The Dartmouth Lawyers Association began with five lawyers gathered at Blunt Alumni Center in Hanover in May of 1984. The group had been brought together by John Mathias '69 who had a vision of a dynamic organization of Dartmouth graduates pursuing careers in law.

This vision went beyond "networking" or business referral (although that would become a prime by-product of its existence), and encompassed ideas of professional and career development, service to Dartmouth and Dartmouth undergraduates interested in law, and promotion of programs, events and activities which would combine Dartmouth fellowship with reinforcement of the highest ideals of the legal profession.

Almost twenty years later, we are an organization of over 1,700 members across the United States and in 20 foreign countries. We publish annually a Directory of our members which is widely used for referrals and communications and is now searchable on the Web. In addition to annual meetings in Hanover, for over a decade we have offered Midwinter CLE and SKI meetings in the best ski areas in the West. Those have included Sun Valley, Whistler, Aspen and Banff. Click here for our current Calendar of Events.

Along the way we have sponsored or underwritten many other exciting programs and activities. Under the able direction of Hal Rabner '64, we presented the first Daniel Webster Distinguished Dartmouth Alumnus Award to Roger Aaron '64, at a luncheon at the Yale-Dartmouth Club in New York, attended by over 200 people. In addition to honoring Roger, the luncheon raised over $125,000 towards the Daniel Webster Fund at Dartmouth, which is supported by our organization and which is dedicated to advancing undergraduate study of legal and ethical issues at the College. The Roger Aaron '64 Lecture Series began with Anthony Kronman, Dean of Yale Law School in October of 1997.

Our speaker series,"Law and the Liberal Arts" continues to be one of the most popular and provocative lecture programs at the College, reinforcing our ties to current faculty and undergraduates.

We have undertaken joint projects with the Dickey Center for International Understanding at Dartmouth in the area of international law. In April of 1995, we co-sponsored a celebration of the 50th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations, and in September of 1996, we co-sponsored a conference at Dartmouth featuring the chief justices of the three Russian supreme courts with Justice Souter of our own Supreme Court in a series of panels and discussions with lawyers, judges and academicians.

In 2001, we unveiled our new interactive website allowing online searching of our Member Directory, global electronic publication of speeches and papers by Members and Friends, improved news about the Association activities and Members' accomplishments and an interactive DLA Community Forum.