letter to the American People" was a widely published letter by the Choctaw Chief George W. Harkins in 1832. The letter denounced the removal of the Choctaw Nation to Oklahoma. The letter is still considered one of the most important documents in Native American history....
" denouncing the removal of the Choctaws to
OklahomaOklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,617,316 residents in 2007 and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...
was widely published, and is still widely regarded as one of the most important documents of
Native AmericanNative Americans in the United States is the phrase that describes indigenous peoples from North America now encompassed by the continental United States, including parts of Alaska and the island state of Hawaii. They comprise a large number of distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of...
history, stating:
Antebellum years
Prior to the official founding of the United States' first law schools, the primary means for a legal education was
apprenticeshipApprenticeship is a system of training a new generation of practitioners of a skill. Apprentices or protégés build their careers from apprenticeships...
. To give some perspective, establishing law schools was difficult in the early 1800s. Harvard was only able to reestablish its law school in 1829 and
YaleRapidMiner is an environment for machine learning and data mining experiments. It allows experiments to be made up of a large number of arbitrarily nestable operators, described in XML files which are created with RapidMiner's graphical user interface...
in 1826. By 1859 Cumberland,
HarvardHarvard Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University. Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it is the oldest continually-operating law school in the United States and is home to the largest academic law library in the world. HLS typically ranks among the top law...
, and the
University of Virginia School of LawThe University of Virginia School of Law was founded in Charlottesville in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson as one of the original subjects taught at his "academical village," the University of Virginia. The law school maintains an enrollment of approximately 1,100 students in its initial degree program...
were the three largest law schools in the United States. A year later, 1860, only 21 university law schools existed in the country and in no documented case did the curriculum last over two years.
It was during the Antebellum years that Cumberland enjoyed great success.
Nathan Green, Jr.Nathan Green, Jr. was one of the founders and the first dean of Cumberland School of Law in Birmingham, Alabama. He was instrumental in keeping the school alive through the American Civil War and during the Reconstruction period, although his adherence to legal formalism and the devastation...
, son of then professor Nathan Green, Sr., stated that Cumberland enjoyed "the highest degree of prosperity", with a beautiful campus, picturesque trees and fences and fine architecture. Cumberland's first graduate
Paine Page PrimPaine Page Prim was an American attorney and judge in the state of Oregon. He was the 6th Chief Justice of the Oregon Supreme Court serving in that role from three times between 1864 and 1878. Prim served on Oregon’s highest court for 21 years...
ultimately became chief justice of the
Oregon Supreme CourtThe Oregon Supreme Court is the highest state court in the U.S. state of Oregon. The only court that may reverse or modify a decision of the Oregon Supreme Court is the Supreme Court of the United States. The OSC holds court at the Oregon Supreme Court Building in Salem, Oregon, near the capitol...
.
Students were taught through reading treatises, approximately two hours worth of recitations each morning, and a mandatory moot court program. Caruthers considered the law a science and the
Socratic MethodThe Socratic Method , named after the Classical Greek philosopher Socrates, is a form of inquiry and debate between individuals with opposing viewpoints based on asking and answering questions to stimulate rational thinking and to illuminate ideas...
a necessity. The cost was fifty dollars a session and a five dollar "contingent fee". After the Civil War, this treatise method, the legal formalism of the school's approach and Nathan Green Jr.'s unwillingness to make changes, are all considered to be reasons for Cumberland's drift out of the mainstream. But Cumberland appeared at a unique time in history and offered a unique educational option. The
American Civil WarThe American Civil War , also known as the War Between the States and several other names, was a civil war in the United States of America. Eleven Southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America...
, however, would totally destroy the school and the rebuilding effort would be a long, slow process.
Civil war
April 13, 1861 jolted Cumberland out of its "Golden Age" when President
Abraham LincolnAbraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through its greatest internal crisis, the American Civil War, preserving the Union and ending slavery...
called for volunteers to quell the southern insurrection. The campus split within a week; some students joined the northern army; many joined the southern army. Nathan Green Jr.'s father, a law professor, went home, but Abraham Caruthers fled to
Marietta, GeorgiaMarietta is a city located in central Cobb County, Georgia, and is its county seat.As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 58,748, making it one of metro Atlanta's largest suburbs. Census estimates of 2007 indicate a population of 67,021...
in fear of arrest where he died just over one year later.
During the war professors John Carter and Nathan Green, Jr. fought as Confederate officers. Carter was killed but Green survived the war. The campus did not. The trees were cut down and fences destroyed and burned. The Confederate Army burned the University buildings, apparently because a Confederate Major was offended that black Union soldiers had used them as barracks.
Reconstruction
The campus may have been totally destroyed but the law school began the slow process of rebuilding. In July 1866 Cumberland adopted the image of the
phoenixThe phoenix is a mythical sacred firebird which originated in the ancient mythologies mentioned in the Phoenician Mythology and the Egyptian and later the Greek Mythology.- Appearance and Abilities :...
, which is an Egyptian mythological bird that is reborn from its own ashes. The new motto was "E Cineribus Resurgo" or "I rise from the ashes."
In September 1865 classes resumed with eleven students, which soon grew to twenty. The 1865 class included a Confederate General and Union colonel, enemies only a few months earlier. Nathan Green, Jr. kept the school together until a circuit judge named Henry Cooper, Andrew B. Martin and
Robert L. CaruthersRobert Looney Caruthers was a distinguished attorney and politician who was elected governor of the state of Tennessee. He is buried in Cedar Grove Cemetery in Lebanon, Tennessee.-Career:...
, brother of deceased founder Abraham Caruthers, joined the faculty. Robert Caruthers had previously served as the state attorney general and had been elected Governor of Tennessee during the war in 1863, but he was never innaugurated. Cooper did not serve on the faculty for long.
In 1873 Robert Caruthers purchased the Corona Hall from the Corona Institute for Women for ten thousand dollars, which he immediately donated to the University for use by the law school.
The destruction of the campus and the devastation of war had impoverished the school and it was almost fifteen years before it saw students enter from outside the South when a student from Illinois and a member of the Choctaw Nation enrolled at Cumberland. But there were few students from outside of the defeated Southern states, which Langum and Walthall claim underscored "how terribly the Civil War blighted Cumberland."
Robert Caruthers persisted despite the setbacks and in 1878 Caruthers Hall was dedicated in his honor. This new school replaced Corona Hall, which had unknown limitations. The new hall apparently had "excellent acoustics and hard seats" and is described as a:
"splendid structure, built after the latest architectural style, is nearly one hundred feet from base to spire, and contains two recitation rooms for the Law Department, two Society Halls, a Library, and a chapel whose seating capacity is about seven hundred.
National shift in legal education
Despite the seemingly heroic efforts to keep the school alive, Cumberland was falling into the minority at the turn of the century. It maintained a one year curriculum when other schools moved toward longer terms, and it entrenched with
legal formalismLegal formalism is a legal positivist view in philosophy of law and jurisprudence. While Jeremy Bentham's can be seen as appertaining to the legislature, legal formalism appertains to the Judge; that is, formalism does not suggest that the substantive justice of a law is irrelevant, but rather,...
, which had reached its peak in the 1870s and would soon be on the decline. In 1876, for instance,
Harvard Law SchoolHarvard Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University. Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it is the oldest continually-operating law school in the United States and is home to the largest academic law library in the world. HLS typically ranks among the top law...
began to encourage a three year curriculum.
In 1903 Nathan Green, Jr. did become the first official dean of the law school. For the prior 57 years the school did not have this position, which was becoming more and more popular amongst the law schools.
But Cumberland progressed in other ways. It first admitted women in 1901 and during this time the library grew from six hundred volumes in 1869 to three thousand in 1878. Today, the Lucille Stewart Beeson law library collection contains 300,000 volumes and microform volume equivalents.
As great as this early progress was, historian Lewis L. Laska observed that:
Cumberland, which had once marked the high point of professional education, had become a captive of its own success. Unwilling to adopt modern techniques such as the case methodThe case method is a teaching approach that consists in presenting the students with a case, putting them in the role of a decision maker facing a problem .The case method is a teaching method that is largely used in business schools....
, or to expand and deepen its curriculum by opting for the three-year standard, Cumberland became the symbol of the democratic bar.
Through 1919, Cumberland did not adapt to the shift in legal education.
