New England Law | Boston (formerly New England School of Law) is a private law school in Boston, Massachusetts. It was founded as Portia School of Law in 1908 and is located in downtown Boston near the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, Financial District, State House, Government Center, and numerous state and federal courts, government agencies, and law firms. According to New England Law's official 2018 ABA-required disclosures, the class of 2018 had a full-time employment rate of 83.4% with 4% pursuing an additional degree. Eight U.S. Supreme Court justices have visited, lectured, or taught in the summer-abroad programs at New England Law. History The Portia School of Law The Portia School of Law started informally in 1908 when Arthur W. MacLean (1880–1943), a graduate of the Boston University School of Law and a professor at Suffolk University Law School, agreed to tutor two young women who were studying for the Massachusetts bar examination. At the time, few options were available to women seeking a legal education in New England. Soon afterwards, MacLean rented space at 88 Tremont Street, began admitting students, and took on a second faculty member, A. Chesley York. MacLean's wife, Bertha, named the school after the character Portia in Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice. In the play, Portia disguises herself as a young man, boldly impersonates a judge, replacing her cousin (the real judge), and her clever frauds save her new husband's best friend Antonio from forfeiting a pound of his flesh (and his life) for his failure to repay a loan; she also ruins Shylock, the moneylender. The Portia School of Law was the only law school in the country exclusively for women. The school was incorporated in 1918. By this time it had 91 students. The following year, the Massachusetts legislature granted the school the power to confer the degree of Bachelor of Laws (LL.B), and the school was reincorporated as the Portia Law School. In 1920 the school awarded its first LL.B degrees to 39 women. The school was one of the few that offered part-time enrollment, enabling working-class women to pursue their studies while supporting themselves. In 1920, the school outgrew its space on Tremont Street and moved to a townhouse at 45 Mt. Vernon Street on Beacon Hill. The Portia Law School was granted the authority to confer the degree of Master of Laws (LL.M.) in 1926; five graduates were awarded the