Established in 1869,[5][6] it is the oldest continuously operating Catholic law school in the United States.

Walsh, then the president of the university, invited William J. Hoynes to take control of the Law School, which was in demise.

As the program grew, the university repurposed and renovated the former Institute of Technology building as Hoynes Hall in 1916.

In 1925 John Whitman was appointed by Dean Thomas Konop as the first Law School librarian, and the collection grew to 7,000 volumes in 1944, as part of a campus beautification projects, statues by Eugene Kormendi were added to Hoynes Hall.

[10] On October 7, 1930, the Law School was transferred to the new building located on Notre Dame Avenue.

In 1990 alumnus John F. Sandner donated funding for the acquisition of the entire 120,000 volume collection of the Chicago Bar Association Library.

In 1970, Graciela Olivarez became the first woman and Latina to graduate from Notre Dame Law School.

[13] In 2017, it was announced that private law theorist Paul Miller from McGill University would join the Notre Dame faculty.

Samuel Bray, a remedies theorist previously teaching at UCLA law, joined the faculty in 2018.

[15] In recent years, the school has hosted talks and events by many prominent legal figures, including Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Sonia Sotomayor, William Barr, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett.

Furthermore, 38.6% of graduates in the class of 2022 found employment at national law firms and 15.2% pursued federal clerkships.

Biolchini Hall was designed by architect Charles Donagh Maginnis in 1930 and serves as a prominent example of collegiate Gothic architecture.

Funding for the law library was provided by businessman S.S. Kresge, the founder of what is now Sears Holding.

Eck includes both classrooms and faculty and administrative offices, as well as space for student services and activities.

[30] The construction of Eck and the connecting walkway to Biolchini also allowed for the creation of a new chapel dedicated to St. Thomas More.

[32] Notre Dame's alumni roster includes a range of distinguished jurists, advocates, politicians, and business leaders.