In 1915 Cumberland refurbished its halls by an eight thousand dollar grant from the U.S. government as reparation for federal occupancy during the Civil War.
When
Cordell HullCordell Hull was an American politician from the U.S. state of Tennessee. He is best-known as the longest-serving Secretary of State, holding the position for 11 years in the administration of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt...
, the Father of the
United NationsThe United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and the achieving of world peace...
, graduated from Cumberland, he commented on the diploma privilege, which granted the right to practice law without taking a bar exam, saying that:
according to custom, we members of the graduating class, the moment we received our diplomas, took them to the courthouse, where a district judge awaited us. He swore us in as members of the bar. I was not twenty years old.
Hull also went on to state:
“I am firmly convinced that in the world of today all nations will be forced to the conclusion that cooperation for law, justice, and peace is the only alternative to a constant race in armaments--including atomic armaments--and to other disruptive practices that will bring the nations participating in them on either side to a common ruin, the equivalent of universal suicide."
Cordell Hull is today honored at Cumberland with a
Moot CourtMoot 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 locality...
room bearing his name.
Cumberland did adapt to the changing times, but became unique again in 1961 when it sold from
Cumberland UniversityCumberland University is a private university in Lebanon, Tennessee founded in 1842. The current campus was built 1892-1896.-Early history:...
in
Lebanon, TennesseeLebanon is a city in Wilson County, Tennessee, in the United States. The population was 20,235 at the 2000 census. It serves as the county seat of Wilson County. Lebanon is located in middle Tennessee, east of Nashville. Local residents have also called it "Cedar-City"...
, to
Samford UniversitySamford University is a private, coeducational, Alabama Baptist-affiliated university located in Homewood, a suburb of Birmingham, Alabama, United States, and is home to the Howard College of Arts and Sciences, Cumberland School of Law, McWhorter School of Pharmacy, Brock School of Business, Ida V....
in
Birmingham, AlabamaBirmingham is the largest city in the state of Alabama in the United States. It is the county seat of Jefferson County and includes part of Shelby County. According to a 2007 estimate, the city had a population of 229,800 The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area, as of the 2008 census estimates,...
. It is only one of two (2) law schools in the United States to have been sold from one University to another (the other being the sale of the law school from the
University of Puget SoundThe University of Puget Sound is a private liberal arts college located in the North End of Tacoma, Washington, in the United States. For the class of 2012, approximately 5,300 students applied for a freshman class of 675 incoming students...
to
Seattle UniversitySeattle University is a Jesuit Catholic university located on Capitol Hill in Seattle, Wash. SU is the largest independent university in the Northwest with 7,500 students enrolled in undergraduate and graduate programs within eight schools, and is one of 28 member institutions of the Association...
).
Today the law school is well known for its emphasis on Trial Advocacy and is building a biotechnology emphasis through its
Biotechnology CenterThe Center for Biotechnology, Law and Ethics is a bioethics, biotechnology, and biotechnology law research center of Cumberland School of Law located on the Samford University campus in Birmingham, Alabama...
.
Long range plan of 2005
In December 2005 Cumberland adopted a long term plan for the school. One call of the plan is to gradually downsize the number of students who attend in order to provide smaller classes and closer individual attention to students. In 1995 the entering class was 212 and in 2007 that number was reduced to 159.
Present
In 2007, student teams from Cumberland won both the Criminal Justice Trial Competition held in
Hamden, ConnecticutHamden is a town in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States. The town's nickname is "The Land of the Sleeping Giant." Hamden is home to Quinnipiac University. The population was 58,180 according to the Census Bureau's 2005 estimates...
and the Lone Star Classic Mock Trial Competition in
San Antonio, TexasSan Antonio is the second-largest city in the state of Texas and the seventh-largest city in the United States. The city is characteristic of other Southwest urban centers in which there are sparsely populated areas and a low density rate outside of the city. It was the fourth-fastest growing...
.
In 2008, a Cumberland team won the American Association for Justice National Student Trial Advocacy Competition in Fort Lauderdale. 256 teams competed in in this competition, which is generally considered the most prestigious trial advocacy competition in the country.
Also in 2008, Cumberland made the finals of the ABA National Appellate Advocacy competition. It was 1 of 4 from 30 teams in its region that went to the national finals in Chicago. Cumberland won 3rd best brief in the region and the team finished ahead of Florida, Loyola of Los Angeles, LSU, Denver, Cincinnati, Arizona, Texas Tech, Florida A & M, Baylor, Case Western, Seattle, Southwestern and Chicago-Kent.
Institution
The law school emphasizes practical skills and integrity. The current
deanIn academic administration, a dean is a person with significant authority over a specific academic unit, or over a specific area of concern, or both...
, former
federal judgeFederal judges are judges appointed by a federal level of government as opposed to the state / provincial / local level.-Brazil:In Brazil, federal judges are chosen by public contest. Thirty federal judges are elected each year.-Canada:...
John L. CarrollJohn L. Carroll is dean of Cumberland School of Law in Birmingham, Alabama. Prior to his appointment as dean, Carroll served as a federal trial judge for 14 years in the position of Chief U.S. Magistrate Judge for the Middle District of Alabama...
(class of '74) states that:
"The prevailing philosophy is simple: Practical skill outweighs raw knowledge, and application transcends erudition. If the goal were to produce great law students, the tenets might be exactly the opposite. Our goal is to produce exceptional lawyers. That’s why Cumberland’s curriculum emphasizes the core competencies of legal practice: research, writing and persuasion."
Cumberland, its name being a clue to its origin, is not native to Alabama. The law school was founded on July 29, 1847 in
Lebanon, TennesseeLebanon is a city in Wilson County, Tennessee, in the United States. The population was 20,235 at the 2000 census. It serves as the county seat of Wilson County. Lebanon is located in middle Tennessee, east of Nashville. Local residents have also called it "Cedar-City"...
at
Cumberland UniversityCumberland University is a private university in Lebanon, Tennessee founded in 1842. The current campus was built 1892-1896.-Early history:...
making the school approximately 160 years old. During the American Civil War the campus was totally destroyed and
ConfederateThe Confederate States Army was the army of the Confederate States of America during its brief existence from 1861 to 1865. It was established in two phases with provisional and permanent organizations, which existed concurrently....
forces reportedly burned law school to the ground. In 1961, Samford University, formerly Howard College, purchased the law school from
Cumberland UniversityCumberland University is a private university in Lebanon, Tennessee founded in 1842. The current campus was built 1892-1896.-Early history:...
and today Cumberland remains one of only two law schools to have been sold from one University to another.
To put its founding in perspective, at the end of 1847 only 15 law schools existed in the United States, which makes Cumberland one of the oldest in the country.
As of 2006, the law school had 495 enrolled students.
One of
Cumberland's more notable graduates,
Cordell HullCordell Hull was an American politician from the U.S. state of Tennessee. He is best-known as the longest-serving Secretary of State, holding the position for 11 years in the administration of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt...
, served under Franklin Delano Roosevelt as
Secretary of StateThe United States Secretary of State is the head of the United States Department of State, concerned with foreign affairs. The Secretary is a member of the President's Cabinet and the highest-ranking cabinet secretary both in line of succession and order of precedence. The current Secretary of...
and won the
Nobel Peace PrizeThe Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes bequeathed by the Swedish industrialist and inventor Alfred Nobel.-Background:...
in 1945. At one point in his life he stated that:
"if this historic institution (Cumberland) had been located in any other section of the country instead of having been an unpretentious school in an unpretentious locality, its wonderful work would be as widely known and recognized as that of any educational institution of like age in any part of America."
After witnessing the Civil War, the
Great DepressionThe Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
, two world wars, and the
Civil Rights MovementThe Civil Rights Movement was a worldwide political movement for equality before the law occurring between approximately 1950 and 1980. It was accompanied by much civil unrest and popular rebellion. The process was long and tenuous in many countries, and most of these movements did not achieve or...
, Cumberland stands on a long, proud history, but now looks "to regain the premier status it once held."
Life at Cumberland
The Princeton Review has ranked Cumberland 6th in the United States for faculty performance and accessibility and 7th in the United States for overall quality of life and has ranked in two top ten lists for three years in a row.
Cumberland students generally attend school for three years. The first year classes are preselected:
Civil ProcedureCivil procedure is the body of law that sets out the rules and standards that courts follow when adjudicating civil lawsuits...
