Ave Maria School of Law

Dean Emeritus Bernard Dobranski

Dean Emeritus Eugene Milhizer

Thomas S. Monaghan, founder of Domino's Pizza and former owner of the Detroit Tigers, supports the school through his Ave Maria Foundation and has served as the chairman of the board of governors of the school, which also includes Adam Cardinal Maida and Bishop Frank Joseph Dewane, and included, before their deaths, Cardinal Edward Egan, Bowie Kuhn and John Cardinal O'Connor.[3]

Ave Maria School of Law was founded in 1999, and for the first nine years of its existence was located in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The law school's beginnings lie in discussions between future founding dean Bernard Dobranski and Monaghan. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia assisted in developing the school's curriculum, and in 1999 Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas delivered the school's first annual Ave Maria Lecture.[4] Former professors include Robert Bork.[5]

The school moved from Ann Arbor, Michigan, to Naples, Florida, opening in the new location in August 2009.

Kevin Cieply became the third president and dean of the law school in 2014.[6]

Ave Maria School of Law offers a full-time three year Juris Doctor (J.D.) program that complements a traditional legal education based on the Socratic Method with an emphasis on how the law intersects with the Catholic intellectual tradition and natural law philosophy. The curriculum of Ave Maria School of Law includes a three-semester Research, Writing and Advocacy Program as well as several required courses that focus on law and ethics.[7] The school also offers various summer courses.[8] Ave Maria devotes four core classes to the interrelationship between law, ethics, and Catholic moral and social principles.[9]

The school currently has 20 full- and 21 part-time faculty.[10]

In 2016, Ave Maria School of Law was sanctioned by the American Bar Association due to lax admissions standards.[11][12] In February 2018, the ABA announced the lifting of the sanctions following remedial actions by the school.[13]

The 2019 first year class 50th Percentile LSAT score was 148 and the 50th Percentile GPA was 3.21.[14]

In July 2019, 52.6% of Ave Maria graduates who took the Florida bar exam for the first time passed, vs. a 73.9% pass rate overall.[15]

According to Ave Maria's ABA-required disclosures, 55.7% of the Class of 2018 found long-term full-time employment where a JD is required.[10]

Ave Maria School of Law is located in northeastern Naples, Florida. The campus consists of six major buildings located on 12 acres (49,000 m²) in the Vineyards community: the Faculty and Administration Building;[16] the Law Library;[17] the St. Thomas More Commons;[18] West and East Halls; and the Clinic/Student Organizations Building. There are additional 16 villa-style residences available on campus for student and faculty families.[19] Located adjacent to the campus is the Vineyards Elementary School.

The St. Thomas More Commons contains a large classroom for 100+ students, the Moot Courtroom, the Law School Bookstore, the St. Thomas Aquinas Chapel, a student lounge and coffee shop, and the Office of Admissions.

The Ave Maria Law Library is located between the Faculty and Administration Building and the St. Thomas More Commons. The collection contains Legal History, Legal Ethics, Bioethics, the Catholic Intellectual Tradition, Ancient and Medieval Philosophy, Legal Ethics and Canon Law.[20] The Library's materials can be located and accessed via the law library online catalog.[21] In addition to serving Ave Maria Law members, the school's library is also open to the public on weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.[22]

From 1999 to spring 2009, the school was located in Ann Arbor, Michigan.[23] The school moved from Ann Arbor, Michigan to Naples, Florida, opening in the new location in August 2009. The move caused a great deal of controversy among the faculty and student body, with some claiming that the move jeopardized the future existence and reputation of the school.[24]

The Ave Maria Law Review is the only current law journal published by the Juris Doctor students at Ave Maria School of Law.[25] However, the school has previously published a journal in international law,[26] and the school's moot court program publishes a periodical magazine called The Gavel.[27] The Law School External Affairs Office also publishes The Ave Maria School of Law Advocate, a yearly publication reflecting the status of the school and current events.

U.S. News & World Report ranks Ave Maria in the fourth tier of U.S law schools.[28]

As reported in The Chronicle of Higher Education, Ave Maria School of Law was one of 114 private colleges nationwide to fail a federal financial responsibility test in 2007, 2008, and 2009.[29][30] In a statement about the Chronicle report, the ten-year-old law school said its low asset-to-debt ratio was "typical of recently founded institutions" and "represents no change in our fiscal health and should not be cause for concern". Tom Monaghan also has committed to cover the school's operating deficits until 2017.[31] In 2010, Ave Maria's Dean Milhizer said, "The Law School's finances are very strong and our fundraising results were up in the fiscal year that closed June 30 compared to the past few years. We project this trend will continue and grow stronger in the years to come as our student population increases in size and fundraising results continue to improve." Since the move of the law school in 2009, both enrollment and selectivity of students has increased dramatically from the drop it initially suffered when the move occurred. In 2010, the school's director of external affairs, John Knowles, said the quality of the incoming classes was improving and in 2010 the school's selectivity rate improved to 46 percent—the best in the school's history.[32] Ave Maria School of Law is not affiliated with Ave Maria University, which has not been cited in any federal financial test.

The total cost of attendance (indicating the cost of tuition, fees, and living expenses) at Ave Maria for the 2018–2019 academic year is $66,040.[10]