Faulkner University, Thomas Goode Jones School of Law

Introduction

Founded in 1928, Faulkner Law provides an exceptional legal education that is designed to produce practice-ready attorneys of distinguished moral character. As a small, Christian law school in the capital city of Alabama, Faulkner Law students have a unique advantage through the rigorous curriculum and hands-on experience that we provide.

Faulkner Law wants students who will not only succeed academically but also have a desire to use their legal degrees to seek justice and serve their communities—wherever that may be. Reflecting this, Faulkner Law evaluates each applicant as a whole and considers GPA, LSAT score, graduate work, professional work experience, leadership, and community service. Applicants are considered on a rolling basis. Each applicant is automatically considered for merit-based and mission-based scholarships.

A Foundational Curriculum

Faulkner Law’s practical focus equips our students with the skills necessary to serve, advocate, and lead the pursuit of justice. The engaging curriculum blends theoretical study with practical application to best prepare students for success. A rigorous advanced practicum and a practical experiential learning field placement or clinic are a requirement for graduation.

Foundations of Law

As a faith-based institution, we believe first principles and ideas matter. A prominent feature of the first-year experience at Faulkner Law is the Foundations of Law course. Our students, through this course, will be exposed to the most prominent fundamental ideas of our legal institutions. After analyzing the works of St. Thomas Aquinas, William Blackstone, John Locke, James Madison, and others, our students will leave the course with a deeper understanding of their own convictions about justice and with a deeper understanding of American jurisprudence. Foundations of Law, in addition to introducing students to the greatest minds of Western legal and political thought, focuses heavily on the basis of legal reasoning: the doctrine of precedent, the distinction between rules and principles, logic, and syllogistic reasoning.

Foundations of the Legal Profession

The practice of law requires attorneys to do much more than represent clients and litigate cases. Attorneys are professionals called to serve and lead their communities. Our Foundations of the Legal Profession course challenges our students to face questions such as: What does it mean to be a member of the legal profession? What roles do lawyers serve? What moral values define their professional identity, call them to serve, and inform their judgments?

Nationally Recognized Advocacy Program

Whether in trial court presentations or Supreme Court arguments, Faulkner Law Advocacy is distinct. Our Advocacy Program provides practice-oriented advocacy training, focused on the skills necessary for success in every phase of litigation. Because our Advocacy Program is a cocurricular program, our students are able to participate while earning class credit, unlike other programs. Faulkner Law excels in all aspects of advocacy training, as demonstrated by our record of success. With 10 national championship titles, 16 regional championship titles, and over 50 individual student awards since 2010, we are confident that our students gain invaluable experience that prepares them for success far beyond Faulkner Law.

Blackstone & Burke Center for Law and Liberty

Under the leadership of nationally esteemed scholars and jurists, the Blackstone & Burke Center for Law and Liberty examines and promotes ordered liberty in the common-law tradition, including religious freedom, freedom of association, freedom of speech, and economic freedom. The Blackstone & Burke Center is dedicated to the propositions that law is not merely sovereign command but rather that the first duty of legislative, executive, and judicial officials is to declare what the law already is. While promoting the principles of the common law tradition and American constitutionalism, the Blackstone & Burke Center coordinates educational programs, research initiatives, and judicial conferences that examine the norms and nurture the institutions of ordered liberty.

Award-Winning Legal Clinics

Faulkner Law students have access to our three award-winning legal clinics—the Family Violence Clinic, the Elder Law Clinic, and the Mediation Clinic. Our clinics prepare students to enter the profession with integrity and excellence, and with a heart for service and justice. Students synthesize substance with skill, and experience the burden of serving live clients. The clinics contribute to our mission to serve the oppressed and vulnerable in our community. We work in collaboration with many other professionals to seek justice, to liberate the oppressed, and to take up the cause of the marginalized and exposed. The clinics afford a moment of transformation when students shift from performing with cases and problems to serving clients and people. By this service, students gain experience that is transferrable to all areas of their future practice.

Capital City Advantage

Located in the capital city of Alabama, Faulkner Law is nestled in the heart of a thriving legal and political community. Our campus is located near the Alabama legislature, the governor’s office, the state attorney general’s office, the Supreme Court of Alabama, and many state agencies. Montgomery is also home to federal district, appellate, and bankruptcy courts; federal agencies; and Maxwell Air Force Base (home to the Air War College and the Air Force Judge Advocate General’s School). Several nationally recognized public interest advocacy groups and philanthropic organizations are also located within a few miles of our campus. Our location and Alabama’s unique 3L practice card program offers Faulkner Law students the incredible opportunity to work closely with private attorneys, government lawyers, prosecutors, criminal defense attorneys, judges, politicians, agency attorneys, and public interest advocates.