, Contracts, Property, Torts,
Criminal LawThe term criminal law, sometimes called penal law, refers to any of various bodies of rules in different jurisdictions whose common characteristic is the potential for unique and often severe impositions as punishment for failure to comply...
, and
EvidenceThe law of evidence governs the use of testimony and exhibits or other documentary material which is admissible in a judicial or administrative proceeding .-Relevance and social policy:Legal scholars of the...
. Students are divided into one of three sections, where the students remain together in their respective classes for the entire first year. First year students are also enrolled in even smaller sections for Lawyering and Legal Reasoning, a class that focuses on honing the students' ability to think and write like a lawyer.
Second and third year courses give students more choices and allow some degree of specialization. Cumberland offers a balance of traditional courses, such as Criminal Procedure, Family Law, and Basic Federal Income Tax, and practical courses, such as Basic and Advanced Trial Skills, Business Drafting, Real Estate Transactions, and Law Office Practice and Management.
Students are taught using the
Socratic MethodThe Socratic Method , named after the Classical Greek philosopher Socrates, is a form of inquiry and debate between individuals with opposing viewpoints based on asking and answering questions to stimulate rational thinking and to illuminate ideas...
, typical of law school pedagogy.
Students must also take Professional Responsibility and the MPRE, which is an exam that is required to practice in addition to the Bar exam.
Cumberland offers numerous extracurricular activities, in addition to the opportunities provided by Samford University. See below for a list of publications, research centers, and student organizations. The Student Bar Association sponsors Bar Review most Thursday nights, where Cumberland students frequent the many bars of
Birmingham, AlabamaBirmingham is the largest city in the state of Alabama in the United States. It is the county seat of Jefferson County and includes part of Shelby County. According to a 2007 estimate, the city had a population of 229,800 The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area, as of the 2008 census estimates,...
.
Housing for law students is not available on campus, but students typically rent apartments or buy houses in the surrounding community.
Competition for grades and rank can be aggressive but rarely personal, and there is a surprising degree of camaraderie amongst the students, which many students consider to be atypical of the environment on most law school campuses.
The Lucille Stewart Beeson Law Library
The library building is 42,500 net square feet with 13 conference rooms, 474 study spaces and large carrels equipped with electrical and data connections as well as three computer labs.
The collection consists of approximately 300,000 volumes and microform volume equivalents. Other formats for legal materials that the library offers include electronic resources and audiovisuals. There are seven full-time librarians, eight full-time support staff members, and four part-time support staff members.
Joint degree programs
Cumberland offers 6 joint degree programs:
- JD/Master of Accountancy, JD/Master of Business Administration, in conjunction with the Samford University
Samford University is a private, coeducational, Alabama Baptist-affiliated university located in Homewood, a suburb of Birmingham, Alabama, United States, and is home to the Howard College of Arts and Sciences, Cumberland School of Law, McWhorter School of Pharmacy, Brock School of Business, Ida V....
School of Business,
- JD/Master of Divinity, in conjunction with the Beeson Divinity School
The Beeson Divinity School of Samford University is an interdenominational evangelical divinity school. The current dean is Timothy George.Though located on the campus of a Baptist university, Beeson remains interdenominational...
of Samford UniversitySamford University is a private, coeducational, Alabama Baptist-affiliated university located in Homewood, a suburb of Birmingham, Alabama, United States, and is home to the Howard College of Arts and Sciences, Cumberland School of Law, McWhorter School of Pharmacy, Brock School of Business, Ida V....
,
- JD/Master of Science in Environmental Management, in conjunction with the graduate school of Samford University
Samford University is a private, coeducational, Alabama Baptist-affiliated university located in Homewood, a suburb of Birmingham, Alabama, United States, and is home to the Howard College of Arts and Sciences, Cumberland School of Law, McWhorter School of Pharmacy, Brock School of Business, Ida V....
,
- JD/Master of Public Administration, in conjunction with the School of Social and Behavioral Sciences of the University of Alabama at Birmingham
The University of Alabama at Birmingham is a doctoral, public research university covering 83 blocks in the heart of Alabama's largest city Birmingham, Alabama, USA...
,
- JD/Master of Public Health, in conjunction with the School of Public Health of the University of Alabama at Birmingham
The University of Alabama at Birmingham is a doctoral, public research university covering 83 blocks in the heart of Alabama's largest city Birmingham, Alabama, USA...
.
Foreign programs
- Summer 2006 - Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge
Sidney Sussex College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England....
, EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
;
- Summer 2006 - Universidade Federal do Ceará
Federal University of Ceará is a federal university with campuses in the cities of Fortaleza, Sobral and Barbalha, in the state of Ceará, Brazil...
, FortalezaFortaleza is the state capital of Ceará, located in Northeastern Brazil. With a population of over 3.4 million , Fortaleza has an area of...
, BrazilBrazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is a country in South America. It is the fifth largest country by geographical area, occupying nearly half of South America, the fifth most populous country, and the fourth most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Atlantic Ocean...
;
- Summer 2006 - University of Victoria
The University of Victoria is the second oldest degree granting university in British Columbia. This medium-sized university is located in Greater Victoria, British Columbia, Canada with an enrollment figure of more than 19,000 students. The campus is famous for its prestige, beautiful gardens...
, British ColumbiaBritish Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is famed for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . In 1871, it became the sixth province of Canada.The capital of British Columbia is Victoria, the 15th largest metropolitan region in Canada...
, CanadaCanada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
.
Publications
- The Cumberland Law Review
The Cumberland Law Review was founded in 1970 at Cumberland School of Law in Birmingham, Alabama. The Law Review publishes three issues a year. Each issue averages between 150 and 200 pages...
whose members are selected by write-on from the top 15% of the freshman class.
- The American Journal of Trial Advocacy whose members are selected by write-on from the top 33% of the freshman class.
The Center for Biotechnology, Law, and Ethics
The
Center for Biotechnology, Law and EthicsThe Center for Biotechnology, Law and Ethics is a bioethics, biotechnology, and biotechnology law research center of Cumberland School of Law located on the Samford University campus in Birmingham, Alabama...
is directed by professor David Smolin and has two research fellows chosen each year. Its purpose is to research and study the ethical and legal issues arising from the
biotechnologyBiotechnology is technology based on biology, agriculture, food science, and medicine. Modern use of the term usually refers to genetic engineering as well as cell- and tissue culture technologies...
industry in which the City of Birmingham is a major player.
It is the only one of its kind at any law school in the United States. Each year the Center sponsors a major symposium and attracts nationally known experts to the law school for the conference. Speakers are generally invited and encouraged to submit papers for publication in an edition of the law review dedicated to the symposium.
The 2007 Symposium was entitled “The United States Health-Care System: Access, Equity and Efficiency.” It focused on the very complex issues of the delivery of health care in the United States particularly to the poor, the problems which may exist and potential solutions to those problems. The symposium brought together experts from the
University of MinnesotaThe University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States...
, the
Saint Louis University School of LawSaint Louis University School of Law is a private American law school located in St. Louis, Missouri. It is one of the professional graduate schools of Saint Louis University. Opened in 1843, it is the first law school west of the Mississippi River. The school has been ABA approved since 1924 and...
and Texas A & M University and included Cumberland's own professor Jack Nelson who is nationally recognized for his work in health care law and policy.
The keynote address was also the
Thurgood MarshallThurgood Marshall was an American jurist and the first African American to serve on the Supreme Court of the United States. Before becoming a judge, he was a lawyer who was best remembered for his high success rate in arguing before the Supreme Court and for the victory in Brown v. Board of...
Lecture and was presented by United States Congressman
Artur DavisArtur Genestre Davis is an American politician who has been a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives since 2003, representing . It encompasses the counties of Choctaw, Sumter, Greene, Perry, Hale, Dallas, Wilcox, and Marengo...
who has emerged as a leader on issues relating to the delivery of health care services.
Other research centers
1. The Center for Law & Church
2. The Alabama Center for Law and
CivicCivic can refer to multiple things:*Civics, the science of comparative government*Civic engagement, the connection one feels with their larger community*Honda Civic, a car produced by the Honda Motor Co....
Education
Selected student organizations
- Alabama Defense Lawyer's Association
- The American Constitution Society for Law and Policy
The American Constitution Society for Law and Policy is a legal organization which has as its mission the promotion of, "the vitality of the U.S...
