Our History

The roots of Windsor Law stretch back over 163 years to the founding of Assumption College in 1857. Starting in 1919, this institution began a close affiliation with the University of Western Ontario, eventually becoming an independent university in 1953.

By 1963, Assumption University became the parent institution of a non-denominational university, the University of Windsor.

The University of Windsor Faculty of Law was founded four years later and welcomed its first class in 1968.

Windsor Law has grown dramatically since those early years, reaching an annual enrollment of approximately 700 students and 36 full-time professors.

In five decades, Windsor Law has earned distinction among law schools for our emphasis on access to justice, community service and U.S.-Canadian law.

We're proud that our alumni have achieved tremendous success in traditional and non-traditional careers: TV networks, tech start-ups, government agencies, private legal practices and more. 

In 2018, Windsor Law celebrated 50 years of teaching, research, advocacy and service with a year-long anniversary celebration.


Resources:

For the 50th anniversary of Windsor Law, several contributors assisted in preparing a history of the Faculty of Law. Bridging the Law: Fifty Years of Windsor Law (Windsor, Ont.: Biblioasis, 2018).

For the 40th anniversary of Windsor Law, Ms Annette Demers '98, Law Librarian at the Paul Martin Law Library, prepared a history of the Faculty of Law. The publication, Annette L. Demers, A History of the University of Windsor Faculty of Law 1968-2008: Prepared on the Occasion of the 40th Anniversary of the Faculty of Law (Windsor, Ont.: University of Windsor, Faculty of Law, 2008).