Montgomery is also home to numerous culturally and historically significant attractions such as the Civil Rights Memorial Center, the Alabama Shakespeare Festival, the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, the Montgomery Ballet, and the Montgomery Symphony Orchestra. The city is home to a minor league baseball team and full of public parks and hiking trails, and our recently revitalized downtown features modern lofts and popular restaurants. The Gulf Coast’s white sand beaches, the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail, and numerous college sporting events and stadiums, as well as Atlanta, Birmingham, and Mobile, are all easily accessible from Montgomery’s location in central Alabama.

A Christian Perspective

Faulkner Law’s Vision

At Faulkner Law, we embrace civil discourse, and we do not discourage considerations of faith and morality: we welcome them. We believe that the practice of law is a high calling and a noble profession through which attorneys serve others and the cause of justice. Our Christian worldview inspires us to pursue excellence, deliver quality legal education, and impart the values that will make our students successful in both the legal profession and life.

Public Interest Fellowship Program

Faulkner Law’s Public Interest Fellowship Program refines a student’s sense of calling and service. The school has been nationally recognized as one of the top US law schools for preparing students for public service careers in the government. In our voluntary program, students have the opportunity to work with nonprofit organizations, government agencies, and private attorneys and firms in performing pro bono legal work. Students who provide at least 50 hours of voluntary service are recognized as Public Interest Fellows.

The Faulkner Law Family

Faulkner Law is a closely knit law school community in which each member is highly valued. We are committed to helping our students achieve their personal goals and to providing individualized support.

Access to Faculty

Teaching and leading future attorneys is our calling. Faulkner Law faculty members are committed to teaching and professional mentoring, drawing insight from their rich professional experience and scholarship. Our small class sizes mean that our engaging faculty have a true open-door policy. Many professors provide students with individual attention, interacting with students both inside and outside the classroom.

MiniPrep

Faulkner Law offers every incoming student a seat (at no additional cost) in our unique MiniPrep program, held immediately before orientation. It is taught by faculty from our Legal Research and Writing and Academic Success Programs, and select upper-level students provide tips and insights regarding how to succeed at Faulkner Law. MiniPrep participants receive innovative instruction in the differences between undergraduate and law school studies, the skills necessary to manage time and stress, and the case method of teaching law. In lecture settings and small-group workshops, students learn how to read legal opinions, brief cases, synthesize and apply rules, outline course content, and prepare for examinations. Students also take a simulated, ungraded law school examination.

Academic Success and Bar Preparation

In addition to our MiniPrep program and our first-year Legal Research and Writing Program, Faulkner Law goes above and beyond to promote student success and provide individualized support. The Academic Success Program provides students with workshops for learning law school studying and test-taking skills, a study-aid library, tutoring, assessment, and academic success tools designed to help students reach their fullest potential.

Student Life

At Faulkner Law, every student can be involved. Through the Student Bar Association, student leaders serve the law school community by sponsoring social functions, conducting fundraising events, and helping to ensure a professional learning environment. Students may participate in an array of student organizations, including the American Association for Justice, Association of Future Prosecutors, Black Law Students Association, Christian Legal Society, Faulkner Law Democrats, Faulkner Law Republicans, Jones Public Interest Law Foundation, Phi Alpha Delta, Military Veterans Legal Association, Women’s Legal Society, and more. Because of our location in the capital city of Alabama, students have the opportunity to join as student members of the Alabama Criminal Defense Lawyers Association, the Montgomery County Bar Association, and the Alabama Defense Lawyers Association, as well as the Hugh Maddox American Inn of Courts. At Faulkner Law, there is something for everyone.

Flexible Schedule Option

Students completing the Juris Doctor (JD) degree on a flexible schedule will take courses offered on the full-time schedule but with a reduced course load each semester. Consequently, students on the flexible schedule are not required to take the full complement of required courses during the same semesters when full-time students are required to take those courses. It is expected that flexible-schedule students will take elective courses as their schedule permits after the completion of at least 18 hours.

Scholarships, Tuition, and Fees

Faulkner Law offers numerous scholarships to qualified entering students. Admitted applicants are automatically considered for scholarship awards. Awards range from 10 to 100 percent tuition forgiveness. Scholarships may also be awarded to students who have performed well academically during their first year of law school. Please consult the law school’s website for current tuition rates.