- Association of Trial Lawyers of America
The American Association for Justice , formerly the Association of Trial Lawyers of America is the leading organization for lawyers representing plaintiffs in the United States...
(ATLA)
- Black Law Students Association
- Christian Legal Society
The Christian Legal Society is a non-profit, non-denominational organization of Christian lawyers, judges, law professors, and law students whose members profess to follow the "commandment of Jesus" to "do justice with the love of God." The organization, which is based in the United States, was...
- Cordell Hull
Cordell Hull was an American politician from the U.S. state of Tennessee. He is best-known as the longest-serving Secretary of State, holding the position for 11 years in the administration of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt...
Speakers Forum
- Federalist Society
The Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies, most frequently called simply the Federalist Society, is an organization of conservatives and libertarians seeking reform of the current American legal system in accordance with an originalist interpretation of the Constitution...
- Henry Upson Sims Moot Court Board
- Law, Science and Technology Society
- Phi Alpha Delta
ΦAΔ , or PAD, is the largest co-ed professional law fraternity in the United States of America. It was founded in 1902 and today has over 270,000 initiated members. Phi Alpha Delta has members who are university students, law school students, lawyers, judges, senators, and even presidents...
- Student Bar Association
- Trial Advocacy Board
- Women in the Law
Founders
- Abraham Caruthers
- Robert L. Caruthers
Robert Looney Caruthers was a distinguished attorney and politician who was elected governor of the state of Tennessee. He is buried in Cedar Grove Cemetery in Lebanon, Tennessee.-Career:...
- Nathan Green, Sr.
- Nathan Green, Jr.
Nathan Green, Jr. was one of the founders and the first dean of Cumberland School of Law in Birmingham, Alabama. He was instrumental in keeping the school alive through the American Civil War and during the Reconstruction period, although his adherence to legal formalism and the devastation...
Deans
| | Dean | Tenure |
|---|
| 1 |
Nathan Green, Jr. Nathan Green, Jr. was one of the founders and the first dean of Cumberland School of Law in Birmingham, Alabama. He was instrumental in keeping the school alive through the American Civil War and during the Reconstruction period, although his adherence to legal formalism and the devastation...
|
1903 |
| 2 |
Andrew Martin |
|
| 3 |
Edward E. Beard |
|
| 4 |
William R. Chambers |
acting dean |
| 5 |
Albert Williams |
acting dean 1933–1935 |
| 6 |
Albert B. Neil |
acting dean |
| 7 |
Samuel Gilreath |
acting dean 1947–1948 |
| 8 |
Arthur A. Weeks |
1947–1952 |
| 9 |
Donald E. Corley |
acting dean 1972–1973, dean 1974–1984 |
| 10 |
Brad Bishop |
acting dean 1984–1985 |
| 11 |
Parham H. Williams |
1985–1996 |
| 12 |
Barry A. Currier |
1996–2000 |
| 13 |
Michael D. Floyd |
acting dean 2000–01 |
| 14 |
John L. CarrollJohn L. Carroll is dean of Cumberland School of Law in Birmingham, Alabama. Prior to his appointment as dean, Carroll served as a federal trial judge for 14 years in the position of Chief U.S. Magistrate Judge for the Middle District of Alabama...
|
2001–present |
Notable facts
- Cumberland has trained:
- 2 United States Supreme Court Justices, Howell Edmunds Jackson
Howell Edmunds Jackson was an American jurist and politician. He served on the United States Supreme Court, in the U.S. Senate, United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, and the Tennessee House of Representatives. He authored notable opinions on the Interstate Commerce Act and the...
and Horace Harmon LurtonHorace Harmon Lurton was an American jurist who served for four years as a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Appointed at the age of 65, Lurton was the oldest justice appointed to the Court.-Life:...
,
- 9 U.S. senators,
- Over 40 U.S. Representatives
- Nobel Peace Prize
The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes bequeathed by the Swedish industrialist and inventor Alfred Nobel.-Background:...
recipient and U.S. Secretary of State Cordell HullCordell Hull was an American politician from the U.S. state of Tennessee. He is best-known as the longest-serving Secretary of State, holding the position for 11 years in the administration of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt...
- and numerous federal and state judge
A judge, or arbiter of justice, is a lead official who presides over a court of law, either alone or as part of a panel of judges. The powers, functions, method of appointment, discipline, and training of judges vary widely across different jurisdictions. The judge is like an umpire in a game and...
s, representatives and governors.
- Cumberland is the first law school to have been sold from one university to another.
- Cumberland is well known in the Southeast for its focus on Trial Advocacy.
- The school is composed of two buildings: the main classroom building, Memory Leake Robinson Hall, and the Lucille Stewart Beeson Law Library, which is a 42,500 net square foot building with over 300,000 volumes and microform volume equivalents.
- The school's motto is "Where good people become exceptional lawyers."
- Also according to U.S. News & World Report, Cumberland, as of 2006, is tied with Gonzaga University with a 0.21 diversity rating based on a 7% African-American enrollment.
- In 2006, the Princeton Review ranked the school 6th in its "Professors Rock (Legally Speaking)" category and 7th in its "Best Quality of Life" category.
- Motto: E Cineribus Resurgo means "I rise from the ashes" in Latin and was the motto of Cumberland School of Law following the American Civil War when the campus was burned to the ground by Confederate troops.
Notable alumni
- James Allred
James V. Allred was a United States politician who served as the Democratic governor of Texas during the New Deal era. He was thereafter a United States federal judge....
(D) - 2 term Governor of Texas
- Roger Bedford, Jr.
Roger H. Bedford, Jr. born July 7, 1956, is a Democratic member of the Alabama Senate, representing the 6th District since 1994. He previously served from 1982 through 1990....
(D) - seven term Alabama Senator
- Robert Boland
Robert Boland is an American lawyer, sports agent, coach, professor, publicist, event manager, speaker, and author with vast experience and expertise in sports, sports media, and sports law...
- attorney, sports agent and professor
- Karon O. Bowdre
Karon O. Bowdre is a United States federal judge.Bowdre was born in Montgomery, Alabama. She received a B.A. from Samford University in 1977. She received a J.D. from Cumberland School of Law in 1981. She was a law clerk, Hon. J. Foy Guin, Jr., U.S. District Court for the Northern District of...
- federal judge
- Beverly Briley
Clifton Beverly Briley was the first mayor of the metropolitan government of Nashville and Davidson County. A Democrat, he served from 1963 to 1975.-Biography:...
(D) - mayor"Mayor" is a modern title used in many countries for the highest ranking officer in a municipal government....
of Nashville, TennesseeNashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is the second most populous city in the state after Memphis. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state...
- Gordon Browning
Gordon Weaver Browning was an American politician who represented Tennessee in the United States Congress and was later Governor of Tennessee from 1937 to 1939 and again from 1949 to 1953.-Biography:...
(D) - Governor of Tennessee, U.S. Representative from Tennessee
- John L. Carroll
John L. Carroll is dean of Cumberland School of Law in Birmingham, Alabama. Prior to his appointment as dean, Carroll served as a federal trial judge for 14 years in the position of Chief U.S. Magistrate Judge for the Middle District of Alabama...
- former federal judge and dean of Cumberland School of Law, Legal Director of the Southern Poverty Law CenterThe Southern Poverty Law Center is an American non-profit legal organization, internationally known for its tolerance education programs, its legal victories against white supremacists and its tracking of organizations it calls hate groups....
- Robert L. Caruthers
Robert Looney Caruthers was a distinguished attorney and politician who was elected governor of the state of Tennessee. He is buried in Cedar Grove Cemetery in Lebanon, Tennessee.-Career:...
- Governor of Tennessee, Tennessee Attorney General
- Sidney J. Catts
Sidney Johnston Catts was an American politician. He was the twenty-second governor of Florida and with Congressman Charles Randall of California one of only two members of the Prohibition Party to ever hold office....
(P) - Governor of Florida (22nd), Prohibition party candidate
- Harry E. Claiborne
Harry Eugene Claiborne was a United States district court judge who was impeached for tax evasion. He was only the fifth person in U.S. history to be removed from office through impeachment by the U.S...
- notorious federal judge
- James I. Cohn
James I. Cohn is an American lawyer and judge. He currently serves on the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida.-Early life and education:...
