Liberty School Of Law Renovates Buildings To Benfit Students

Liberty University’s School of Law is unveiling new renovations as the semester comes to a close, including a new space for clinics across from the main entrance. 

The location has a reception area, six academic rooms and two conference rooms fitted with modern technology. 

According to the Liberty School of Law’s website, its mission is to “equip future leaders in law with a superior legal education in fidelity to the Christian faith expressed through the Holy Scriptures.” 

This mission was echoed by Andrew Connors, director of the Intellectual Property Clinic and adjunct assistant professor of Law.

 “We are trying to create a pipeline where these students are battle ready to practice law,” Connors said.

According to Connors, the new space is yet another asset Liberty students can use to achieve this goal. “The new space gives us the ability to pull up documents on a screen. It makes the educational process so much easier.”

Connors also emphasized that the renovations will provide a professional atmosphere for students. 

 “The nature of all clinics is that you are working on a real case,” Connors said. “In my clinic, clients come to the school and, to this point, we have been meeting in a classroom. This new space is like walking into a law firm office for our clients. This is going to add a real professional appeal.” 

Dark Horse Attorneys, Conners’ law firm, also plans on donating technology to the Law School. 

“Many of the clients in my clinic are remote, not even in Virginia, and we meet with them via Zoom,” Connors said. “My law firm is planning to donate some smart room features so that we can get 360-degree cameras and bigger microphones so that it is easier to conduct Zoom meetings.”

According to Dean Keith Faulkner, experiential learning is an important aspect of remaining at the cutting edge of legal education. He anticipates that the clinical program will continue to grow in the future. 

 “The dedicated clinical space affords law students and professors classroom and office spaces to truly blend theory and practice,” Faulkner said. “We are thankful to the many donors who helped make this dream a reality.”

From a law student’s perspective, the new space offers an advantage in preparing for real–world experience.

“With those rooms we will have the opportunity to get even closer to real experience working alongside clients,” Kenneth Rousselo, a third-year law student at Liberty University, said. 

Rousselo sees the new facilities as having an impact on the hiring process. 

“If there are two first-year graduates from two different schools,” Rousselo said. “One of the schools provides a program where they all had the opportunity to draft memos, to meet with clients, even represented them in court or drafted legal documents. The other has not. Which one (is an employer more) interested in? There is still lots to learn, but this experience gets us a lot further than schools that don’t offer those programs.”

Jacob Chace is a News Reporter.

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