1970 - 1979
1970 - Pepperdine's School of Law operates out of a free-standing two-story frame building in Santa Ana, California. The school earns the State Bar of California provisional accreditation and has its first full-time day class of 34 students. The first full-time faculty member is Professor Wadieh Shibley, and the first full-time dean is Ronald F. Phillips.
1971 - Professors Charles Nelson and James McGoldrick join the faculty.
1972 - Pepperdine earns its provisional ABA approval and establishes the Pepperdine Law Review. Barbara McDonald is the journal's first editor-in-chief.
1973 - The law school relocates to a larger facility in Anaheim, California. Professor Frederick I. Moreau serves as the first Distinguished Visiting Professor. The school's first moot court dinner -- which became the annual Caruso School of Law dinner -- is held at the Disneyland Hotel.
1974 - Student Gayle Posner serves as a special intern to United States Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren Burger.
1975 - Pepperdine receives full ABA approval and full State Bar accreditation.
1976 - United States Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun speaks at commencement.
1978 - The law school moves to Pepperdine's 830-acre campus in Malibu, California, overlooking the Pacific Ocean. United States Supreme Court Justice William Rehnquist delivers the dedication address for the Odell McConnell Law Center.
1980 - 1989
1980 - Pepperdine establishes a semester-abroad program in London, England, the second such program by an American law school. Pepperdine gains AALS membership. United States Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun presides over the Dalsimer Competition and speaks at the annual dinner.
1981 - Lord Denning, Master of the Rolls, presides over a moot between British and Pepperdine students at Gray's Inn in London.
1982 - Pepperdine establishes the school's Board of Visitors.
1984 - Student Bill Henslee serves as chair of the Law Student Division of the American Bar Association. Terry Giles establishes the first scholarship funded by an alumnus.
1985 - United States Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor presides over the Dalsimer Competition and speaks at the annual dinner.
1986 - Pepperdine becomes the first in the southwest to establish an institute for dispute resolution. Pepperdine initiates an extensive merit scholarship program. United States Supreme Court Justice William Rehnquist teaches a summer class in constitutional law.
1987 - United States Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia speaks at the Odell McConnell Law Center.
1988 - Pepperdine establishes an ethnic diversity scholarship program. Student Chris Olsen is named Outstanding Oral Advocate at the National ABA Appellate Advocacy Competition.
1989 - Students Kim Carlton and Cheryl Bond become National Moot Court Champions in the ABA Appellate Advocacy Competition.
1990 - 1999
1990 - United States Supreme Court Justice Byron R. White presides over the Dalsimer Competition and speaks at the annual dinner. Alumnus Randall Kehl serves as one of the nation's twelve White House Fellows, and United States Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia teaches a summer course in constitutional law.
1991 - Alumnus Charles Eskridge III serves as judicial clerk for United States Supreme Court Justice Byron R. White. Ronald R. Helm is named the first Distinguished Alumnus for the Caruso School of Law.
1992 - Students Lisa Kanovsky and Daniel Pascucci win Best Team and Best Brief Awards at the National Criminal Procedure Competition.
1993 - Former United States Solicitor General and future law school dean Ken Starr teaches a summer course in constitutional law.
1995 - United States Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas presides over the Dalsimer Moot Court Competition and speaks at the annual dinner.
1997 - Professor Richardson Lynn is appointed dean of the Caruso School of Law.
1998 - Pepperdine's Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution is ranked the top program in the nation according to U.S. News and World Report.
1999 - The Caruso School of Law welcomes Doug Kmiec of Notre Dame, who holds the inaugural Caruso Family Chair in Law.
2000 - Present
2004 - Kenneth W. Starr is appointed dean of the Caruso School of Law after holding numerous positions of prominence, including Solicitor General of the United States and United States Circuit Judge.
2006 - Professor Ed Larson, who won the 1998 Pulitzer Prize in History for his book, Summer for the Gods: The Scopes Trial and America's Continuing Debate Over Science and Religion, joins the school as the Hugh & Hazel Darling Chair in Law.
2007 - Grant S. Nelson joins the school as the William H. Rehnquist Professor of Law.
2008 - The Caruso School of Law attains membership in the prestigious Order of the Coif.
2009 - Thomas J. Stipanowich, professor of law and academic director of the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution, is named the William H. Webster Chair in Dispute Resolution.
2011 - Deanell Reece Tacha, a Scandia, Kansas, native with a distinguished career in the federal judiciary and higher education, begins as the school's fourth full-time dean (not including interim deans) and second Duane and Kelly Roberts Dean.
2017 - Paul L. Caron, one of the leading entrepreneurial tax scholars in the nation and Publisher and Editor of Tax Prof Blog, begins as the third Duane and Kelly Roberts Dean of Pepperdine Caruso Law.
