Federal University of Rio de Janeiro Faculty of Law

The National Faculty of Law of UFRJ is the result of the merger in 1920 of two private schools, the Free Faculty of Law and Social Sciences of Rio de Janeiro and the Free School of Law. It was a long-held dream of prominent citizens such as Fernando Mendes de Almeida and others, who dreamed of creating a private law school. With the establishment of the republic and the creation of a free educational system, Mendes de Almeida called on former supporters of the idea and, with new members, worked for the establishment of Free School of Law and Social Sciences of Rio de Janeiro, which eventually became the National Faculty of Law.

The creation of the National Faculty of Law, through the merger of the two private colleges, represented an end to the monopoly of legal education, which until then was the nearly exclusive province of the Faculdade de Direito do Recife in Olinda, and the Faculdade de Direito da Universidade de São Paulo. The founding of the National Faculty of Law added much–needed diversity to the nation's legal education.

The National Faculty of Law, together with the UFRJ Polytechnical School and the UFRJ Medical School, became in 1945 the basis for a new university, the University of Brazil. During that period the faculty's library was created, the college's magazine "A Época" was launched, the Literary Guild and the Law Journal were created, under a committee formed by Cândido de Oliveira Filho, Luiz Carpenter Raul Pederneiras, Virgílio de Sá Pereira, Gilberto Amado and Afrânio Peixoto.

In the 1930s, the National Faculty of Law experienced memorable public contests for remarkable teachers, such as Joaquim Pimenta (sociology). The class of 1937 was especially noted for graduates such as José Honorio Rodrigues, and Evaristo de Moraes Filho, who became professor in Labor Law and Sociology with his thesis on Auguste Comte.

In the 1940s the National Faculty of Law transferred to its current building, during a period marked by strong student mobilization (especially as resistance to the Estado Novo). Notable recruiting drives continued, bringing young lawyers to the Chairs of the Faculty, such as San Tiago Dantas and Hélio Tornaghi.

The 1950s consolidated the reputation of the National Faculty of Law. In 1955, the inaugural class of San Tiago Dantas, entitled "Legal Education and the Brazilian crisis", attracted much attention. At that time, San Tiago presented new guidelines for the legal education and criticized legal teaching methods of the time, defending the case system as opposed to the text system, and also argued that an interdisciplinary approach to Law was more suitable to modern times.

In 1960, the Brazilian capital moved to Brasília, and the process of federalisation of higher education began, with UFRJ as a part of it. With the coup of 1964, the National Faculty of Law faced some consequences, but the CACO – Centro Acadêmico Cândido de Oliveira (the faculty's students' union) fought against the military regime.

In the 1970s, the National Faculty of Law went through a deep crisis, characterized by the carrying out of only a few entrance examinations and a gradual reduction of faculty staff. The 1980s were also marked by crises and obstacles in entrance drives.

In the 1990s, there were some initiatives, such as curriculum changes, the rearrangement of departmental structure and the creation of a center for community outreach, including a Special Court, an office of the Ombudsman, and a center for legal practice.

Since the end of 2009, following the election of a new directing board, the National Faculty of Law has been going through deep changes in academic and structural matters, aimed at improving the school's quality and reputation.

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