- federal judge
- LeRoy Collins
Thomas LeRoy Collins was the thirty-third Governor of Florida.-Early life:LeRoy Collins was born and raised in Tallahassee, Florida, where he attended Leon High School. He went on to attend the Eastman Business College in New York and then went on to the Cumberland Law School in Birmingham,...
(D) - Governor of Florida
- Andrew J. O'Connor - American civil rights activist
- John F. Cosgrove
John F. Cosgrove was a former Florida legislator.Cosgrove previously served as a Representative in the House of Representatives of the U.S. state of Florida. In January 2006, he was elected the first mayor of the newly incorporated town of Cutler Bay, Florida...
(D) - Florida legislator and first mayor of Cutler Bay, FloridaCutler Bay is an incorporated town in Miami-Dade County, Florida from SW 184th Street east of US-1 to the coast, and north of Black Point Marina, at . As of the 2000 census, the area was known as the census-designated place of Cutler Ridge, which had a total population of 24,781.In August 1992,...
- Charlie Crist
Charles Joseph "Charlie" Crist, Jr. is an American politician of the Republican Party and the current Governor of Florida. He was born in Altoona, Pennsylvania and moved to St...
(R) - Governor of Florida, Former Florida Attorney General
- Ryan DeGraffenried
William Ryan deGraffenried, Jr. was an American politician who served as President Pro Tempore of the Alabama State Senate from 1987 to 1995....
(D) - Alabama State Senator, President Pro Tempore of state Senate, Acting Lieutenant Governor of Alabama
- Joel Fredrick Dubina
Joel Fredrick Dubina is the Chief Judge for the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.-Biography:Dubina was born in Elkhart, Indiana. He received a B.S. from the University of Alabama in 1970, and a J.D. from Cumberland School of Law at Samford University in 1973.He was a law...
- Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, former federal Magistrate Judge and District Judge.
- Edward H. East
Edward Hazzard East , also known as E. H. East, served as Secretary of State for the U.S. state of Tennessee from 1862-1865, having been appointed by Andrew Johnson, the military governor of the state under Union occupation during the American Civil War...
(W) - Secretary of State for Tennessee
- Marshall Douglas Ghee / "Doug Ghee"- former Alabama Senator; Creator of The Doug Ghee Accessible Trail at Cheaha Mountain and State Park; co-creator of The Chief Ladiga Trail extending out from Calhoun County, Alabama; Forever Wild Program's 20-acre parcel to Coldwater Mountain Tract dedicated as The Doug Ghee Nature Preserve and Recreation Area.
- Grafton Green
Grafton Green was an American jurist. Green earned an LL.B from Cumberland School of Law at Cumberland University in 1893, being called to the bar that same year. He operated a law practice in Nashville, Tennessee until 1910, when he was appointed an associate justice of the Tennessee Supreme...
- associate justice of the Tennessee Supreme Court, presided over the appeal of John T. ScopesJohn Thomas Scopes , a teacher in Dayton, Tennessee, was charged on May 5, 1925 with violating Tennessee's Butler Act, which prohibited the teaching of evolution in Tennessee schools. He was tried in a case known as the Scopes Monkey Trial.Scopes was born and raised in Paducah, Kentucky before...
- Carl Hatch
Carl Atwood Hatch was a Democratic Party politician from New Mexico who represented the Land of Enchantment in the United States Senate from 1933 until 1949....
(D) - U.S. Senator from New Mexico, author of the Hatch Act of 1939The Hatch Act of 1939 is a United States federal law whose main provision is to prohibit federal employees from engaging in partisan political activity...
- Robert H. Hatton
Robert Hopkins Hatton was a lawyer, politician, United States Congressman, and Confederate officer during the American Civil War.-Biography:...
(O) - US Congressman, ConfederateThe Confederate States Army was the army of the Confederate States of America during its brief existence from 1861 to 1865. It was established in two phases with provisional and permanent organizations, which existed concurrently....
brigadier generalBrigadier General is the lowest ranking General Officer in some countries, usually sitting between the ranks of Colonel and Major General.The rank can be traced back to the militaries of Europe where a brigadier general, or simply a brigadier, would command a brigade in the field...
, killed during the Battle of Fair Oaks
- Van Hilleary
William Vanderpool Hilleary, usually known as Van Hilleary is a Republican politician from Tennessee.-Early life and career:...
(R) - Tennessee politician and lobbyist
- William J. Holloway
William Judson Holloway was an American principal, lawyer, and politician who served as the third Lieutenant Governor of Oklahoma. Following Henry S...
(D) - Governor of Oklahoma
- James Edwin Horton
Judge James Edwin Horton was a Circuit Judge for the Eighth Circuit Court in Alabama. He was elected in 1922 and again in 1928.-Birth and education:...
- Judge who presided over the retrial of the Scottsboro BoysThe Scottsboro Boys were nine black defendants in a 1931 rape case initiated in Scottsboro, Alabama. The case was heard by the United States Supreme Court twice and the decisions established the principles that criminal defendants are entitled to effective assistance of counsel and that people may...
who set aside the jury's conviction and sentence of death and was them removed by the Alabama Supreme CourtThe Supreme Court of Alabama is the highest court in the state of Alabama. The court consists of a Chief Justice and eight Associate Justices, elected in partisan elections for staggered six year terms....
. He is remembered by a plaque on the courthouse.
- Jeff Hoover
Jeff Hoover is currently a Republican member of the Kentucky House of Representatives representing the 83rd district where he has served since 1996. Hoover was selected to serve as House Minority Caucus Chair in 1999, and currently serves as House Minority Leader, a position he has held since 2001...
(R) - Kentucky House of Representatives
- Carolyn Hugley
Carolyn Hugley is a Democratic member of the Georgia House of Representatives, representing the 143rd district since 1992. She is currently Minority Whip.-External links:* official GA House website* profile*Follow the Money - Carolyn F Hugley...
(D) - Minority Whip, Georgia House of Representatives
- Cordell Hull
Cordell Hull was an American politician from the U.S. state of Tennessee. He is best-known as the longest-serving Secretary of State, holding the position for 11 years in the administration of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt...
(D) - United States Secretary of StateThe United States Secretary of State is the head of the United States Department of State, concerned with foreign affairs. The Secretary is a member of the President's Cabinet and the highest-ranking cabinet secretary both in line of succession and order of precedence. The current Secretary of...
under Franklin D. RooseveltFranklin Delano Roosevelt , the only U.S. President elected to more than two terms, was a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
, Nobel Peace PrizeThe Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes bequeathed by the Swedish industrialist and inventor Alfred Nobel.-Background:...
recipient, 11 terms as U.S. Representative, chairman of the Democratic National CommitteeThe Democratic National Committee is the principal organization governing the United States Democratic Party on a day to day basis. While it is responsible for overseeing the process of writing a platform every four years, the DNC's central focus is on campaign and political activity in support...
, co-initiated the United NationsThe United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and the achieving of world peace...
- Douglas S. Jackson
Douglas S. "Doug" Jackson is a Tennessee State Senator, attorney, and executive director of the Renaissance Center.-Early life:...
(D) - United States Senator from Tennessee, executive director of the Renaissance Center
- Howell Edmunds Jackson
Howell Edmunds Jackson was an American jurist and politician. He served on the United States Supreme Court, in the U.S. Senate, United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, and the Tennessee House of Representatives. He authored notable opinions on the Interstate Commerce Act and the...
(D) - United States Supreme Court Justice, justice U.S. Circuit Court for the Sixth Circuit, U.S. Senator, U.S. Representative. Brother of General William Hicks JacksonWilliam Hicks "Red" Jackson was a cotton planter, horse breeder, and general in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War.-Early life and career:...
.
- George Doherty Johnson
George Doherty Johnston was a brigadier general in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War.-Early life:...
- Confederate brigadier general, United States Civil Service Commissioner, superintendent of the The Citadel (military college)The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina, also known simply as The Citadel, is a state-supported, comprehensive college located in Charleston, South Carolina, USA...
- William F. Kirby
William Fosgate Kirby was a Democratic Party politician from Arkansas who represented the state in the U.S. Senate from 1916 to 1921.Kirby was born near Texarkana, Arkansas on November 16, 1867, and attended common schools...
