JU law school opens at new Downtown site

Jacksonville University on Monday formally opened its four-story home on West Forsyth Street in Downtown Jacksonville.

The school is housed in more than 50,000 square feet in the historic former Atlantic Bank Building at 121 W. Forsyth St. Founding Dean Nick Allard called it a completely reconstructed, tech-friendly space that already has 83 students working on their legal education.

The city’s only law school began in 2022 and initially occupied 15,000 square feet on the 18th floor of VyStar Tower. The American Bar Association granted the school provisional accreditation in March as the private university was already renovating the former bank building into classroom, office and meeting space across from the Bank of America tower.

The school is the fruition of an idea that university officials first proposed in 2015, Allard said.

“It is important because the growing needs for quality legal services in Jacksonville are enormous, and we are going to meet those needs and serve the needs of the city, the region and the people here,” Allard said. “It is part of the economic infrastructure; it’s part of the talent pool; and we are attracting high quality people who want the best legal education possible to then graduate and then serve the needs of the city, the region and beyond.”

Another unique part of JU’s law school is that it sits just a few blocks from the federal and county courthouses, as well as the state attorney’s and public defenders offices, said 4th Judicial Circuit Chief Judge Lance Day.

“I can’t think of many things that are better than having a student come out of an academic setting and then be able to go over to the practical setting of the courthouse structure to see how the actual cases are administered and run,” Day said. “I think it is fantastic for the Downtown because it brings a new vibrance to the Downtown center; it brings our young adults down here.”

The JU College of Law received $6.5 million of its $12 million renovation cost from the city. Its development is seen as a spark for Downtown development, as well as an effort to fill a shortage of lawyers in Florida.

The college became the state’s first new law school in more than two decades, stepping into the educational gap left by the closure of the Florida Coastal School of Law. Florida Coastal lost accreditation in 2021.

JU President Tim Cost reminded the audience Monday that JU always intended to have a law school and stated as much when it was founded 90 years ago in Arlington.

“It took us from 1934 to this morning to get to it, but we are proud to make this journey,” Cost said at the ribbon-cutting. “We wanted to be in Downtown because we believed that was the right thing to do.”

JU signed a long-term lease last November for the bank building, built in 1909. Renovations included flexible classroom space, study and common areas, plus meeting, faculty and staff offices, and library spaces. Allard said the new school is ready “on time, on budget, and on top of everything else, it is a spectacular learning place.”

Mayor Donna Deegan said she hopes the school is another spark for Downtown development, just a half-block away from the Laura Street Trio properties at Forsyth and Laura streets. Property owner Laura Trio LLC has been working to redevelop the long-vacant First National Bank, Bisbee Building and Florida Life buildings, dating back to 1902 to 1912. But development plans have stalled, and the city filed a complaint for foreclosure last week in the 4th Circuit Court against Laura Trio LLC.

“The law school campus is yet another catalyst to bring more people to learn, work, live and play in our Downtown,” Deegan said. “I am a firm believer that gowing our Downtown will pay dividends for our entire city, and that is why we are laser-focused on it. Our strategy is to attract more students, workers and residents Downtown as well as businesses from our target industries. Having a law school Downtown will allow us to do both.”

The first class of students in the new school is nicknamed the “forty-Forsyths.” Allard expects attendance to double by this time next year. Another 70 to 80 first-year-students could start the three-year program when the Class of 2025 graduates, he said.

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