Ave Maria School Of Law

Maybe it is just because I try to be a good Catholic boy, but I very much like the concept of Ave Maria School of Law, and there is no reason why you should not give it serious consideration when trying to decide on which law schools to which you should apply.

I just like law schools that by their very nature try to be different and fulfill a purpose of developing well rounded attorneys that are, to paraphrase Hillary Clinton, prepared on day one.  If Ave Maria does not meet that standard, it is my opinion that it at least tries and should be given credit for doing so.

The law school is in a serious state of transition now, but to some extent it is an exciting time for the law school and it could be an exciting time for any new law student.  For the 2009-2010 school year Ave Maria is relocating to Collier County, Florida from Michigan to a brand new town or community and a brand new university campus centered around the school.

The overall mission of the law school is now about to be transformed into the overall mission of a new university and a new community in Florida.

Ave Maria University is a new private university with a Roman Catholic character and liturgical tradition being built in southwest Florida.  Like the law school before it, Ave Maria University was founded in 2003 by Tom Monaghan, a Catholic philanthropist and retired founder of Domino's Pizza with a donation of $250 million. The university moved into its permanent campus, situated in the planned town of Ave Maria just 17 miles east of Naples, Florida in August 2007.  It is the first Roman Catholic University established in over 40 years.

Ave Maria School of Law graduated its first class and its first class achieve an unheard of bar passage rate of of 93% among first-time takers, which was the top rate in Michigan. In 2004, the school had 100% Michigan bar passage rate, and in 2006, the passing rate was 96%, which is the highest overall among Michigan law schools.  The bar passage rate fell somewhat in 2007.  The law school achieved full accreditation in 2005.

It is true that a move to Florida is going to create a mild and temporary impediment to the law schools accreditation.  But, as I understand it, under ABA rules the law school will not lose accreditation, but it will be placed back on provisional accreditation and will have to again achieve permanent accreditation.  This, however, would not seem to be an overwhelming problem for a school that is well capitalized, as it the university, and which is moving into newly constructed facilities, built for it, in a new master planned community.

To me a law school situated in a beautiful master planned community with malls, shopping, and well priced housing would seem to be a respite of such from law schools, most of which are placed in an urban setting.  It is at least different and probably worth the experience.

Ave Maria Law School does have rather high tuition, but it should be noted that it is also listed as one of the most generous of private law schools in granting scholarships and tuition breaks to its students in the country.

If you would like to go to a national law school in a beautiful town in Florida, this might well be the school for which you are looking.  And, the law school might not suite everyone's needs.  To those there are other law schools offerings throughout the country.

Comments

[Incense]

Wow - nice commentary.

Please visit us at
http://www.positivelyavemaria.com

Would love to correspond about this with you: positivelyam@hotmail.com

[hither and anon]

Prospective students: from someone who has seen this place first hand and speaks in truth and without rancor, I can say with certainty that there is no reason to go to AMSL. Look up avewatch.com and fumare.blogspot.com. Compare with Incense's blog noted above, and consider these points:

1. Don't go to a fourth tier school. It's a waste of your time even if it's free. If you can afford AMSL, go to a better school. If you need a scholarship, take a partial scholarship at a better school in the second or third tier, or just take the loans on the chin and go to a first tier school. You'll make it back in the salary difference later.

2. AMSL is imploding under the mass of its own stupidity. It's hemorrhaging qualified professors who don't want to ruin their careers, its objective numbers are plummeting into the toilet, and your job prospects will be nil. The administration is so colossally inept that the school will probably lose accreditation along with the current court cases. One was filed by a former financial aid director who was fired in reprisal for telling the DOE about mismanagement of funds. The other was filed by former professors who were fired for notifying the ABA about violations of academic freedom.

3. AMSL's administration will lie to you. Admissions especially. They will use you and then cast you aside. Ask the alumni, ask the dozens of professors and staff who've left to avoid the administration's toxic mismanagement, and they'll tell you exactly the same thing.

4. The administration's talk about the Mission is B.S. The community does not come from the dean and his doubletalk...it comes from the professors and the students. And the community dedicated to the Mission is all but gone. AMSL is not about defending the dignity of the human person or exploring faith and reason in the law anymore. Now it's about its primary benefactor's Gyrene pipe dreams.

[Chuck Newton]

I post about law schools and I always seem to get a few emails or comments as to each from people who do not care for the school for one reason or the other. The same is true for Ave Maria. I can tell you that in the case of Ave Maria I have received far more private emails from students and former students who care for the school and appreciate the opportunity the law school has provided to them. They email me, I suppose, because they wish me to know but they do not wish to broadcast. I have received a number of comments on Ave Maria that I have not allowed to post. That is not typically what I do, but I have found them to be non-insightful, uninformed and often just filthy. There is obviously those that are disgruntled in every law school. If it is readable, you as my reader deserve to read these if they are constructive, whether I agree with the comments or not. But, we are not going to allow inappropriate comments. Those that are disgruntled are mainly so because the school is moving from Michigan to Florida. I understand this. But, say so. As for the last comment, I can personally tell you that there is no better opportunity per se from attending a 3rd Tier law school as opposed to a 4th Tier law school. I would not say that Ave Maria is hemorrhaging professors. There are some disgruntled professors who have problems with the school, starting with the school relocating. But, what is a disadvantage of some is an opportunity for others, and that is what I have written about. As for the mission of the school, it would seem that you can say what you want, but ultimately someone's generosity has allowed many from around the country to attend attend an accredited law school and in most cases they have provided the law student a good deal of money to do so. It is beyond me what other guarantee the law school can offer. You want to be a lawyer or you do not.