(D) - U.S. Senator from Arkansas, associate justice of the Arkansas Supreme Court, Attorney General for Arkansas, author of Kirby’s Digest of the Statutes of Arkansas
- Joshua B. Lee
Joshua Bryan Lee was a United States Representative and Senator from Oklahoma. Born in Childersburg, Alabama, he moved with his parents to Pauls Valley, Oklahoma , and then to Kiowa County, near Hobart, in 1901...
(D) - U.S. Senator and Representative from Oklahoma
- Zeb Little
Zeb Little is a Democratic member of the Alabama Senate, representing the 4th District since 1998. He has been the Majority Leader and Floor Leader of the Alabama Senate since 2002....
(D) - Majority Leader and Floor Leader of the Alabama Senate
- Horace Harmon Lurton
Horace Harmon Lurton was an American jurist who served for four years as a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Appointed at the age of 65, Lurton was the oldest justice appointed to the Court.-Life:...
(D) - United States Supreme Court Justice, Tennessee Supreme CourtThe Tennessee Supreme Court is the state supreme court of the state of Tennessee. Janice Holder is the current Chief Justice.Unlike other states, in which the state attorney general is directly elected or appointed by the governor or state legislature, the Tennessee Supreme Court appoints the...
, justice U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, dean of Vanderbilt UniversityVanderbilt University is a private research university in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1873, the university is named for shipping and rail magnate "Commodore" Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided Vanderbilt its initial $1 million endowment despite having never been to the South...
law department
- Crawford Martin
Crawford Collins Martin was a Texas State Senator, Texas Secretary of State and Attorney General of Texas from 1967 until his death.-Early life:...
(D) - TexasTexas is the second-largest U.S. state in both area and population, and the largest state in the contiguous United States.The name had wide usage among native Americans, meaning "friends" or "allies"...
State Senator, Texas Secretary of State and Attorney General of Texas
- Joe McInnes
Duncan Joseph “Joe” McInnes is the director of the Alabama Department of Transportation , appointed by Alabama Governor Bob Riley.-Biography:...
Director of Ala Dept of Transportation, Exec VP of Blount Inc
- Bert H. Miller
Bert Henry Miller was a politician from Idaho. He was a member of the Idaho Democratic PartyMiller graduated from Brigham Young University in 1901 and from Cumberland School of Law at Cumberland University in in 1902. He was admitted to the bar and commenced practice in St...
(D) - U.S. Senator from Idaho and Idaho Attorney General
- Charles H. O'Brien
Charles Herbert O'Brien , was a Tennessee State Senator in the 83rd and 84th Tennessee General Assemblies, a justice on the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals and Tennessee Supreme Court , and the husband of well-known Tennessee Democratic politician Anna Belle Clement O'Brien, who was the sister...
(D) - Tennessee State Senator, Tennessee State Supreme Court
- Mike Papantonio
James Michael Papantonio , popularly known as Mike Papantonio, is an American attorney and radio talk show host. A prominent trial lawyer, he co-hosts Ring of Fire, a national-syndicated weekly program on Air America Radio, with Robert F...
- head of mass tort department at Levin, Papantonio in Pensacola, Florida, one of America's 15 most successful plaintiff's firms; host of the radio show Ring of Fire (radio program)Ring of Fire is a weekly radio program on the Air America Radio network. It is hosted by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and Mike Papantonio. Both are attorneys who focus on what they call "corporate fat cats, polluters and media spinmeisters."- Production :...
; a Methodist and featured on the documentary Jesus CampJesus Camp is a 2006 American documentary film directed by Rachel Grady and Heidi Ewing about a Pentecostal/charismatic summer camp for children who spend their summers learning and practicing their "prophetic gifts" and being taught that they can "take back America for Christ." According to the...
.
- DuBose Porter
DuBose Porter is a Democratic member of the Georgia House of Representatives, representing the 143rd district since being elected in 1982. He is currently Minority Leader in the House...
(D) - Minority Leader, Georgia House of Representatives
- Paine Page Prim
Paine Page Prim was an American attorney and judge in the state of Oregon. He was the 6th Chief Justice of the Oregon Supreme Court serving in that role from three times between 1864 and 1878. Prim served on Oregon’s highest court for 21 years...
- chief justice of the Oregon Supreme CourtThe Oregon Supreme Court is the highest state court in the U.S. state of Oregon. The only court that may reverse or modify a decision of the Oregon Supreme Court is the Supreme Court of the United States. The OSC holds court at the Oregon Supreme Court Building in Salem, Oregon, near the capitol...
, first graduate of Cumberland Law School
- Mike Stewart
-Personal life:Michael Garnet Stewart is a native of Vredenburgh, Alabama, in Monroe County. He attended Tabor Academy for the first two years of high school but graduated from Wilcox Academy in Alabama....
- American writer
- Tom Stewart
Arthur Thomas Stewart , more commonly known as Tom Stewart, was a Democratic United States Senator from Tennessee from 1939 to 1949.-Early Life and Education:...
(D) - U.S. Senator from Tennessee, chief prosecutor during the Scopes TrialThe Scopes Trial was an American legal case that tested the Butler Act, which made it unlawful, in any state-funded educational establishment in Tennessee, "to teach any theory that denies the story of the Divine Creation of man as taught in the Bible, and...
- John Strohm
John Strohm is an American guitarist, singer, and lawyer. He began his musical career playing drum set in Indiana's punk rock scene, then moved to Boston in 1985 and switched to guitar...
- entertainment lawyer and former member of the Blake BabiesBlake Babies was an alternative rock band formed in 1986 in Boston, Massachusetts. The three primary members were John Strohm, Freda Love , and Juliana Hatfield, with Evan Dando, Andrew Mayer, Seth White, Anthony DeLuca , and Mike Leahy each also performing as members of the band at...
and LemonheadsAlex Smith may refer to:*Lemonhead , a brand of candy produced by the Ferrara Pan Candy Company*The Lemonheads, an alternative rock band from the United States...
- Mauricio J. Tamargo
Mauricio J. Tamargo is the 14th Chairman of the Foreign Claims Settlement Commission. He was nominated by President George W. Bush in July 2001. His present term is set to expire in September 2009.Tamargo is the 2
nd son and 3
rd child of 8 children born to Jorge Tamargo and...
- 14th Chairman of the Foreign Claims Settlement CommissionThe Foreign Claims Settlement Commission of the United States is a quasi-judicial, independent agency within the U.S. Department of Justice which adjudicates claims of U.S. nationals against foreign governments, either under specific jurisdiction conferred by Congress or pursuant to international...
- Ben West
Raphael Benjamin West was mayor of Nashville, Tennessee from 1951-1963.-Biography:Born in Columbia, Tennessee, he attended Cumberland Law School and Vanderbilt University...
- mayor of Nashville, TennesseeNashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is the second most populous city in the state after Memphis. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state...
U.S. Representatives
- Thomas G. Abernethy (D)- U.S. Representative from Mississippi
Mississippi is a state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The state's name comes from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, and takes its name from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi . The state is heavily forested outside of the...
(1943-1973)
- Robert Aderholt
Robert Brown Aderholt is an American politician and a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives since 1997, representing...
(R)- U.S. Representative from AlabamaAlabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States of America. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its...
(1997- )
- Clifford Allen
Clifford Robertson Allen was a Tennessee attorney and Democratic politician.-Early life and career:Allen was born in Jacksonville, Florida, USA, and graduated from Friends High School in Washington, D.C....
(D) - U.S. Representative from Tennessee
- Richard Merrill Atkinson
Richard Merrill Atkinson was a U.S. Representative from Tennessee.-Biography:Born in Nashville, Tennessee, Atkinson attended the public schools....
(D) - U.S. Representative from Tennessee
- Maecenas Eason Benton
Maecenas Eason Benton was a U.S. Representative from Missouri. He was the father of Thomas Hart Benton, who gained fame as a painter of the American Scene....
(D) - U.S. Representative from MissouriMissouri is a state in the Midwest region of the United States bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. Missouri is the 18th most populous state with a 2008 estimated population of 5,911,605. It comprises 114 counties and one independent city....
. Father of famed artist Thomas Hart BentonThomas Hart Benton was an American painter and muralist. Along with Grant Wood and John Steuart Curry, he was at the forefront of the Regionalist art movement. His fluid, almost sculpted paintings showed everyday scenes of life in the United States...
