William H. Gates Hall
Dedicated on September 12, 2003, William H. Gates Hall is home to UW Law. This 196,000 square foot building features six stories of naturally-lit space, art collections, the largest library in the Northwest and technologically-advanced "smart" classrooms.
Students benefit from the multi-functional classrooms with lecterns, two well-equipped mock courtrooms, dedicated study areas, student-focused amenities and an impressive library. Situated on campus just off of "The Ave"—the heart of the University District—and just north of downtown Seattle, Gates Hall provides students with easy access to restaurants, shops and boutiques and is close to the Seattle legal community.
Gates Hall is named after William H. Gates Sr., a 1950 graduate of the law school, and father of the Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates. Bill Gates Sr. was an active member of the legal community and continued to be engaged with the law school's mission of public service until his passing September 2020.
Finding William H. Gates Hall
William H. Gates Hall
Box 353020
4293 Memorial Way NE
Seattle, WA 98195-3020
Virtual Tour of William H. Gates Hall
Marian Gould Gallagher Law Library
The Marian Gould Gallagher Law Library houses the largest legal collection in the Northwest with over 650,000 volumes in print. Gallagher boasts private study cubicles, spacious study tables, law-student only group study rooms, copy rooms and a law-student only lounge. A two-story reading room topped by four skylights provides a grand light-filled space for research and study.
The library was named in honor of Marian Gould Gallagher, who served as head librarian for UW Law for 37 years. Under her direction, the law library tripled in size and became one of the most respected in the nation.
Visit the Gallagher Law Library
Artwork in William H. Gates Hall
Monument for Law School
Doris Chase, 1967
Stained Douglas Fir
Located at the northwest entrance of William H. Gates Hall, this sculpture was created by the artist to honor her father, William Phelps Totten, and her brother, William McCormick Totten. The work was made available to the Law School partly as a gift of the artist and partly through a generous grant from the School of Law's Graduate Program in Taxation.
Doris Chase is a prominent national and international figure whose works are also in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Smithsonian and many other public institutions.
Takuji Yamashita
Akio Takamori, 2002
Porcelain with glaze
A statue by world-renowned sculptor Akio Takamori has been installed in Gates Hall on the second floor in the alcove above the GSB Student Commons. Beyond its importance as a work of art, this piece is of special interest to the history of the School of Law.
The statue is a seated figure of a member of the University of Washington's second graduating class, Mr. Takuji Yamashita, class of 1902. Though graduating from the Law School and passing the Washington state bar examination, Mr. Yamashita was denied admission to the bar on the grounds that a Japanese national could not become a U.S. citizen. Without an ability to gain citizenship, Mr. Yamashita was not eligible for Washington state bar membership. Mr. Yamashita ultimately took his challenge to the constitutionality of the principle that Japanese citizens could not become U.S. citizens, to the U.S. Supreme Court—unfortunately, he lost.
Denied his chance to practice law, Mr. Yamashita became a businessman and social activist. In 1941, he and his family were sent to internment camps. Because of the internment, he and his family were unable to pay taxes or installment on their debts. They lost their home, their business and their farm.
After the war, Mr. Yamashita ultimately returned to Japan, where he died in 1959.
In 2001, the University of Washington Law School, the Washington State Bar Association and the Asian Bar Association of Washington successfully petitioned the Washington Supreme Court for Mr. Yamashita's posthumous admission to the Washington Bar. As part of the general celebration of the righting of this wrong, Mr. Yamashita's grandchildren and great grandchildren donated $65,000 to endow a University of Washington School of Law scholarship in international law and human rights.
The statue is a gift of Professor Akio Takamori, the artist. Professor Takamori is a distinguished member of the University of Washington Art School faculty. He was trained in Japan and later in Missouri and New York. He works in porcelain; his artistry is a blend of eastern and western influences. Using black lines reminiscent of Japanese woodblock prints, Takamori's work shows an intense interest in the expression of the human form. His work can be found in public collections in the U.S. and around the world.