Ave Maria School Of Law Begins New Life In Naples (Video)

Tom Monaghan, the founder of Domino's Pizza and Ave Maria School of Law, recently strolled to the microphone and said “I’ve done this with hundreds of pizza shops,” as he, acting dean Eugene Milhizer and three students, cut the ribbon to officially begin the Ave Maria School of Law’s life in Naples, Florida.  Monaghan said this ended the seven-year effort to move the Catholic law school from Michigan to Florida.

In what will be Collier County's first law school, the ribbon-cutting celebrated the commencement of renovations at the 12-acre Vineyards property to transform the former site of Ave Maria University into the law school’s new home.

Monaghan said,“I want to be where my work is.  My work is here. Domino’s and Ann Arbor (Mich.) is not totally in my past because my family is up there. But other than my family, my heart is down here.”

Dean Milhizer said,“For a law school, it’s really unprecedented.  No school has ever even tried to do what we’re doing.”

The law school also recently announced four new faculty members, all of whom are coming to Naples, including former Michigan Supreme Court Chief Justice Clifford Taylor.  “I think the law is based on moral propositions,” Clifford Taylor said. “To have a law school that honestly and forthrightly acknowledges that is proper.”

The school expects to have more than 300 students when it begins in Naples.