- Joseph Edgar Brown
Joseph Edgar Brown was a U.S. Representative from Tennessee, son of Foster Vincent Brown.-Biography:Born in Jasper, Tennessee, Brown attended Baylor School in Chattanooga, and graduated from Cumberland University, Lebanon, Tennessee, in 1902 where he studied law at Cumberland School of Law.He was...
(R) - U.S. Representative from Tennessee
- Foster V. Brown
Foster Vincent Brown was a U.S. Representative from Tennessee, father of Joseph Edgar Brown.-Biography:Born near Sparta, Tennessee, Brown attended the common schools....
(R) - U.S. Representative from Tennessee, father of Joseph Edgar BrownJoseph Edgar Brown was a U.S. Representative from Tennessee, son of Foster Vincent Brown.-Biography:Born in Jasper, Tennessee, Brown attended Baylor School in Chattanooga, and graduated from Cumberland University, Lebanon, Tennessee, in 1902 where he studied law at Cumberland School of Law.He was...
- Omar Burleson
Omar Truman Burleson was a U.S. Representative from Texas.Born in Anson, Texas, Burleson attended the public schools, Abilene Christian College, and Hardin-Simmons University at Abilene, Texas....
(D) - U.S. Representative from TexasTexas is the second-largest U.S. state in both area and population, and the largest state in the contiguous United States.The name had wide usage among native Americans, meaning "friends" or "allies"...
- Robert R. Butler
Robert Reyburn Butler was a U.S. Representative from Oregon, grandson of Roderick Randum Butler. He also served in the Oregon State Senate and as a state circuit court judge in Oregon.-Early life:...
(R) - U.S. Representative from OregonOregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
- Adam M. Byrd
Adam Monroe Byrd was a U.S. Representative from Mississippi.Born in Sumter County, Alabama, Byrd moved to Neshoba County, Mississippi.He attended the common schools and Cooper Institute in Daleville....
(D) - U.S. Representative from MississippiMississippi is a state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The state's name comes from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, and takes its name from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi . The state is heavily forested outside of the...
- William Parker Caldwell
William Parker Caldwell was an American politician and a member of the United States House of Representatives for the 9th congressional district of Tennessee.-Biography:...
(D) - U.S. Representative from Tennessee, Tennessee State Senator
- Samuel Caruthers
Samuel Caruthers was a U.S. Representative from Missouri.Born in Madison County, Missouri, Caruthers was graduated from Cumberland University, Lebanon, Tennessee.He studied law....
(W) - U.S. Representative from Missouri
- Frank Chelf
Frank Leslie Chelf was a United States Representative from Kentucky. He was born on a farm near Elizabethtown, Kentucky. He attended the public schools as well as Centre College at Danville, Kentucky and St. Mary’s College...
(D) - U.S. Representative from Kentucky
- Judson C. Clements
Judson Claudius Clements was a U.S. Representative from Georgia. For a quarter century a member of the Interstate Commerce Commission, Clements served one year as its chairman. Clements had served as a member of the Confederate States Army.-Early life:Judson Clements was the son of Dr. Adam...
(D) - U.S. Representative from Georgia
- Wynne F. Clouse
Wynne F. Clouse was a U.S. Representative from Tennessee.-Biography:Born in Goffton, near Cookeville, Tennessee, Clouse attended the public schools....
(R) - U.S. Representative from Tennessee
- William B. Craig
William Benjamin Craig was a U.S. Representative from Alabama.Born in Selma, Alabama, Craig attended the public and high schools of Selma and was graduated from Cumberland School of Law at Cumberland University, Lebanon, Tennessee.He was admitted to the bar in 1898 and commenced practice in Selma,...
(D) - U.S. Representative from Alabama
- Jere Cooper
Jere Cooper was a Democratic United States Representative from Tennessee.-Biography:Cooper was born on a farm near Dyersburg, Dyer County, Tennessee...
(D) - U.S. Representative from Tennessee
- John Duncan, Sr.
John James Duncan, Sr. was a Tennessee attorney and Republican politician who was elected to 12 terms in the United States House of Representatives.-Life and work:...
(R) - 12 term U.S. Representative from Tennessee
- Harold Earthman
Harold Henderson Earthman was a U.S. Representative from Tennessee.Born in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, Earthman attended the public schools, Webb School at Bell Buckle, Tennessee, Southern Methodist University at Dallas, Texas, and the University of Texas at Austin.During the First World War served...
(D) - U.S. Representative from Tennessee
- Benjamin A. Enloe
Benjamin Augustine Enloe was an American politician and a member of the United States House of Representatives for the 8th congressional district of Tennessee.-Biography:...
(D) - U.S. Representative from Tennessee
- Joe L. Evins
Joseph Landon Evins was a Democratic U.S. Representative from Tennessee from 1947 to 1977.Evins was a native of the Blend Community of DeKalb County, Tennessee, the son of James Edgar Evins and Myrtie Goodson Evins. His father was a Tennessee state senator and a successful local businessman.Joe L...
(D) - U.S. Representative from Tennessee
- Lewis P. Featherstone
Lewis Porter Featherstone was a U.S. Representative from Arkansas.Born in Oxford, Mississippi, Featherstone attended the common schools and Cumberland School of Law at Cumberland University, Lebanon, Tennessee....
(D) - U.S. Representative from Arkansas
- Aaron L. Ford
Aaron Lane Ford was a U.S. Representative from Mississippi.Born in Potts Camp, Mississippi, Ford attended public schools in Mississippi and Cumberland School of Law at Cumberland University, Lebanon, Tennessee....
(D) - U.S. Representative from Mississippi
- William Voris Gregory
William Voris Gregory , a Democrat, was a United States Representative from Kentucky.Gregory was born in Graves County and after college he taught school and served as superintendent of schools there...
(D) - U.S. Representative from Kentucky
- Edward Isaac Golladay
Edward Isaac Golladay was an American politician and a member of the United States House of Representatives for the 5th congressional district of Tennessee.-Biography:He was born in Lebanon, Tennessee in Wilson County on September 9, 1830...
(D) - U.S. Representative from Tennessee
- Isaac Goodnight
Isaac Goodnight was a United States Representative from Kentucky. He was born near Scottsville, Kentucky, where he attended the common schools. Later, he moved to Franklin, Kentucky, in 1870 and was graduated from Cumberland University, Lebanon, Tennessee, in 1872 and afterwards attended the...
(D) - U.S. Representative from Kentucky
- Oren Harris
Oren Harris was a U.S. Representative and United States District Court Judge from Arkansas.-Background:Born in Belton, Arkansas, Harris attended the public schools....
(D) - U.S. Representative from Arkansas
- Robert H. Hatton
Robert Hopkins Hatton was a lawyer, politician, United States Congressman, and Confederate officer during the American Civil War.-Biography:...
(O) - U.S. Congressman, ConfederateThe Confederate States Army was the army of the Confederate States of America during its brief existence from 1861 to 1865. It was established in two phases with provisional and permanent organizations, which existed concurrently....
brigadier generalBrigadier General is the lowest ranking General Officer in some countries, usually sitting between the ranks of Colonel and Major General.The rank can be traced back to the militaries of Europe where a brigadier general, or simply a brigadier, would command a brigade in the field...
, Opposition party member, killed during the Battle of Fair Oaks
- Goldsmith W. Hewitt
Goldsmith Whitehouse Hewitt was a U.S. Representative from Alabama.-Biography:Born near Elyton , Jefferson County, Alabama, Hewitt attended the country schools....
(D) - U.S. Representative from Alabama
- Wilson S. Hill
Wilson Shedric Hill was a U.S. Representative from Mississippi.Born near Lodi, Mississippi, Hill attended the common schools and the University of Mississippi at Oxford....
(D) - U.S. Representative from Missouri
- George Huddleston
George Huddleston was a U.S. Representative from Alabama, father of George Huddleston, Jr.Born on a farm near Lebanon, Tennessee, Huddleston attended the common schools....
(D) - U.S. Representative from AlabamaAlabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States of America. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its...
and father of George Huddleston, Jr.George Huddleston, Jr. was a Democratic Congressman from Alabama's 1st congressional district from 1963-1965. He was the son of George Huddleston. The district, located in southwest Alabama has been represented by Republicans since Huddleston's defeat. Huddleston attended George Washington...
