1025 Commons Circle
Naples, FL 34119-1376
Phone: 239.687.5300; Fax: 239.352.2890
E-mail: info@avemarialaw.edu; Website: www.avemarialaw.edu
Ave Maria School of Law offers students a distinctive legal education that focuses on professional excellence, the moral foundations of the law, and the harmony of faith and reason. As a national Catholic law school, Ave Maria is committed to producing highly competent graduates who are able to reflect critically on the law, the principles that undergird it, and their role within the legal system.
With a student-to-faculty ratio of approximately 19 to 1, Ave Maria students benefit from ready access to experienced faculty members who prepare students to practice at the highest level and to succeed on bar exams throughout the country. The quality of Ave Maria's academic program is recognized by judges throughout the nation who have hired graduates as judicial clerks—with 61 clerkships secured by members of the 2003–2011 graduating classes, most of these federal clerkships.
In the summer of 2009, Ave Maria School of Law relocated to southwest Florida, just seven miles inland of the Gulf of Mexico. The new location has enhanced the school's ability to fulfill its distinctive mission as a Catholic law school dedicated to professional excellence. In the new location, students have found employment and externship opportunities with courts and law firms in nearby Naples and Fort Myers, while the law school's clinical programs have found new opportunities to serve the community.
Ave Maria School of Law encourages applications from students of all faiths who seek a distinctive legal education enriched by the Catholic intellectual tradition.
Ave Maria School of Law awards the Juris Doctor degree after three years (90 credits) of full-time residential study. The required curriculum of 63 credits ensures that all students develop those skills that are fundamental to the effective practice of law—analysis, reasoning, problem solving, research, writing, oral advocacy, and others. Through elective courses, students have the opportunity to focus on specific subject areas of interest, such as commercial law, employment law, international law, and intellectual property law. A central tenet of the educational philosophy at Ave Maria is that law and morality are inherently intertwined.
At the core of the Ave Maria School of Law education is the faculty who teach and mentor students. Faculty members bring to the classroom their experience as attorneys in private practice, as judicial clerks, and as teachers and administrators at other law schools. In hiring faculty, the law school administration has sought individuals who would be able to translate the mission of the School of Law in the classroom, in their scholarship, and in their service. Ave Maria faculty members actively contribute to the profession through their legal research, writing, and involvement in professional and civic organizations. Our faculty includes 32 full-time professors. Select upper-level courses are taught by adjunct faculty members drawn from area law firms, corporations, and the judiciary.
While many of Ave Maria's students come to the School of Law directly from their undergraduate institutions, others have earned postgraduate degrees and have work experience in fields including business, medicine, engineering, the military, and education. More than 170 different undergraduate colleges are represented at the School of Law, including Brigham Young University, Christendom College, Emory University, Franciscan University of Steubenville, University of Notre Dame, the University of Florida, and many other fine schools.
Ave Maria School of Law graduates accept employment with an array of employers in all regions of the country, including national and regional law firms such as Akin Gump, Sidley Austin, Butzel Long, Reed Smith, Roetzel and Andress, Skadden Arps, and Holland and Hart. Graduates have also been successful in obtaining employment with state and federal governmental agencies, including the US Departments of Justice, Homeland Security, and Defense, as well as multiple prosecutors' offices nationwide. Students gain valuable legal experience throughout the year through volunteer internships, paid clerkships, and the law school's robust externship program. The six-credit Certified Legal Intern Criminal Litigation Externship is a hybrid between a traditional law school clinic and a for-credit externship.
The Career Services Office uses a proactive and individualized approach to assist students during each stage of the career-search process—counseling, strategizing, résumé and cover letter preparation, interviewing, and consideration of employment offers. The full-time staff of four, two of whom are attorneys, is dedicated to expanding employment opportunities for students through the cultivation of relationships with legal employers throughout the region and the nation.
The Ave Maria Law Library is housed in an environment that is both welcoming and conducive to research and study. Materials are available in all formats; the collection is particularly strong in digital resources. Apart from a fine compilation of US and international primary and secondary legal materials, the Ave Maria Law Library's collection emphasizes the areas of canon law, bioethics and biotechnology, natural law, and related philosophy, history, political science, and economics titles. Seating in the library includes a variety of carrel, table, group study, and soft seating. Leisure reading in the form of magazines and daily newspapers is provided.
Ave Maria School of Law enrolls talented individuals from diverse backgrounds who seek a rigorous and distinctive legal education. To this end, Ave Maria evaluates applicants from a whole-person perspective and considers many factors, including work experience, activities, background, obstacles overcome, accomplishments, undergraduate and graduate school records, Law School Admission Test (LSAT) scores, letters of reference, and the applicant's personal statement. Ave Maria recognizes that a diverse student body, drawn from throughout the United States and internationally, enriches the educational experience.
By providing opportunities for interaction among students, faculty, and the legal community, Ave Maria School of Law ensures a vibrant, professional atmosphere and a constructive law school experience. A three-day orientation program, a Distinguished Speaker Series, conferences, and the Board of Visitors Mentor Program, together with a challenging and comprehensive curriculum, provide Ave Maria students with an exceptional law school experience. A multitude of student organizations offer students the opportunity to pursue their specific areas of interest and augment their law school education.
Ave Maria School of Law's campus in Naples, Florida, offers on-site housing as well as close-by apartments, condominiums, and single-family homes. The law school provides assistance to students during their search for housing and, if applicable, roommates.
Ave Maria School of Law offers a generous scholarship program that annually provides scholarships ranging from $5,000 up to full tuition to approximately two-thirds of the entering class. Additionally, the School of Law annually awards scholarships ranging from $5,000 to $10,000 to entering students who have a record of service and leadership in select areas. Tuition for members of the fall 2011 entering class is $35,948.
Ave Maria School of Law has chosen not to provide an admission profile grid. This reflects our commitment to consider every applicant from a whole-person perspective. Every component of the application is carefully reviewed, and, while qualifications as measured by LSAT and GPA are important, equal consideration is also given to the applicant's background, letters of recommendation, and personal statement.