University president William Rainey Harper requested assistance from the faculty of Harvard Law School in establishing a law school at Chicago, and Joseph Henry Beale, then a professor at Harvard, was given a two-year leave of absence to serve as the first Dean of the law school.
The Law School experienced a period of profound growth and expansion under the leadership of Dean Edward Hirsch Levi, AB 1932, JD 1935 (1945-1962).