Thomas Goode Jones School of Law

Thomas Goode Jones School of Law
Motto	Macto Deus
Parent school	Faulkner University (since 1983)
Established	1928
School type	Private
Endowment	US$ 18.5 million[1]
Dean	Matt A. Vega [2]
Location	Montgomery, Alabama, USA 32°22′59″N 86°13′05″W / 32.383°N 86.218°W / 32.383; -86.218Coordinates: 32°22′59″N 86°13′05″W / 32.383°N 86.218°W / 32.383; -86.218
Enrollment	304[3]
Faculty	48[4]
USNWR ranking	Tier 4[5]
Bar pass rate	94%[6]
Website	www.faulkner.edu/law
ABA profile	Jones Profile

The Thomas Goode Jones School of Law, also known as Jones Law, JLS or JSL, is one of the professional graduate schools of Faulkner University, located in Montgomery, Alabama. According to Jones' official 2013 ABA-required disclosures, 60.4% of the Class of 2013 obtained full-time, long-term, JD-required employment nine months after graduation.^[7]

History

Jones School of Law was founded in 1928 by Montgomery County Circuit Judge Walter B. Jones, an ardent segregationist. The law school is named after Judge Walter B. Jones' father, Thomas Goode Jones, an alumnus of the Virginia Military Institute, a Confederate 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 States 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.

ABA status

In 2006, Thomas Goode Jones School of Law was fully accredited by the American Bar Association.^[8]

Current status

Bar exam

Graduates from the law school had an Alabama bar passage rate for first-time takers of 100% in February 2014. The July 2013 Alabama State Bar exam was 98.3%.^[9] Statistics for first-time takers in priors years were 91.67% (2010), 90.14 (2011), and 94.34 (2012) when averaging both the February and July exams.

Institution

In addition to a rigorous curriculum, the law school has four 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, the Elder Law Clinic, and the school's new Non-Profit 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.

The law school's professors are engaged in important scholarly pursuits. Among those journals in which the school's faculty have recently published articles are the Northwestern Law Review, the Connecticut Law Review, the Tennessee Law Review, and the Harvard Journal of Legislation. Aron Ping D'Souza, in the October 2009 edition of The Journal Jurisprudence,^[10] observed that the "depth of jurisprudential scholarship by" Faulkner's law professors "positions Faulkner University among the bourgeoning centres of contemporary, passionate jurisprudential scholarship."

Competitions

Advocacy programs are a vibrant part of the law school. Students compete in national competitions in appellate advocacy and trial advocacy. ^[11]

In March of 2014, the school won the Florida State Civil Mock Trial Competition in Tallahassee, FL. This win brought the Mock Trial National Championship count to 3 for the 2013-2014 Academic Year, more than any other school during the 2013-2014 Academic Year.

In October 2013, the school repeated as National Champions at the Lone Star Classic Mock Trial Competition. Not less than a month later, the school also won the Michigan State Mock Trial Competition in East Lansing, MI.

In October 2012, the school won the Lone Star Classic Mock Trial Competition in San Antonio, Texas. Sixteen schools from across the nation, including six U.S. News’ top-ten trial advocacy law schools, were invited to compete in the tournament hosted by St. Mary’s Law School. Faulkner defeated Michigan State, Stetson and Cumberland to reach the finals for the fourth straight year. Faulkner Law went on to win it all against an excellent Georgia State team in the championship round.

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. ^[12]

In 2007, one of the school's appellate advocacy teams finished as national semi-finalists at the ABA National Appellate Advocacy Competition. In 2009, a team from the school made it to the national finals of that competition. In 2009, the school's National Moot Court team won Region VII, defeating teams from Vanderbilt, Tennessee, Ole Miss, and Samford University's Cumberland School of Law along the way. 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.^[13]

Employment

According to Jones' official 2013 ABA-required disclosures, 60.4% of the Class of 2013 obtained full-time, long-term, JD-required employment nine months after graduation. Including J.D. advantage, other professional jobs, and non-professional jobs, total employment was 83.2% compared to 84.5% nationally. ^[14]

Costs

Tuition at Thomas Goode Jones School of Law for the 2014-2015 academic year is $34,000.^[15]

Notable alumni

• Perry O. Hooper, Jr., former member of the Alabama House of Representatives from Montgomery^[16]

References

External links

• Thomas Goode Jones School of Law