- Howell Edmunds Jackson
Howell Edmunds Jackson was an American jurist and politician. He served on the United States Supreme Court, in the U.S. Senate, United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, and the Tennessee House of Representatives. He authored notable opinions on the Interstate Commerce Act and the...
(D) - (listed above), later United States Supreme Court Justice
- Abraham Kazen
Abraham Kazen, Jr., usually known as Chick Kazen was a U.S. Representative from Texas from 1967-1985.-Education:...
(D) - U.S. Representative from TexasTexas is the second-largest U.S. state in both area and population, and the largest state in the contiguous United States.The name had wide usage among native Americans, meaning "friends" or "allies"...
- Wade H. Kitchens
Wade Hampton Kitchens was a U.S. Representative from Arkansas.Born on a farm near Falcon, Nevada County, Arkansas, Kitchens attended the common schools, Southern Academy, and the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville....
(D) - U.S. Representative from Arkansas
- John Kyle
John Curtis Kyle was a Democratic politician from the U.S. state of Mississippi during the late 19th century.Kyle was born in Sardis, Mississippi and attended Bethel College in Tennessee...
(D) - U.S. Representative from Mississippi
- John Ridley Mitchell
John Ridley Mitchell was a U.S. Representative from Tennessee.Born in Livingston, Tennessee, Mitchell attended the public schools.He was graduated from Peabody College of Teachers, Nashville, Tennessee, in 1896....
- U.S. Representative from Tennessee
- Tom J. Murray
Thomas Jefferson Murray , usually known as Tom J. Murray, was a Democratic U.S. Representative from Tennessee from 1943 to 1966.-Early life:...
(D) - U.S. Representative from Tennessee
- Wright Patman
John William Wright Patman was a U.S. Congressman from Texas in Texas's 1st congressional district and chair of the United States House Committee on Banking and Currency .-Early life:...
(D) - U.S. Representative from TexasTexas is the second-largest U.S. state in both area and population, and the largest state in the contiguous United States.The name had wide usage among native Americans, meaning "friends" or "allies"...
- Herron C. Pearson
Herron Carney Pearson was a U.S. Representative from Tennessee.-Biography:Born in Taylor, Texas, Pearson moved to Jackson, Tennessee, in 1891.He attended the public and high schools....
(D) - U.S. Representative from Tennessee
- Andrew Price
Andrew Price was a U.S. Representative from Louisiana.Born on Chatsworth plantation, near Franklin, St. Mary Parish, Louisiana, Price attended various private schools....
(D) - U.S. Representative from LouisianaThe State of Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state divided into parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
- Haywood Yancey Riddle
Haywood Yancey Riddle was an American politician and a member of the United States House of Representatives for the 4th congressional district of Tennessee. He was born on June 20, 1834 in Van Buren, Tennessee in Hardeman County. He completed preparatory studies and graduated from Union University...
(D) - U.S. Representative from Tennessee
- James Edward Ruffin
James Edward Ruffin was a U.S. Representative from Missouri.Born on a farm near Covington, Tennessee, Ruffin moved to Aurora, Missouri with his parents....
(D) - U.S. Representative from Missouri
- Thetus W. Sims
Thetus Willrette Sims was an American politician and a member of the United States House of Representatives for the 8th congressional district of Tennessee. He was born on April 25, 1852 near Waynesboro, Tennessee in Wayne County. He attended a private school at Martin Mills and moved with his...
(D) - U.S. Representative from Tennessee
- Thomas U. Sisson
Thomas Upton Sisson was a U.S. Representative from Mississippi.Born near McCool, Attala County, Mississippi, Sisson moved with his father to Choctaw County, Mississippi....
(D) - U.S. Representative from Mississippi
- John H. Smithwick
John Harris Smithwick was a U.S. Representative from Florida.Smithwick was born near Orange, Georgia and attended the public schools. He graduated from Reinhardt Normal College in Waleska, Georgia in 1895 and from Cumberland School of Law at Cumberland University on Lebanon, Tennessee in 1897...
(D) - U.S. Representative from Florida
- Charles Swindall
Charles Swindall was a U.S. Representative from Oklahoma.Born at College Mound, near Terrell, Texas, Swindall attended the public schools and Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee....
(R) - U.S. Representative from OklahomaOklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,617,316 residents in 2007 and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...
- John May Taylor
John May Taylor was a U.S. Representative from Tennessee.Born in Lexington, Tennessee, Taylor attended the Male Academy in Lexington and the Union University, Murfreesboro, Tennessee....
(D) - U.S. Representative from Tennessee
- Anthony F. Tauriello
Anthony Francis Tauriello was an American congressman who represented the state of New York. He was born in Buffalo, New York, USA on August 14, 1899 and graduated from the Cumberland School of Law in 1929. He was a member of the Erie County Board of Supervisors from 1933 to 1937; also, he was a...
(D) - U.S. Representative for New York
- J. Will Taylor
James Willis Taylor was a U.S. Representative from Tennessee.Born near Lead Mine Bend in Union County, Tennessee, Taylor attended the public schools, Holbrook Normal College, Fountain City, Tennessee, and the American Temperance University, Harriman, Tennessee.He taught school for several years.He...
(R) - U.S. Representative from Tennessee
- Zachary Taylor
Zachary Taylor was a U.S. Representative from Tennessee.Born near Brownsville, Tennessee, Taylor attended J.I...
(D) - U.S. Representative from Tennessee
- Richard Warner
Richard Warner was a U.S. Representative from Tennessee.Born near Chapel Hill, Tennessee, Warner attended the public schools and was graduated from Cumberland School of Law at Cumberland University, Lebanon, Tennessee, in 1858.He was admitted to the bar the same year and commenced practice in...
(D) - U.S. Representative from Tennessee
Notable professors
- Albert Brewer
Albert Preston Brewer is an American politician who was the governor of Alabama from May, 1968 until January, 1971.Brewer was born in Bethel Springs, Tennessee. Prior to his election as lieutenant governor, he served three terms in the Alabama House of Representatives from Morgan County from...
- Governor of Alabama, Distinguished Professor of Law and Government
- John L. Carroll
John L. Carroll is dean of Cumberland School of Law in Birmingham, Alabama. Prior to his appointment as dean, Carroll served as a federal trial judge for 14 years in the position of Chief U.S. Magistrate Judge for the Middle District of Alabama...
- former federal judge and dean of Cumberland School of Law, Legal Director of the Southern Poverty Law CenterThe Southern Poverty Law Center is an American non-profit legal organization, internationally known for its tolerance education programs, its legal victories against white supremacists and its tracking of organizations it calls hate groups....
.
- Robert L. Caruthers
Robert Looney Caruthers was a distinguished attorney and politician who was elected governor of the state of Tennessee. He is buried in Cedar Grove Cemetery in Lebanon, Tennessee.-Career:...
- Attorney General for Tennessee, elected Governor of Tennessee
- Charles D. Cole - Director of Cumberland's programs to Durham, England, and Sao Paulo, Brazil, and Cumberland's Master of Comparative Law degree program
- Henry Cooper (U.S. Senator)
Henry Cooper was a Tennessee attorney, judge, and politician who served one term in the United States Senate, 1871-1877. He was a Democrat.-Biography:...
(D) - United States Senator from Tennessee.
- Robert L. McCurley, Jr. - Director of the Alabama Law Institute
- William H. Pryor, Jr.
William Holcombe "Bill" Pryor, Jr. is a federal judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Previously, he was the Attorney General of the State of Alabama from 1997 to 2004.-Background:...
- judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh CircuitThe United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts:* Middle District of Alabama* Northern District of Alabama...
, former Alabama Attorney General, adjunct professor
- David M. Smolin
David Mark Smolin is a professor of law at Cumberland School of Law in Birmingham, Alabama where he is the Harwell G...
- Director of The Center for Biotechnology, Law and Ethics and human rights activist. Brother of theoretical physicist Lee SmolinLee Smolin is an American theoretical physicist, a researcher at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, and an adjunct professor of physics at the University of Waterloo....
.
- Janie Shores
Janie Ledlow Shores is a retired judge on the Supreme Court of Alabama who was the first woman to ever serve on that court. Shores also was considered by President Bill Clinton in 1993 as a possible nominee to the U.S...
- Alabama Supreme Court Justice.
- Joseph Snoe - Co-author of Property: Examples and Explanations and author of American Health Care Delivery Systems, American Casebook Series
See also