Thomas Goode Jones School of Law

infobox University
name = Thomas Goode Jones School of Law
established = 1928
type = Private
dean = Charles I. Nelson
students =
faculty = 27 full time
city = Montgomery
state = Alabama
country = USA
website = http://www.faulkner.edu/law

The Thomas Goode Jones School of Law is a law school located at Faulkner University in Montgomery, Alabama. Faulkner University is a religious school affiliated with the churches of Christ.

Jones School of Law was founded in 1928 by Montgomery County Circuit Judge Walter B. Jones. The law school is named after Judge Walter B. Jones' father, Thomas Goode Jones, an alumnus of the Virginia Military Institute, veteran of the Civil War, and Governor of Alabama for two terms. He was also appointed by President Theodore Roosevelt to serve as the United Stated District Judge for the Northern and Middle Districts of Alabama. Thomas Goode Jones authored the Alabama Code of Ethics, a document that served as a model for the American Bar Association's 1908 Canons of Professional Ethics.

Faulkner University acquired Jones School of Law in 1983. A history of the law school can be found on the law school's website.

On June 10, 2006, the school was granted provisional approval by the American Bar Association. With ABA accreditation, students may take the bar exam and practice law in any state. Students are afforded the same rights and benefits as students at fully approved law schools.

Graduates from the law school perform extremely well on the bar exam. The bar passage rate for first time takers of the July 2007 Alabama State Bar exam was 92.7 [1] . Statistics for first time takers from the previous two July exams were 97.2% (2006) and 90% (2005). Graduates have a bar passage rate above 90% on out-of-state bar exams for first time takers. The bar passage rate for first time takers on the February Alabama bar exam are as follows: 91.7% (2008), 87.5% (2007), 83.3% (2006) and 100% (2005).

In addition to a rigorous curriculum, the law school has three clinics and an externship program, which provide students more hands on experience and real world legal experience. Students may participate in the school's Mediation Clinic, the Family Violence Clinic and the school's Elder Law Clinic. The law school recently received a federal grant which provides funding for the school's Elder Law Clinic. The Elder Law Clinic allows students to counsel and provide legal advice to elderly citizens in the middle Alabama region.

Advocacy Programs are a vibrant part of the law school. Students compete in national competitions in appellate advocacy and trial advocacy. In 2008, members of the law school's Black Law Students Association won the National Championship at the Thurgood Marshall Mock Trial Competition in Detroit, Michigan. In the same year, one of the school's trial advocacy teams took third place at the National Trial Competition (NTC) in Austin, Texas. The NTC is sponsored by the American College of Trial Lawyers and the Texas Young Lawyers Association. More than 1,000 law students from nearly 300 teams representing 147 U.S. law schools participated in this tournament. Another trial advocacy team placed third at the Buffalo-Niagara Mock Trial Competition. One of the school's appellate advocacy teams took home top brief honors (first and second place) at the St. Louis Regional of the ABA National Appellate Advocacy Competition. In 2007, one of the school's appellate advocacy teams finished as national semi-finalists at the ABA National Appellate Advocacy Competition. These are just a few highlights from many successes in the school's Advocacy Programs. In addition to participating in national competitions, the law school hosts two intra-school competitions: The Greg Allen Mock Trial Competition and the 1L Moot Court Competition.

Links

* [http://www.faulkner.edu/admissions/jonesLaw.asp Thomas Goode Jones School of Law] [1] [http://www.faulkner.edu/jsl/barpassagerates.asp]

References