Atlanta's John Marshall Law School to Launch Savannah Branch
Atlanta’s John Marshall Law School has announced plans to open a branch campus next fall in Savannah, Ga.
The new location, which has been approved by the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar, will be called Savannah Law School, the National Law Journal reports.
John Marshall maintained a branch campus in Savannah during the 1970s and early 1980s, according to Alan Boyer, associate dean for recruitment and marketing. The timing is now right for a return to the area, he says.
“There is no other law school serving that part of the southern Atlantic region,” which is expected to experience significant population growth during the next 10 to 15 years, Boyer says. “As word has got out, we’ve had some applicants to the school here in Atlanta ask to switch over to Savannah.”
The new campus is likely to draw students from more than 20 nearby colleges and universities, officials believe. The closest ABA-accredited law schools are the Charleston School of Law in Charleston, S.C., and Florida Coastal School of Law in Jacksonville, Fla, each 90 minutes or more away by car.
More than 1,500 judges and lawyers work in the Savannah area, school officials say, suggesting that students would have ample opportunities for internships and clerkships.
The school plans to enroll 95 students next year, 60 of them ful-time. The part-time program is intend to appeal to doctors, law enforcement officers, paralegals and retired military personnel.
The school has not yet settled on a location, officials say. But Richardson Lynn, the dean at John Marshall, will oversee the operations in Savannah.
