Jacksonville University on Monday formally opened its four-story home on West Forsyth Street in Downtown Jacksonville.
The school is housed in more than 50,000 square feet in the historic former Atlantic Bank Building at 121 W. Forsyth St. Founding Dean Nick Allard called it a completely reconstructed, tech-friendly space that already has 83 students working on their legal education.
The city’s only law school began in 2022 and initially occupied 15,000 square feet on the 18th floor of VyStar Tower. The American Bar Association granted the school provisional accreditation in March as the private university was already renovating the former bank building into classroom, office and meeting space across from the Bank of America tower.
The school is the fruition of an idea that university officials first proposed in 2015, Allard said.
“It is important because the growing needs for quality legal services in Jacksonville are enormous, and we are going to meet those needs and serve the needs of the city, the region and the people here,” Allard said. “It is part of the economic infrastructure; it’s part of the talent pool; and we are attracting high quality people who want the best legal education possible to then graduate and then serve the needs of the city, the region and beyond.”
